The following report outlines MILNET's opinion of the Bush Administration's performance in office to date.  We note that the three critical areas of performance are, in order of precedence and priority:
 

1. Homeland Security
2. The War on Terrorism
3. Iraq

Report Card on Homeland Security: A+

1. President requested the Justice Department and Congress work together to define changes to surveillance and punishment for anti-terrorist and drug related activities-resulting in the U.S. Patriot Act of 2001.
2. President instructed the CIA, FBI, and NSA as well as other intelligence agencies to immediately circumvent bureaucratic limitations on cooperation and to raise the anti-terrorism prevention approach by law enforcement, putting U.S. lives ahead of prosecutorial responsibilities.
3. President appointed Governer Tom Ridge as the Director of Homeland Security
4. The Office of Homeland Security defined the Homeland Security Threat Status System, and placed the status initially at condition yellow, indicating a substantical risk of terrorist activities.
5. Attorney John Ashcroft directed FBI Director Mueller to reform the FBI into a more anti-terrorism related prevention force while limiting the impact on traditional FBI responsibilities.
6. Attorney John Ashcroft directed the modification of DoJ administratitve regulations to allow agents of the government to pursue leads and investigations into public areas.
7. FBI Director Mueller modified administrative procedures in FBI to give field agents more autonomy on openning and pursuing investigations
8. President, Director Ridge, and Attorney General John Ashcroft and other administration officials (Sec of Transportation, Treasury, and the Directors of INS and Customs for example) to draft up a recommendation for a Department of Homeland Security and announced this high level draft to the American people and Congress in late May, early June of 2002.
9. The administration proposed combining INS, Border Patrol, Customs, and other organizations into the Department of Homeland Security as well as proposed adding a Homeland Intelligence analysis group to focus analysis of raw intelligence with a mind to homeland security.
10. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the Joint Chiefs of Staff modified the Unified Command Plan to stand up a new Northern Command, giving one four star general the responsibility for protecting the U.S. Homeland under the auspices of limitations of Posse Comitus -- essentially providing detection and combat control of U.S. airspace, training with and for various local and state agenices such as first responders as well as coordination of civilian responses to threats with U.S. military as backup forces per Posse Comitus.

Report Card on the War on Terrorism:  A+
 

1. Administration instructed civilian authorities to Initiate a "clear sky" requirement by 1:00 pm Eastern Time on 9/11/01
2. Administration instructed the Department of Defense to begin combat air patrols over New York and Washington as well as other major cities (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth) to enable military response at the major airline hubs.
3. Office of Homeland Security worked together with military active and reserves to support local and state law enforcement at national level events (Super Bowl, Winter Olympics in Utah).
4. Administration instructed the Taliban to turn over Al Qaeda officers and members or face consequences
5. Adminstration sought support from Congress, consulting on a plan to invade Afghanistan should the Taliban refuse to turn over Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda members.
6. President instructed the Department of defense to remove the Taliban and Al Qaeda from Afghanistan
7. Department of Defense instructed the U.S. military to attack the Taliban in Afghanistan and in less than 1 month had driven them and Al Qaeda from Afghanistan liberating Afghanistan from decades of cruel Taliban rule.
8. Administration remained in Afghanistan (and remains today) providing support for the raising up of a government representative to the Afghani people.
9. Administration, working worth international cooperation from 90+ governments began the process of closing down financial transactions to terrorist organizations.
10. Administration responded to a request from the President of the Phillipines to aid them in ridding that island nation of Abu Sayaff and other terrorist organizations, by sending in a goodly number of Special Forces trainers and some small amount of specialized esurveillance and communications equipment as well as necessary overhead reconassiance output from U.S. national recon assests.
11. Administration has detained 100s of Al Qaeda and Taliban members and used their interrogations in furthering anti-terrorism efforts in the U.S. and abroad.
12. President instructed both clandestine and overt actions to seek out and destroy Al Qaeda and Taliban escapees who fled into Pakistan.
13. Adminstration's law enforcement and national intelligence community members  worked together to break up cells of terrrorists and arrest members of terrorist organizations world wide

Administration worked with Congress to build new airport and travel regulations to better protect U.S. travelers adn the airline infrastructure from attack by terrorists.

Report Card on Iraq: A+

The Bush Administration has clearly undertaken steps to strengthen the U.S. policy towards Iraq.  It is MILNET's contention that Iraq poses a severe threat not only to U.S. and U.K.'s national security directly, but of course to the region as well as to the rest of the world.  Therefore this is a crucial element of U.S. foreign policy.

1. President laid out the Iraqi threat to U.S. security - alone this is enough to take action
2. President listened to World and U.S. Congress pleas to attempt the diplomatic approach yet again, one more time
3. Present went before the U.N. to both spur that diplomatic effort and to put the U.N. on notice that it was not living up to its promise in letting Iraq defy U.N. resolutions for more then a decade -- that it is in danger of becoming nothing more than a debating society.
4. President presented the U.S. Congress with a resolution to demonstrate to the world that the U.S. government is resolute and united in eliminating the Iraqi threat
5. President has asked the State Department and Department of Defense to prepare world leaders for military action in case the necessity (due to lack of U.N. action) for such action is necessary.
6. President has kept up the pressure on Iraq, resulting in Iraq's agreement to allow inspectors to return
7. President has clearly spelled out the intention of the U.S. to go in with military action if the inspections are not unfettered or Iraq shows once again they are using deceit, denial and deception to thwart the inspection regime.
8. The President has clearly spelled out that the U.S. will not depend on the U.N.for U.S. national security and that if the U.N. fails to act than the U.S. will not fail to act.

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1. President's National Security Strategy (PDF:359KB)
2. Official Homeland Security Advisory System State
3. Department of Homeland Security
4. President Bush at the U.N.
5. British Prime Minister's Dossier on Iraq

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© Copyright, 2002, Michael Crawford, MILNET