Upcoming Personnel Changes May Reshape Pentagon Leadership

[Batgirl]

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is preparing personnel moves that will reshape the Pentagon leadership for the second Bush administration.

Navy Secretary Gordon England, a Rumsfeld troubleshooter who did two tours as Navy secretary sandwiched around a stint as deputy secretary of Homeland Security, would become Air Force secretary under the plan, Pentagon sources said. England’s quiet, efficient political and management skills are viewed as critical attributes for an Air Force still reeling from the tanker-lease scandal and sexual assaults at the Air Force Academy.

Rumsfeld and his staff are also working to fill other high-level slots, including the Pentagon acquisition chief, vacant since May 2003.

Insiders say the Navy is likely to lose its top military officer, Adm. Vern Clark, who sources said has told his staff he will retire in July. His most likely successor: Adm. Michael Mullen, the former vice chief of naval operations, now Commander-in-Chief U.S. Naval Forces Europe.

Clark, who agreed to extend his tour as Chief of Naval Operations by two years 10 months ago, was seen as a candidate to succeed Air Force Gen. Richard Myers as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But Washington insiders now speculate that Clark is no longer in the running for the chairman’s job in a contest that includes Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the current vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Adm. Ed Giambastiani, Rumsfeld’s former military assistant who is today the commander of the U.S. Joint Forces Command.

Others say that Clark, the longest-serving CNO since Arleigh Burke in the 1960s, wants to spend more time with his family.

Some Navy officials worry that losing both England and Clark within months of each other would be particularly painful in the midst of a Quadrennial Defense Review, which will set out spending patterns for the next four years and beyond. But a Pentagon source dismissed that fear.

“No service has a better thought-through flag management plan,” a source said. “They have it figured out down to the one star-level. It’s one of the singular achievements of Clark and England, who spent a lot of time planning the chart.”

Problem Solver

The Air Force, meanwhile, is embroiled in controversy over a proposed $23 billion deal to equip the Air Force with Boeing aerial tankers. The tanker affair enraged Senate Armed Services Committee members, particularly McCain, who focused his ire on former Air Force Secretary Jim Roche, who stepped down on Jan. 19.

England has the integrity, political ties and management skills to restore confidence in the Air Force, the source said.

“England would bring four critical skills to the table for the Air Force,” said Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute. “First, he understands aerospace technologies inside out. Second, he is an experienced stable manager. Third, he’s proven his ability to deal effectively with Congress. And fourth, he is the most successful member of the Rumsfeld team at the service level. He has simply outshined every other political appointee at that level over the last four years.”

England, a defense industry veteran with a reputation for solving problems, has tackled some of the Pentagon’s thorniest challenge of recent years.

For example, he’s the point man on the new National Security Personnel System demanded by Congress in 2003 to modernize DoD’s 800,000 civilian personnel worldwide.

And after the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. government was allowed to hold enemy combatants captured in Afghanistan and Iraq without a hearing, England was tapped to head the Combatant Status Review Tribunal that assesses each case to decide who should be released, or remain behind bars.

England was named the first deputy Homeland Security secretary after the department was launched in late 2002, but he was lured back to the Navy secretary job by Rumsfeld in 2003 after England’s planned replacement at Navy, businessman Colin McMillan, committed suicide.

England’s Navy

It has been his performance in two tenures as Navy secretary that has won Rumsfeld’s trust in England as a manager who can get things done.

Assisted by Clark, he reworked the Navy’s aviation and shipbuilding plans, driven by what he views as simple budget realities. In 2002, he, Clark, and former Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Jones agreed to consolidate Navy and Marine Corps tactical aviation forces and cut future aircraft purchase plans by more than 500 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and F/A-18 fighters.

England and Clark also worked on the One Shipyard concept, which harnesses the entire U.S. naval industrial base to help warships surge into operations faster during a crisis.

His coming appointment at Air Force would fit with “Rumsfeld’s overall approach of using guys he’s comfortable with to tackle tough assignments,” said Dov Zakheim, Rumsfeld’s former Pentagon comptroller and now a vice president at the Booz Allen Hamilton consultancy, who expressed surprise at the proposed move. “Gordon is Rumsfeld’s fixer. He’s the administration’s ‘go to’ guy because he’s the best manager in the Department of Defense. He’s terrific.”

“The Navy is now operating at a level of efficiency unheard of 10 years ago by thinking outside the box,” Zakheim said. “And all without hearing a peep about inefficiency or scandal. So if you have an Air Force that people see as troubled and that’s in hot water with members, who are you going to turn to?”

