New Chief of Staff Sends Message: The White House Exits Are Open

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WASHINGTON, April 17 — The new White House chief of staff put the West Wing and official Washington on notice on Monday about potentially substantial changes in the way the White House is staffed and operates.

Meeting first thing Monday with senior White House aides, the new chief, Joshua B. Bolten, said it was time to "refresh and re-energize" President Bush's team, the White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, said. Mr. Bolten also said anybody who was considering leaving within the year should step forward now, according to Mr. McClellan's account of the meeting.

Mr. McClellan, who faced questions from reporters about his own future, said Mr. Bolten did not ask directly for anybody's resignation.

But Mr. Bolten's decision to address the prospect of personnel changes so directly on his first full weekday at work, and the decision to make his message public, appeared to be a signal that he would move quickly to address Republican complaints that senior staff members were burned out and off their stride.

Senior White House officials had spent months playing down the need for any substantial overhaul of administration personnel. Mr. Bolten's message seemed to suggest that Mr. Bush had now come around to the idea that his presidency needed some fresh faces, if not a fresh start. But it is not yet clear how wide and deep any changes will be, and whether they will portend new policy approaches or be limited to bringing in new voices to sell existing policies.

If the announcement sent a strong signal to restless party members that real change was coming, it also set off a round of what White House officials routinely deride as an inside-Washington game of personnel speculation.

In this case, the speculation extends to the senior levels of Mr. Bush's cabinet, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who in the face of mounting criticism has received a ringing vote of confidence from Mr. Bush, and Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, who has not.

As chief of staff, Mr. Bolten would conceivably have a say in their fates, as well as those of the 13 other cabinet secretaries and the 30 or so members of the president's leadership team.

Republican allies said they welcomed the signal from the administration, not only the sentiment Mr. Bolten conveyed but also the way the White House shared it publicly. Mr. McClellan described the meeting, without prompting, speaking with reporters Monday.

"It's a smart, savvy move," said Kenneth M. Duberstein, a Republican lobbyist. "It's the symbolism and it's the message and it's the reality: they're serious about a revitalized, re-energized team."

Mr. Duberstein was part of another White House reorganization, in 1987, when President Ronald Reagan tapped him and several other seasoned Washington hands to revitalize his White House, then listing under low approval ratings, looming scandal and Congressional unrest. He went on to become chief of staff to Reagan.

The Bush White House has had unusually low staff turnover and notably few public squabbles. One of the few messy personnel moves of his presidency, the firing of Paul H. O'Neill as Treasury secretary in 2002, was handled by Vice President Dick Cheney. But Mr. Bush is no stranger to the hatchet; he played a pivotal role in the forced resignation of his father's chief of staff John H. Sununu late in his father's term.

But Mr. Sununu's successor, Samuel K. Skinner, moved deliberately — afraid to be too abrupt as Mr. Bush prepared for his re-election campaign — and complaints continued into the last year of his term that the White House was beset by internal rivalries, squabbling and poor communications.

Mr. Bolten has indicated he is not about to make the same mistake, though he is unlikely to be able to move with complete impunity. Unlike President Bill Clinton, whose inner circle changed continually given his political needs of the moment, Mr. Bush is known for loyalty and has kept his circle nearly intact since his days as Texas governor.

Still, Mr. Bolten's message Monday seemed certain to heighten the anxiety within the White House among some staff members worried about their own positions. Mr. McClellan said the president had given Mr. Bolten wide latitude to pursue staff changes as he saw fit.

Asked if Mr. Bolten had leeway to make decisions affecting cabinet posts, Mr. McClellan said, "The president has given him the full authority to do what he needs to do, and what he believes is in the best interest of this White House and this president."

Beyond changes to the composition and structure of the West Wing staff, Mr. Bolten, along with other members of Mr. Bush's inner circle including Vice President Dick Cheney, will have to decide what to do about the two senior cabinet members most in the line of public fire right now, Mr. Rumsfeld and Mr. Snow.

Mr. Snow has expressed an interest in stepping aside this year, and Republicans with ties to the White House have been floating the names of possible successors. Mr. Bush has strongly defended Mr. Rumsfeld against criticism from some former generals and a few Congressional Republicans that he mismanaged the war in Iraq.

Mr. McClellan said there were obvious places for Mr. Bolten to get started, like suggesting a successor to himself at the Office of Management and Budget.

Several Republican officials close to the White House, who were granted anonymity to speak freely about personnel decisions, said Mr. Bolten would also quickly turn his attention to two areas that are widely considered to be pressing problems: the White House's frayed relationships with Republicans on Capitol Hill and the troubles it has had communicating its message to the public and the news media.

Mr. Bolten has some other jobs to fill, including that of domestic policy adviser, which was vacated last month by Claude A. Allen after he was arrested on charges of stealing from retailers. Filling that position could give him an opportunity to rethink the White House's domestic and economic policy operations, which have had trouble pushing Mr. Bush's agenda forward and have been criticized by some Congressional Republicans as not putting forward enough new initiatives.

Mr. McClellan was asked during two news briefings on Monday whether he would resign.

"Are you trying to tempt me here?" he replied jokingly at his afternoon briefing.

After saying that his general policy of avoiding comment on what he terms "personnel matters" held for himself, as well, Mr. McClellan added, "Two years in this position is a long time; I'm very mindful of that."