MADELEINE BRAND, host:
President Bush began his week by announcing the departure of yet another long-time aid. This time it is Fran Townsend, who's been the top White House adviser on homeland security and counterterrorism. And most recently she was deputy national security adviser.
Fran Townsend is not a household name but she has been around for nearly five years in a succession of high-level jobs, and she's been a principal defender of the administration on intelligence and the war on terror. She follows a long line of Bush aides who are leaving a year before their boss does.
And joining us to talk about that is NPR's senior Washington editor Ron Elving, who joins us every Monday. Hi, Ron.
RON ELVING: Good to be with you, Madeleine.
BRAND: How important is this resignation?
ELVING: It's not a cabinet level post. It's not, as you said, a household name; not up there with, say, Karl Rove or Karen Hughes or even Dan Bartlett, the communications director. But it does continue this litany, this sense that the team is departing the game. But now it's spreading over into this area that has been seen as, if you will, the strong suit of the administration, at least within the administration it so regarded - and that's national security, counterterrorism, homeland security.
We still have Condoleezza Rice in place at State. We still have Steve Hadley as the national security advisor, but now we see his deputy, Fran Townsend, stepping away, not necessarily to take something else that is a terribly compelling and clear, immediate job. She's been looking for some opportunities. I guess we can assume now that she has found an opportunity in the private sector. But that all contributes to a sense of unraveling, or at least to a sense that the players are going to have to change and the president is probably going to need an index card just to walk into some of his meetings.
BRAND: Well, what is the official and unofficial reason for her resignation?
ELVING: She says that she has for some while wanted to return to the private sector and take a respite from public service. And she has been in a number of very high pressure and high visibility jobs in the White House, which frequently required her to be the face of the administration in a moment of trouble, at a time of trial. She is the one who came out just most recently and defended the performance of the federal government with respect to the wildfires in Southern California, which fits generally in the Homeland Security rubric. She's somebody who has been considered for some higher level jobs. She was considered, for example, to be the director of national intelligence. She was considered to be the secretary for homeland security, a full cabinet position. She didn't get those jobs. And she may have been for some while now looking around for something that would maximize her opportunities before this administration is over.
BRAND: And Ron, there has been some good news for this administration lately.
ELVING: Yes. Let's talk about Iraq, where the government was able to announce over the weekend that the terrorist bombings incidents is down about half from its peak. That's a substantial decrease. Unfortunately, it happened on a day when there was a horrific bombing involving children. But at the same time, the numbers are down, and that is generally attributed to the effectiveness of the surge; that is the much larger number of American troops who are on the frontlines actually operating there in Iraq.
The president did get his new attorney general, replacing Al Gonzales, confirmed by the Senate. And the president's veto power is still apparently holding most of its strength. He has had one override so far on a water projects bill, but it appears that he's going to have enough strength to stay in the legislative game by issuing a veto and requiring the Democrats to find enough Republicans to get to a two-thirds vote to override him. So some of his strengths are still on display.
BRAND: NPR's senior Washington editor Ron Elving, thank you as always.
ELVING: Thank you, Madeleine. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
