A Dose of Reality for The Health Watchdogs

The anthrax scare tests a federal agency and gives its untried chief a chance to learn on the job

If you're Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense, a war room comes with the job. But when you're Secretary of Health and Human Services, you don't have to worry about such things.

Tommy Thompson has his own war room now--though the low-key Health Secretary prefers to think of it as a mere operations center. Whatever it's called, it's a conference room across from his office humming with computers, printers, fax machines and televisions and tended by a team of round-the-clock staff members. It has the look of a place where a war is being waged--just not necessarily one that's being...

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