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| WH to Nominate FJ Harvey for Army Secretary |
| 2004-07-07 |
| NYT Reg Req’d (h/t Lucianne) By ERIC SCHMITT / Published: July 7, 2004 WASHINGTON, July 6 — In a surprising development, the White House plans to nominate Francis J. Harvey, a defense industry engineer known for his business acumen, to be the new secretary of the Army, Congressional officials said Tuesday. The Army job has been filled by an interim appointee for more than a year, and with time running out in this Senate session, most Army and Congressional officials expected it would stay that way until next year, after the presidential and Congressional elections. But in a reflection of a desire to have stronger leadership at the Army in the midst of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, strains on Army forces worldwide and a major restructuring of the service, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is nearing a decision to recommend that President Bush select Mr. Harvey for the job, officials said. Two Senate aides said the Pentagon had notified them Tuesday that the White House would announce Mr. Harvey’s selection in the next few days. "The Army has a full plate with a lot of difficult issues, and has not had a service secretary for more than a year," said a senior defense official. "We need an Army secretary." Mr. Harvey, a former chief operating officer for a division of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, was nominated in November 2003 to be the Pentagon’s assistant secretary for networks and information integration, in effect, the department’s chief information officer overseeing its vast military command and communications systems. Mr. Harvey’s nomination as an assistant secretary cleared the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this year. It has been held up for final Senate approval, along with about 10 other civilian nominations, because of a dispute between the Defense Department and Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, over a plan for the Air Force to lease refueling planes from the Boeing Company. Under the Pentagon proposal, the White House will renominate Mr. Harvey for the top Army job, and then bank on the fact that he has already undergone a security background check and a Senate hearing to squeeze him through the narrow window remaining on the Senate calendar this election year. Alternatively, he could be installed as a recess appointee, although there was no indication that Pentagon officials plan to use that approach. Mr. Harvey held several managerial and executive positions at Westinghouse from 1969 to 1997. He earned a bachelor’s degree in metallurgy engineering and material science from the University of Notre Dame, and a doctoral degree in the same field from the University of Pennsylvania. Les Brownlee, a decorated Vietnam veteran who is the under secretary of the Army, has been serving as the acting Army secretary since Thomas E. White, a former executive of Enron Corporation, resigned abruptly last April after repeated clashes with Mr. Rumsfeld. Mr. Brownlee, a retired Army colonel and Silver Star recipient, is widely respected among the Army rank and file and on Capitol Hill, where he was a longtime Senate aide. The White House then nominated Air Force Secretary James G. Roche to fill the job, but Mr. Roche asked in March that his name be withdrawn after the selection became embroiled in a sexual assault scandal at the Air Force Academy and the dispute over the Boeing plane lease. Mr. Roche remains the Air Force secretary. Senior Pentagon officials have expressed growing exasperation that several top civilian positions remain bottled up in the Senate because of the dispute with Mr. McCain. The promotions and reassignments of military officers have been approved. "Everyone in the world wants to help us fix the Army, except give us an Army secretary," the senior defense official said. By any standard, the Army is facing a daunting array of problems and challenges. It is stretched dangerously thin as it struggles to maintain more than 115,000 soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as smaller deployments elsewhere. It is restructuring its forces into brigade-size units and is revamping its mix of active-duty soldiers and reservists. It is preparing to recall for year-long tours 5,600 former soldiers who had left the service and not joined the reserves. They would serve mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan. This month, Mr. Brownlee is expected to make public a broad new Army report that concludes that serious problems in training, organization and policy regarding military detention operations in Iraq and Afghanistan contributed to the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison. "The Army really needs some strong leadership," said one military official. "Brownlee is a nice guy, but with the Army at war and lots of changes going on back home, I think there is a perception that they need to put a confirmed secretary in the position who can bring some new vigor to the effort." In this election-shortened campaign year, however, it would be difficult to win Senate approval for Mr. Harvey, even if Mr. McCain relented on his nomination. "That’s a big nominee to get through right now," said a Senate Republican aide. "And it’s getting late for any nominations." |
| Posted by:.com |
| #2 Weeeel, I just plain like large rabbits. |
| Posted by: Jimmy 2004-07-07 8:15:54 PM |
| #1 It is preparing to recall for year-long tours 5,600 former soldiers who had left the service and not joined the reserves. Make that 'drilling reserves' and the NYT would be corrrect. Guess they were distracted by their drooling over an opportunity to work 'Abu Ghraib' into the article. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2004-07-07 3:51:29 PM |