More than halfway through his term, President Bush still doesn't have a confirmed Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere. The reason is one of those Beltway scandals that deserves more public attention, not least because the episode is doing tangible harm to U.S. national interests.

The stability of the Americas is obviously vital to U.S. security, and U.S. leadership is essential for a stable Latin America. But with Colin Powell and Mr. Bush otherwise engaged with the Middle East, the absence of a political appointee at State has let the troubles that began in the Clinton years grow worse.

In Colombia, Marxist guerrillas are spilling into other Andean nations and mixing it up with IRA bomb specialists. Islamic fundamentalists operate in the Southern Cone's lawless triple-border area of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. In Cuba, Castro is chummy with Iran and pulling Venezuela ever closer to him. And north of the border, al Qaeda appears to view Canada as a launching pad into the belly of the infidel.

The dangers are clear and present--except apparently to a bipartisan trio of Senators. Democrats Christopher Dodd and Max Baucus and Republican Mike Enzi are stalling the confirmation of Roger Noriega, Mr. Bush's latest nominee for the Western Hemisphere job at State. Mr. Noriega is the current U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States, and no one doubts that he is qualified for the job or would be confirmed if his name got to the Senate floor.

This is a familiar stand for Mr. Dodd, who refused to let Mr. Bush's first nominee for the post, Otto Reich, even get a hearing. Mr. Reich also had bipartisan support and would have been confirmed on the floor, but instead the President had to give him a recess appointment that expired at the end of the last Congressional session.

Now it's round two, and this time Mr. Dodd couldn't deny a hearing in a GOP-controlled Senate. But he still has the power to delay, and once again his motives appear to include his obsession with a kinder, gentler policy toward Fidel Castro. One of his ploys was a threat to hold up Mr. Noreiga's nomination unless the White House released a confidential end-of-tour cable from the recently departed head of the U.S. interests section in Havana. The Administration showed the cable to Mr. Dodd and two other Senators but refused to release it to staffers on the reasonable grounds that it would discourage honest communication if diplomats thought their views would be disseminated around Capitol Hill. Mr. Dodd still doesn't want Mr. Noriega to get a vote.

For his part, Mr. Baucus has threatened to invoke his Senatorial right to put a "hold" on Mr. Noriega unless Majority Leader Bill Frist agrees to allow a Senate vote on whether to end the U.S. travel ban to Cuba. Mr. Enzi, who sees in Cuba a potential market for American grain, has joined the cause. He apparently has no problem undercutting his President if it makes him look good in front of Wyoming farmers.