When Vice President Lyndon Johnson praised the brilliance of
President John Kennedy's cabinet, House Speaker Sam Rayburn, with his soft
Texas twang replied, "I just wish one of them had ever run for
sheriff."
President Obama’s new Defense Department fails the Rayburn test. Of
Obama’s top appointees in DoD, only three have run for office – and two of them
are Republicans. In fact, of the top 5 civilians appointed by President Obama
to DoD, 3 are Republicans (Secretary of Defense Hagel, Secretary of the Army
McHugh and Secretary of the Air Force Donnelly).
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus is the only Democratic defense
leader who has “run for sheriff.” Among all the appointed undersecretaries and
assistant secretaries in DoD, none have run for political office, campaigned
door-to-door for candidates, worked the polls or joined a local political committee.
To execute Secretary Hagel’s call for “fundamental change,” appointed
leaders in DoD must rebalance risk, jobs, readiness, healthcare, pay, technology,
modernization, strategy and a million other details. Every change to the status
quo will be opposed by powerful and conflicting constituencies. Surmounting
entrenched forces takes political power. As Woodrow Wilson said, “If you want
to make enemies, try to change something.”
DoD appointees must understand political power before they can use
it. A large degree of political understanding comes only from fights in the
political trenches, not watching other people make decisions or reading Bob
Woodward’s books. Not every appointed leader in DoD needs this skill set, but
the posse needs to be larger than one Democrat and two Republicans.
The Pentagon can be an insular place. It needs credible leaders
who can explain political realities to the military while explaining military
realities to politicians. Those who made political decisions in the past are more
credible in military and Congressional circles when advocating political
decisions for the future.
Working together, political leaders in the White House, the
Congress and in the Pentagon will shape a new defense agenda. If DoD wants to lead
this reshaping, it needs more leaders with political bones. DoD needs more
leaders who have “run for sheriff.”
