Cheney is point man for administration

Vice President Dick Cheney

By John King
CNN Senior White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Vice President Dick Cheney's latest round of tests and treatment for a chronic heart condition comes at a time he is serving as the administration's point man on three major issues: energy, global warming, and domestic terrorism.

Cheney was the head of the administration task force that drafted the energy report that President Bush is now trying to push through the Congress.

Since the completion of that report Cheney has been tapped by the president to head two additional task forces: global warming and domestic terrorism.

Cheney's charge on the environmental front is to develop recommendations to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases -- the administration's effort to come up with alternatives to the Kyoto Treaty.

Bush has faced sharp criticism from environmental groups at home and several key allies overseas for refusing to embrace the Kyoto accord, which calls for mandatory reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

The president also has charged Cheney with assessing the threat of domestic terrorism and generating an administration plan to respond to coordinate government efforts to respond to new threats.

Among the issues under discussion are whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency or some other government agency should take the lead in coordinating government responses to terrorist threats or actions.

Both task forces have loose deadlines for the coming fall. Cheney said he wanted to complete the terrorism task force by October, and aides have said the global warming review should be completed in the September-October time frame as well.