WOLF BLITZER: His Next Four Years

The winds of change blowing through Washington, D.C., government buildings are also blowing through newsrooms. A major change is occurring at CNN. Wolf Blitzer, 44, who became a familiar nightly face during the Gulf War as the cable channel’s man at the Pentagon, is replacing long-time White House correspondent Charles Bierbauer. Since his days as a correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, Washington has been Blitzer’s beat. Writer Robert Koehler asked the veteran reporter about the challenges posed by a new era.

*

Like Bill Clinton, you’re going through a transition of your own. What is it like so far?

I have been wearing two hats lately, both at the Pentagon and in Little Rock with the Clinton-Gore transition team. I spent my last two days at the Pentagon showing (CNN’s) new Defense Department correspondent Jamie McIntyre where the cafeteria and bathrooms are, that sort of thing. The Pentagon is enormous, and you need a really good pair of shoes. Right after that, Charles (Bierbauer) was showing me around the White House. And on top of all this, the Somalia crisis was happening.

*

When did the transition begin for you?

Nov. 1, when I arrived in Little Rock. I would start reporting from Little Rock live if Clinton wins, which we all assumed that he would. So there I was, up at 6 a.m. on Nov. 4, reporting that President-elect Clinton is sleeping. At one level, it does make you feel silly. But at another level, there’s intense international interest in this guy. The audience wants to live through this transition. People want to know about his wife, his kid, his cat. CNN’s attitude was that since I was going to be the White House correspondent, I should start breaking bread with the Clinton people, and I see an early start as an investment in covering the White House for the next four years.

*

Bierbauer, with his nine years of White House reporting, witnessed the last change of Presidents, from Reagan to Bush. Has he been able to give you any tips on what to look for in this transition?

Unfortunately, with events in Somalia, we haven’t had a lot of time to talk about it. And, of course, this is a very different kind of transition, the first we’ve had from one party to another since 1980. There’s really no precedent to follow.

*

Putting on your Pentagon hat for a moment, how has the current U.S. involvement in Somalia reflected the kind of changes in post-Cold War military thinking that you’ve reported?

The Somalia action is very significant, in that all 15 United Nations Security Council members voted unanamously to send uninvited force into a member state that lacks a government. That is unprecedented. U.S. military humanitarian force is a new thing, but something the Defense Department has been gearing up for over several years. I interviewed (Joint Chief of Staff head) Gen. Colin Powell in the summer of 1991, and he said on-camera that, increasingly, U.S. military missions will be humanitarian, that they have that kind of capability. At the time, I thought he was speculating a little broadly. But it’s clear that the Joint Chiefs have been planning for the kind of thing we’re seeing in Somalia for at least a year.

*

So far, what seem to be the differences covering the Pentagon and the White House?

From a reporter’s point of view, they’re really large. Unlike the popular perception of the Pentagon as this shut-down, super-secret place full of tight-mouthed military types, the fact is that there are 35 miles of hallways full of people walking around, giving a reporter all sorts of chances to talk with people. It’s an expansive place, and they all watch CNN in their offices, so they know who you are and want to talk with you. The Defense Department public information officers think they have a good story to tell, and believe me, they aren’t afraid to tell it.

The White House is really cramped--or at least it feels that way after the Pentagon. And yet, because logistics demand it, I have a lot more support at the White House than at the Pentagon, where I was a one-man band. I’ll have four CNN producers who were there during the Bush years, so they’re going to be able to show me the ropes. TV coverage of the President requires a lot of travel, advance crews, feeds, some pool coverage--the headaches handled by the producers. Their job is to make me look good.

The White House press corps tends to be muzzled in the basement office. Pentagon reporting meant a lot of face-to-face impromptu talks in the hallways. Charles drove home for me the reality that White House reporting is done on the phone. More than most places, you can’t just sit in your cubbyhole. You have to cultivate sources.

*

Might that not apply even more to covering the Clinton Administration, since the transition team has been notably efficient in preventing many leaks from getting out?

So far, they’ve been pretty good at keeping a tight lid on information. There’s no doubt that Clinton would like to surprise all of us with his selections. But if the Pentagon wants to keep something secret, they can do it too. Clinton now has a small, very loyal set of advisers--Bruce Lindsay, Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, Warren Christopher, George Stephanopoulos. Once there’s a big administration, it’s hard in this town to keep too many secrets. They always think that they can keep control of information, but it always comes out.