Obama’s Pentagon-in-Waiting

[jonSlack]

of the CNAS folk. John Nagl is a friend; he is "wicked smart." He is also very knowledgeable about COIN and was a principal author of 3-24. If he were to become ASD-SO/LIC (as the article speculates) it would enhance the profile of LIC (SASO/MOOTW/Small Wars and the 100 other names). But, I'm not sure that John has the full confidence of the sOF community - it is something he would have to earn.

Any possibility of John Nagl becoming Secretary of the Army?

For DASD SO/LIC, does Michael Vickers need to be replaced? Or, are there any calls for him to stay on for at least the beginning of the new administration?

[bourbon]

For DASD SO/LIC, does Michael Vickers need to be replaced? Or, are there any calls for him to stay on for at least the beginning of the new administration?

Hi jonSlack,
From the article I posted it seems that it's hard to find a replacement for Michael Vickers, and he would probably be asked to stick around for awhile.

The report states that the post of Michael Vickers, assistant secretary for special operations and low-intensity conflict, seems "conspicuously designed" to fit Vickers' background. "It is unlikely another person would have a professional background as well suited to this position as the incumbent," the report notes. "As a result, it is not clear that in subsequent administrations it will be possible to fill this position with an individual who can succeed across the very broad span of control in this organization for which this OASD is responsible," CSIS writes.

[jonSlack]

Washington Times - Obama eyes posts for Cleland, Holder

President-elect Barack Obama is quickly shaping his White House staff and policy - considering former Sen. Max Cleland and Eric H. Holder Jr. for top administration posts and promising governors and world leaders he would pursue an aggressive global-warming plan because "denial is no longer an acceptable response."

...

A source familiar with transition planning said Mr. Cleland, a Vietnam veteran and triple amputee, is under consideration for either secretary of Veterans Affairs or secretary of the Army in an Obama administration, and liberal grass-roots support is building for his selection.

[mmx1]

CNN reporting Gen. Jim Jones is a leading choice for NSA:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...urity-advisor/

[120mm]

And don't even THINK about making any "Kool-Aid" jokes.....

[jkm_101_fso]

Obama Plans to Retain Gates at Defense Department

-PETER BAKER and THOM SHANKER

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama has decided to keep Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in his post, a show of bipartisan continuity in a time of war that will be the first time a Pentagon chief has been carried over from a president of a different party, Democrats close to the transition said Tuesday.

Mr. Obama’s advisers were nearing a formal agreement with Mr. Gates to stay on for perhaps a year, the Democrats said, and they expected to announce the decision as early as next week, along with other choices for the national security team. The two sides have been working out details on how Mr. Gates would wield authority in a new administration.

The move will give the new president a defense secretary with support on both sides of the aisle in Congress, as well as experience with foreign leaders around the world and respect among the senior military officer corps. But two years after President Bush picked him to lead the armed forces, Mr. Gates will now have to pivot from serving the commander in chief who started the Iraq war to serving one who has promised to end it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/26/us...c73&ei=5087%0A

[Tom Odom]

Susan Rice is an excellent choice. I met her on that visit and was impressed by her intellect and her willingness to speak and act clearly, with a corresponding intolerance for those who would dissimulate or quibble.

Choice for U.N. Backs Action Against Mass Killings

...During her first run at the State Department, Ms. Rice was a point person in responding to Al Qaeda’s 1998 bombing of United States Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. But her most searing experience was visiting Rwanda after the 1994 genocide when she was still on the N.S.C. staff.

As she later described the scene, the hundreds, if not thousands, of decomposing, hacked up bodies that she saw haunted her and fueled a desire to never let it happen again.

“I swore to myself that if I ever faced such a crisis again, I would come down on the side of dramatic action, going down in flames if that was required,” she told The Atlantic Monthly in 2001. She eventually became a sharp critic of the Bush administration’s handling of the Darfur killings and last year testified before Congress on behalf of an American-led bombing campaign or naval blockade to force a recalcitrant Sudanese government to stop the slaughter.