Word: laird
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...months is a short time in which to master the intricacies of the Pentagon from inside, but Laird has made an energetic start. Since he lacks administrative experience, he fought hard to get as his deputy David Packard, the centimillionaire co-proprietor of a West Coast electronics firm that has had sizable defense contracts. While Laird has immersed himself in day-to-day Pentagon business in order to learn the nuts and bolts of the Defense Department, Packard has taken on the long-range tasks. He heads the studies on ABM, the aftermath of Pueblo's seizure, the defense...
...Laird has brought to the defense job the easy informality of the skilled politician. He usually ducks down from Suite 3-E 880 to eat in the staff mess. This week he will take 30 of his top aides, military and civilian, down to Airlie House in Virginia for strategic discussions. In a gesture unheard of under his two predecessors, Laird invited their wives along...
Besides recruiting the experienced Packard, Laird has kept on two key men: Secretary of the Army (since 1965) Stanley Resor and the Pentagon's research and engineering chief, Dr. John Foster, an extremely articulate scientist who has had the job for four years. When Laird wanted to provide a questioning Senator with technical data during last week's hearings, he turned either to Packard or Foster. Laird is hardly unsympathetic to the uniformed military Establishment, but he has laid down one ground rule for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Under McNamara, top generals and admirals often aired their...
...have always been a critic," Laird confessed last December after Nixon had named him to head Defense. "I used to have the reputation of being a good questioner," he said last week. He began his ABM testimony with a disarming prologue. "I come before you today with rather mixed emotions. On the one hand, I am happy to be back in the familiar surroundings of the committee hearing room. On the other hand, I have an uneasy feeling that I may be on the wrong side of the table-where one is expected to have good answers and not just...
...this is great because, without some sign that the U.S. can turn over more of the fighting to the South Vietnamese, the American nation may simply not be prepared to continue the Viet Nam war effort long enough to reach a satisfactory settlement in Paris. When Defense Secretary Melvin Laird arrived in Viet Nam on a fact-finding tour, he suggested that it might be possible to bring some 50,000 soldiers home this year. Last week, his tour completed, Laird reported in Washington that at present this did not seem possible after all. It was unwelcome news, allayed only...