An Outsider's Quick Rise To Bush Terror Adviser

[Rose Siding]

snip>
From the low-ceilinged, windowless confines of a basement office in the West Wing, Townsend runs President Bush's far-flung campaign against terrorism. Her two predecessors were four-star generals who brought decades of experience to the fight. Townsend, 43, a former mob prosecutor, has a different credential -- the president's ear.

Just a little over two years ago, she had never met Bush and was viewed with suspicion by the inner circle of a tribalistic White House that does not easily accept outsiders. But the hard-charging Townsend has parlayed a succession of powerful patrons into one of the government's most important jobs. Along the way, in a city where partisan lines are rarely bridged, she has transformed herself from confidante of then-Attorney General Janet Reno to a confidante of George W. Bush.
.....
"She obviously has the confidence of the president, and that has a huge impact on her ability to influence the process," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. She is the "coordinator, the facilitator, the bridge," as FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III put it, between the powerful institutions and clashing egos of a war cabinet. Townsend is both "honest broker" in the many internal debates, said national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley, and "crisis manager" during terrorist attacks such as the recent London bombings.

Among her many mentors, she counts Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, longtime FBI Director Louis J. Freeh and former White House counterterrorism czar Richard A. Clarke. Even Saudi princes greet her deferentially as Bush's personal emissary, although she had never been to the Middle East before signing on with the president. "He turns to her as a kind of go-to person," Rice said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/26/AR2005082601511.html

[KoKo]

1. What a curious "puff piece" about this women...here are just a few of the

odd bits of info from the article....these little snips set off bells in my head. What is this article supposed to be about? How could this woman have so much importance...how could she have achieved it and we've not heard about her until now? :eyes:

Some oddities among many in this article:

But this quintessential Washington operator enjoys getting out in the field, too. In her office, in addition to the obligatory pictures of her with Bush and the somber aerial view of the still-smoldering ruins of the World Trade Center, sits a more lighthearted snapshot. The picture was taken days earlier while she was in freefall at 13,500 feet, clutched in the arms of a Navy SEAL sky diving over San Diego.

The SEAL works with the top-secret team assigned to hunt down bin Laden and other remnants of al Qaeda's leadership that had recently come under attack in the wilds of Afghanistan. Townsend had flown to California to get a briefing from what she calls "the tippy end of the spear." Hurtling toward the ground at 126 mph was a side benefit of "pure joy."

[KoKo]

2. Kick for the Morning Crowd....

:kick: