The Doctor Is Armed

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Yet there are some job hazards Carmona may not be so prepared for. His record as an administrator is mixed. After he took over Pima County's struggling public-health-care system in 1997, it continued to lose millions of dollars, and he was forced to resign. What's more, his views on such potentially explosive issues as abortion and fetal-tissue research are not yet known. (The Administration says his views are similar to the President's.) On the other hand, Surgeons General often face unexpected crises--and respond in unexpected ways. Ronald Reagan chose pediatric surgeon C. Everett Koop in 1981 for his solid pro-life credentials. But when AIDS emerged in the '80s, Koop surprised the skeptics by being the one Reagan official to respond to the crisis with aggressive measures.

One thing seems certain: Carmona won't be fazed by an emergency. After a medevac helicopter crashed into the side of a mountain in 1992, he saved the only survivor by dangling from another chopper on a rope, hooking the wounded paramedic to himself and carrying him to safety three miles away. Match that, Dr. Koop.

--Reported by John F. Dickerson/Washington and David Schwartz/Phoenix