Probably way too much from elsewhere and the President with little or no military experience is going to listen to the think tank punditocracy because the military guys either irritate or intimidate him. That, to me is why the choice of SecDef is critical. That's a hard job to fill. Few businessmen have done well as have few of the old guard of governmental high rollers. I think Schlesinger and Laird were probably the best in my lifetime -- and I served under most and knew of all of them to date; I missed only Forrestal up front and Cohen and Rumsfeld (v 2.0) on this end...
Probably not much unless he's charismatic and the rather banal news types take a liking to him. That's, IMO, as it should be. I'm more worried about what he does or doesn't do downstream as opposed to media or upward influence."How much influence does a COCOM have given the media, the personality of a president, the experience and comfort zone of a SEC DEF and their bias, the crisis at hand?"
Nah, the system works almost in spite of itself -- the bureaucracy in the building is hard for any one guy to affect -- my issue is that we do not need to have the parochial battles and repeats of Eagle Claw and Urgent Fury where each service has a piece of the action but the combined advice of all the Chiefs is likely to be a better deal for the decision makers than is one guy who may or may not accurately report the group view. Theoretically, the SecDef and the CJCS go in the Tank and a position is reached and the two play honest brokers with the Prez and I'm sure that happens mostly"I'm not sure there are too many other ways to do it. I mean the President could pick his or her CJCS without worrying about which Joint Flavor of the month it is, but that too has its ills. He/She cold delegate it to the SEC DEF, but again, personal bias may enter in. I'm sure as it is, politics plays a role in the nomination, which at the level is probably some what natural - given the convergence of policy and strategy."
But do recall, I'm an cynical old Dude...
. . .
Agree on that. Awesome personality and a great person. Any General that could manipulate Georgey Patton had to be a great one..."You know, I don't think I saw Marshall on anybody's list. It may go to our fascination with the tactical - where men die, things are blown up, and celluloid records. I think when you consider the scope of his role, the various personalities involved, and the manner in which he kept himself from becoming politicized, it is humbling. If not one of our greatest generals, he is certainly one of our greatest citizens."
Regards all, Rob
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