Events at a Glance

INVESTIGATION

The Bush administration launched a sweeping “wartime reorganization” aimed at making counter-terrorism the dominant priority of federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies--even at the expense of other traditional operations.

HOME FRONT

Saying that the nation is waging “a war to save civilization itself,” President Bush in a televised address called on Americans not to “give in to exaggerated fears or passing rumors” in the face of the anthrax scare and the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

MILITARY CAMPAIGN

Anti-Taliban forces said they have strengthened their positions in what a key U.S. commander called a big fight underway near the strategically located city of Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan.

IN THE FIELD

Northern Alliance soldiers based in Afghanistan’s high mountain Salang Pass have more than death at the hands of the Taliban to worry about--the bitterly cold winter wind can be a killer too.

DIPLOMACY

President Bush’s transformation from a go-it-alone Texan into a coalition-building warrior will be on full display in the coming days as he addresses the U.N. General Assembly, huddles with a succession of world leaders and then returns to the White House to host Russian President Vladimir V. Putin.

SECURITY

The airline industry formally called for a massive screening system that would subject passengers to intensive background checks, providing a boost to one of the more controversial air security proposals under discussion since Sept. 11.