The strong and innovative Clark, one source added, has been key to England’s success.

“Gordon has had a dream job, in one sense. Yes, he is terrific, but he inherited Vern Clark and a Navy that had a vision,” said one source familiar with Pentagon leadership matters. “The other secretaries didn’t have Vern Clark. Not that John Jumper isn’t terrific, he is, but Clark is a cut above when it comes to strategic thinking. Because of that, Rumsfeld went out of his way to extend him another two years.”

Former officials who worked in the Rumsfeld Pentagon said England would be well suited to run the Air Force, which could prove a stepping stone to a higher job within the Defense Department.

England has been regularly mentioned as the likely internal candidate to replace either Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz or Rumsfeld, which either man step down. Both have said they plan to stay as long as the White House wants them.

Also In The Mix

If England is named for the top Air Force job, it remains unclear what post, if any, Barbara Barrett would fill. When Roche was nominated for the Army post, Barrett, a former Federal Aviation Administration chief, was tapped to take the Air Force slot.

The last confirmed person to hold DoD’s top procurement post be was Edward “Pete” Aldridge, who stepped down in May 2003. Deputy acquisition chief Mike Wynne has been serving as the acting undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. But Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and other powerful lawmakers have objected to promoting him.

Other candidates for top Pentagon posts include:

• Kent Kresa, Northrop Grumman’s former chairman and CEO.

• Phil Odeen, TRW’s former chairman and CEO who also is a long-time member of the Defense Science Board.

• Dan Coats, a former senator and one-time candidate for defense secretary who now the U.S. ambassador to Germany.

• Denis Bovin, the vice chairman of investment banking at Bear Stearns who is a member of both the Defense Science Board and the Defense Policy Board.

• Phillip Merrill, the president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

• Steven Conver, an IBM executive and former Army acquisition chief.

• Chris Lehman, a Washington defense consultant and former legislative director for the National Security Council during the Reagan administration.

Replacing Roche

Shifting a sitting service secretary to another service is not new to Rumsfeld, who tried nearly two years ago to move Roche from the Air Force secretariat to take the same job in the Army. Roche’s nomination collapsed as McCain and other critics on the Senate Armed Services Committee blamed him for the tanker mess and for failing to more aggressively address a sexual assault scandal at the Air Force Academy.

Although Rumsfeld had enough confidence in Roche to nominate him for Army secretary, Roche was no lapdog. He repeatedly clashed with the DoD leadership as he worked to shield top service programs from cuts. For example, he protected the F/A-22 fighter program until his last weeks on the job, when DoD officials dialed the program back by about 100 jets to 175 planes. Roche publicly protested the move on his way out the door.

“Jim’s brilliant, but he was combative at every turn. Gordon’s strength in the Air Force will be to fix the credibility gap with the Hill and OMB [the Office of Management and Budget], which can either be formidable opponents or supporters,” said the source familiar with Pentagon leadership matters. “He’s got the relationships and the high personal integrity that can get things on track.”

Roche withdrew from the Army secretary nomination in March 2004; Fran Harvey was tapped and confirmed in November.

Air Force Moves

The tanker mess tied up several high-profile jobs in the Air Force’s uniformed ranks as well. After McCain during a confirmation hearing blasted personally Gen. Greg “Speedy” Martin, tapped by Rumsfeld as the first Air Force general to head the U.S. Pacific Command, Martin withdrew his nomination. That slot, once held by McCain's father, will instead remain in Navy hands; Adm. William Fallon has been tapped for the top Pacific post.

Martin’s withdrawal in turn stalled the promotions of two general officers, Lt. Gen. Bruce Carlson, the commander of the 8th Air Force at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., and Maj. Gen. Kevin Chilton, the acting assistant vice chief of staff for Air Force headquarters at the Pentagon. Carlson was to have replaced Martin at Air Force Materiel Command, and Chilton was to have replaced Carlson at the 8th Air Force.

Defense News

[USMCRET6391]

I hate to say this, but I am becoming more convinced that the change that needs to be made at the Defense Department is removing and replacing Rumsfield. I think his ambitions are clouding his judgment.

[Brad]

I couldn't disagree with you more.

[Batgirl]

From an outsider's view, I've always thought he was an effective Defence Secretary. Hasn't he transformed your military for the better?

[Covertness]

I'm a big Rummy supporter as well but what the hell does some squid know about the Air Force?