In October 2003, President “Bush agreed to set up a new task force, the Iraq Stabilization Group, which was to coordinate Iraq policy from the White House and be run by [National Security Advisor Condoleezza] Rice. Early in October, she sent a memo describing the new group to [Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld, [Secretary of State Colin] Powell, and [CIA Director George] Tenet. [Journalist] David Sanger broke the story in The New York Times on October 6 [2003], and wrote that at the State Department and ‘in some offices in the White House,’ the decision to create the group was interpreted as a direct effort ‘to diminish the authority of the Pentagon and Mr. Rumsfeld’ in the next phase of the war.”
– Elisabeth Bumiller, Condoleezza Rice: An American Life, Page 224