Problems at the Pentagon

 

 

 

"We got trouble, right here in river city..."

Yesterday, as most have heard by now, Chuck Hagel, our Secretary of Defense "resigned". Okay, if you believe the Washington insiders, he was fired. Turned out he was not a "good fit" for this most important position. Who would be? Maybe nobody.

Chuck Hagel, a Viet Nam veteran, a former Senator, could not take it any longer. He did not want to leave his job, he just wanted his job to become for relevant in an ever more dangerous world. A few months ago, General Dempsey and Chuck Hagel had a "presser" to discuss the growing threat of ISIL. They had both just been briefed by their generals to get the true picture of the threat. During the "presser", it was if they had both seen a ghost - they looked shell shocked. Hagel called ISIL "the greatest threat this country has seen since 9/11." His boss was calling ISIL a "JV" organization. And that, is where the real problem has been for the past six years.

Hagel is not a bad man. He was not my choice to be Secretary of Defense once Gates and Panetta left. The real problem at the Defense Department was summed up by an analyst on the news. There is a communication problem between the White House and the Pentagon. Oh, there is communication - only it is one way. The White House does not listen to the war fighters in the Pentagon. In fact, this group of elitists who occupy the West Wing don't know a wit about the military. However, that does not stop them from trying to micromanage this fine organization.

Here is the story in a nutshell. Hagel, like many others who study the Pentagon, know the numbers do not add up. That is unless you are using Common Core math. This month we learned we have "mission creep" in Afghanistan as well as more resources deployed in Iraq. The ISIL treat continues to grow as that organization continues to strengthen. Russia is still tinkering in the Ukraine, and China is slowly becoming a regional super power in the Western Pacific. What are we doing? We are riffing middle grade officers by the thousands and everyone is gearing up for the next set of sequester cuts next October. See what I mean about the math?

As big of a liar as Bill Clinton was, this best example of telling the truth was when he said (before becoming President) that he "loathed the military". I don't know if our current Commander in Chief feels that strongly, but I think he might have some antipathy for the organization. With that being the culture, a good "fix" for what ails the Pentagon might be two years away.

So who would be a good replacement for Hagel? Many are saying David Petraeus. I agree with that suggestion. Instead, I see POTUS nominating a pointy headed academia type that believes in the "groupthink" coming out of the West Wing. If that is the case, look for our Pentagon to become more of a shell than an Aegis. 2016 - you can not come soon enough!