Word: rumsfelds
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Even at the start of DONALD RUMSFELD's first stint as U.S. Secretary of Defense, under President Gerald Ford, he was known for his brusque manner, and he inspired doubts among top Pentagon officials...
...projects an air of aloofness; he also creates the impression that he is too clever by half, that he coolly evaluates everyone he sees. "Each time you meet him, it's for the first time," says a White House aide. Yet Rumsfeld's intense, controlled style is a nice counterbalance to Ford's fondness for relaxed good fellowship. The two men get along well ... The Pentagon's top officers are waiting with some anxiety for Rumsfeld to take on his sixth Administration job in six years. He has not yet shown the necessary breadth of intellect to handle an assignment...
...Rumsfeld insisted that he had not leaked the memo himself. But it is widely believed inside the Pentagon that he was content to see it disclosed; the debate is much more about why. One officer explained that Rumsfeld wanted to make it clear that he didn't really believe his own rose-colored rhetoric. Another said he was reasserting his authority over Iraq policy. But perhaps the savviest explanation is also the simplest. The U.S. is spending close to $500 billion a year on defense, at home and abroad, yet Americans feel only slightly safer. Some Bush hard-liners share...
...flap unfolded, Christian activists rushed to Boykin's defense. Evangelical email armies were pressed into service and encouraged to fire in the direction of the White House. After a few days of silence on Boykin, Bush told pool reporters on Air Force One, "He didn't reflect my opinion." Rumsfeld would go no further, pleading that the sound on the videotapes of Boykin's incendiary remarks was too scratchy to be understood. In his dustup with Warner, Rumsfeld went so far as to say it was Boykin who requested a Pentagon probe--perhaps so evangelicals wouldn't blame the Bush...
...Rumsfeld, he has been down before and has usually fought his way back to grinning, redoubtable prominence. You can almost hear him writing that memo now, and it would sound a lot like the one leaked last week: "Is our current situation such that, 'The harder we work, the behinder we get?' Do we need a new organization? What else should we be considering?" --With reporting by Matthew Cooper, John F. Dickerson and Mark Thompson/Washington