Service Without A Smile
The dramatic court fight over just how secret the Secret Service is supposed
to be--going today to the desk of Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist
at the request of the DOJ--leads at USA Today and
the Washington Post . The New York Times
and Los
Angeles Times lead instead with Lockheed Martin Corp.'s decision, in
the face of government antitrust objections, to abandon its planned $8.3
billion acquisition of the Northrop Grumman Corp.
Rehnquist, who handles emergency matters for the Washington federal courts
(and who, the papers note, is coming into town from Innsbruck, Austria, where
he was teaching a summer course) is getting the case of what to do about subpoenas issued by Kenneth Starr
to several members of President Clinton's Secret Service protective detail
because yesterday a federal appeals court unanimously refused to quash them.
Some of the language used by the appeals court judges was quite strident. "The
president's agents have literally and figuratively declared war on the
independent counsel," wrote one, quoted all around. The WP calls the
appeals court pass a "resounding defeat" for the Clinton administration.
The papers note that top presidential bodyguard Larry Cockell--pictured on
the USAT , WP and NYT top fronts--was so distracted by the
events that he accepted being temporarily relieved of his presidential duties
until the matter is resolved. Cockell's lawyer tells the Post that
"being compelled to testify goes against everything he's been trained to do,"
but that on the other hand, "He's a law enforcement official....He's not about
to go with a contempt route or lie."
USAT says today's involvement of Rehnquist amounts to a "high noon
showdown" between the Clinton administration and Kenneth Starr, and that the
issue of Secret Service confidentiality is the most contentious issue yet in
Starr's investigation of Lewinsky's relationship with Clinton. The Post
says some senior officials at Justice argued against filing the Supreme Court
appeal because of the long odds.
The NYT says the Lockheed pullback "signals the end of major mergers in the
nation's military industry." The company board voted Thursday afternoon to end
the takeover, which had already been approved by both sets of stockholders and
which would have created the nation's largest military contractor. The
LAT says the decision was made because the company couldn't see how to
avoid a court fight. The deal, says the NYT , is the largest ever undone
because of government opposition. The resistance stemmed from a fear that the
deal would leave Lockheed in control of so much of Northrop's electronics
business that competition would be suppressed and prices driven up. The
Times quotes DOJ antitrust chief Joel Klein applauding the development.
(He did not, however, say he's pleased that the decision leaves the American
service member free to combine missile and radar systems as he/she sees
fit.)
USAT 's front section cover story on the closeness of the Secret
Service to the presidents they protect reports that they routinely hold him by
his belt when he goes into a crowd, and have been known to disguise themselves
as cap-and-gowned students at graduation speeches and as priests during papal
visits. Not to mention that they go through his dresser drawers looking for
bugs and often follow him in to the bathroom.
The Wall Street Journal "Washington Wire" reports that few
reporters have signed up for Al Gore's upcoming trip to Russia. The budgets of
many news organizations, the paper explains, have been stretched thin by
travels with Clinton.
The WP 's "Reliable Source" column reports that both Chelsea Clinton
and Monica Lewinsky were named to a list of "non-anorexic achievers" put out by
Lane Bryant, the plus-sized women's clothing company. All the women on the list
are, says the company's PR sheet, "accomplished, fashionable and beautiful."
The column then goes on to quite sensibly wonder what it is that Lewinsky has
accomplished.
