Madeleine Albright

* Re “Albright Lashes Out at Staff for Security Lapses,” May 4:

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright must have forgotten the famous statement of President Harry S. Truman, “The buck stops here.” As head of the State Department, Albright should have heard the buck fall with a resounding thud on her desk.

Ultimately, however, the buck stops with Bill Clinton, a president singularly incapable of accepting responsibility for anything unpleasant. From the earliest days of his administration, when White House staffers thumbed their noses at required security clearances, security has been disdained and ignored on many fronts. Thus has Clinton “led” his administration and, indeed, the country in a new era of irresponsibility.

PATRICIA MILHAM

Woodland Hills

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* Twenty-two thousand people? No wonder Albright doesn’t know what’s going on at State, always known as “foggy bottom” around the Beltway. Trying to supervise a population of 22,000 bureaucrats at the State Department is a daunting job for even the most organized person, much less Albright. In a sea of humanity such as this, individuals probably don’t know what they are doing, they are so used to the confusion.

What Albright should do is hire an expert chain-saw man from private industry to cut this horde down about 50% or more. The fired ones will never be missed, and think of the money that the taxpayers will save.

JAMES KERR

Laguna Beach