Former National Cable Television Association official Victoria 'Torie' Clarke
is in the running to be the top spokesperson at the Pentagon, according to
informed sources.
Clarke was the NCTA's vice president of public affairs from 1993 through 1998
-- a time when the industry was under intense pressure about rate increases and
customer-service standards.
She declined to comment on her possible Pentagon appointment.
Clarke left the NCTA to become president of Bozell Eskew, a Washington,
D.C.-based public-relations and lobbying organization. She departed Bozell Eskew
in October 1999 to become general manager of the Washington office of Hill and
Knowlton Inc., a major PR firm.
Clarke, 41, joined the NCTA following the 1992 election defeat of President
George Bush. She was a top Bush campaign spokeswoman along with Mary Matalin,
who is currently serving as a communications adviser to Vice President Richard
Cheney.
Clarke would step into the Pentagon job while the Navy is coming heavy
pressure to explain last Friday's collision between the USS Greeneville
nuclear submarine and a Japanese fishing trawler off the coast of Hawaii, which
killed nine Japanese crew members.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is also attempting to rally the defense
establishment, Congress and U.S. allies to support President George W. Bush's
call for the creation of a missile-defense shield to protect the United States
against ballistic-missile attacks launched by terrorists and rogue
states.
