"The next president will inherit the most daunting security environment" an incoming commander in chief has ever been handed, said Michí¨le Flournoy, a former top Pentagon strategic planner in President Bill Clinton's administration. "America has not had a grand strategy since the end of the Cold War." Not since the Vietnam War have so many US troops been involved in shooting wars during a presidential transition.
Either Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., or Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., will inherit the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus a number of troubled weapon programs and other military challenges.
There is talk in Washington that the new president should consider keeping some Bush appointees on after he takes office, at least until his nominees are confirmed.
Good choices all - hopefully transition reality will turn this DC chatter into concrete action.
Comments
Dave,
Retaining the current staff after new inauguration while awaiting legislative process would create conditions for rear guard de facto veto of a new President's direction. For the electorate it would be like instituting the 2000 Florida Harris voting administration in DoD. We will have tired chad readers in the war rooms.
We are now in the process of spending what may become the last 165 Billion of the largess herded by England and Young from Treasury to friends. Our enemies are not intimidated and may be quite pleased with the annuity returned by the our deficit funding with their sovereign wealth funds.
Gates has placed a minor player in the IG position and no verification of the needs statement will be initiated. (Although if Gates made the desk top warriors wear the Aggie dress uniform to work in lieu of those pajamas with UGGs and berets they now wear, there may be an indication of transition tendencies however latent.)
Our low intensity conflict strategies have left GITMO full, bin Laden free, arms traders wealthy and term paper bins full with unoriginal work from appropriately diversified authors.
Successful transitions start with a clean slate. November to 01 09 is plenty of time for recovery and a healthy move forward.
Bill,
I'll have to disagree. Throwing out the baby with the bath water is not the solution to get through a transition that may well be the most difficult weve seen in decades.
There is plenty of well-deserved house-cleaning to be done - so I understand your position. That said, there are several in critical defense positions that could very well smooth things over as we turn over to a new administration. The four mentioned above fall into that category. If we were to turn back the clock to the 2004 election I would be in complete agreement...
Dave
It would be better if the chatter took a transition to its home state. It is rear guard work by scoundrels best suited for the sideshows of state fairs or revival tents.
Other Americans, others who are living in the current economic chaos or on the third forgotten deployment; who understand the unequal terms of trade that those without nearly a decade of beltway patronage are paying; what a millstone all that pentagon sclerosis is creating and how little honor and commitment to the Constitution is sitting within its walls.
Those Other Americans can rise to the call from a new election in a nanosecond. That is what we are about.
Like Cromwell, this cabal of REMFs have stayed far too long, just go.
We need fresh air - it is the superior transition.