Secretary Card:
Good evening, I'm Andy Card -- Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush. I welcome you to the inaugural "Ask the White House" online discussion. I am pleased to be here tonight to answer your questions. The Internet is an important communications medium. We have witnessed, especially during Operation Iraqi Freedom, a substantial increase in the amount of traffic to Internet sites as more and more people -- worldwide -- are relying on the internet for information.

We see the "Ask the White House" series as another way for our citizens to interact with the White House. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and answering your questions during tonight's online discussion.

With that, I'm happy to begin . . .

Secretary Card:
Thank you for your questions tonight. Although we only skimmed the surface of the many questions you submitted, we appreciate your involvement in our first online discussion here at the White House web site. Please continue to long on to and visit whitehouse.gov -- it is a great resource.

And please join us for future online discussions as the "Ask the White House" forums continue. Tomorrow, Mark Forman, Administrator for Electronic Government, will be available online. And on Tuesday, April 22, Earth Day, EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman will host an "Ask the White House" online discussion.

Thanks again for participating. I had a great time and look forward to doing this again in the future.

All the best to all of you,

Andy Card