A Failure to Communicate

Because the Sept. 11 terror attack and the U.S. response are both unprecedented, we expect stumbles. Americans are being remarkably sophisticated and patient about the difficulties the military faces in Afghanistan. But the Bush administration may have less good will left regarding its home-front communications.

President Bush and others in his administration have urged Americans repeatedly to behave normally. In the next breath, people are told to fear further attacks.

The culmination of this contradictory approach came Monday evening, when Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller issued a dire warning about the likelihood of terrorist attacks--somewhere, in some form--in the next week or two weeks. Go on as usual but be alert, Americans were told. It is hard to know what to make of that warning, or a similar one issued Oct. 11.

Lawmakers such as Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) complain that “there’s a lot of noise, not a lot of clarity” surrounding the threat announcement, and Sen. Robert F. Bennett (R-Utah) worries that the administration may be crying wolf and that future warnings will be shrugged off.

The administration is in a dilemma. It wants to put thousands of local law enforcement agencies on alert without panicking the public. But the vagueness of the warnings does unavoidably increase public anxiety without doing much to help law enforcement. No state or locality was specified. Does the administration believe that such warnings help alert the public and deter a threat? Or is it simply shielding itself from blame should an attack take place?

Such questions might be superfluous if the overall public performance of the administration had been up to snuff. Unfortunately, it hasn’t. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson initially pooh-poohed the severity of anthrax attacks. New cases are still being discovered every day. Then Homeland Security Office head Tom Ridge held a press conference at which he appeared uncertain and tentative. These are not isolated episodes; they are symptomatic of a failure of leaders to lead. Health and law enforcement communities are unprepared to deal with a crisis and are not cooperating with one another. In this regard, the FBI’s conduct has been particularly deplorable. New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has stated that the FBI continues to refuse to share terrorism information. Tom Ridge lacks real powers and has been unable to get the FBI and other federal agencies to cooperate.

Sounding vague alarms will not solve these problems. With thousands of Americans already on antibiotics to ward off anthrax, the country is hardly blind to the dangers confronting it. It is also unclear what purpose further unnerving the public serves, if people are not offered any way to protect themselves. The administration should weigh the delivery of its warnings more carefully.