Word: rumsfeld
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...Rumsfeld and his fellow hawks certainly had to swallow a couple of minor setbacks early on in the new administration. They were forced to bite their tongues as Powell moved to bring Washington's Iraq policy more in line with its Arab allies by calling for a relaxation of many sanctions against Baghdad while seeking to tighten control over access to military technology. And during the Hainan spy plane standoff, the Defense Secretary found himself sidelined - it was prudent for the Bush Administration, during those difficult days, to muzzle the man who'd only weeks earlier told the U.S. military...
...those were minor setbacks. On missile defense, he's won the game. The system for which he'd pressed for years has now become an article of faith in Washington, and while Powell's mission is now simply to pacify allies anxious over the implications for arms control, to Rumsfeld - not exactly a die-hard advocate of arms control - falls the job of choosing which tools to use in the building of a missile shield...
...Another reason Rumsfeld was in the news this week were reports that he'd pressed for the consolidation of the space divisions of the different armed forces into a single space command under an Air Force general. This was not a particular dramatic shift, despite the media spinning it as a step to realizing Rumsfeld's Flash Gordon vision of a Space Force protecting U.S. satellites from attack by earthly rogues. But it is an indication that the media is hanging on his every word...
...lobbyists all know a major overhaul of the U.S. military is coming down the pike, but they don't know its shape or form. The only person who does is the Defense Secretary, and the stakeholders are desperately parsing everything that looks like a leak from his office. But Rumsfeld is playing his cards so close to his chest that the Senate Armed Forces Committee is threatening to delay ratifying Defense Department appointees to protest being kept in the dark...
...Rumsfeld simply smiles, icily, through the cacophony. It will be his job to sift and synthesize the slew of contradictory proposals that emanate from these panels, and set priorities. It may have announced itself as the most conservative administration since Reagan, but the Bush team has refrained from simply throwing money at the military in the Reagan fashion. Indeed, it stuck pretty much with the defense budget figures of the Clinton Administration, planning to first undertake a comprehensive review to ensure that monies are wisely spent on remaking the military. Rumsfeld's secretive style may actually help him keep...