Which leads me to Work.
Hagel has been shown to be exactly what everyone thought he was. A light weight that wasn't ready for prime time. He is expert at one thing. Not wanting to go to war. When it comes to everything else...strategy, procurement, personnel matters, diplomatic relations...he's at a loss.
In steps the Work possibility.
If Work is the actual nominee for Deputy SecDef then its gonna get horrible. The JCS has shown NO backbone on anything but they appear to be getting ready to fight more budget cuts. Work will short circuit that in a heartbeat. He knows the department, he knows where waste is and he has a plan. In essence, the Work nomination signals that the worse case projections for personnel cuts is a fact. I've been predicting as much but this indicates that the worse case might be optimistic. 150k Marines? We might fall to 145K or 140K.
The DoD is about to be murdered and they're bringing in "Jack the Ripper" Work to do the deed.
Maybe terrible, but maybe not. There are many variables. Bob Work has been a strategic thinker and better, he has engaged with the public as here:
ReplyDeleteTalking Littoral Combat Ships With the Under
http://www.informationdissemination.net/2013/01/talking-littoral-combat-ships-with-under.html
Work has said a lot about the Littoral Combat Ship, but little about the JSF. Apparently it's over his pay grade, being joint and all. But he did do this in August 2011 according to Bill Sweetman:
"Work has ordered the Department of the Navy to go back and examine the Joint Strike Fighter program. Work also directed service leaders to study whether the Navy and Marines could operate fewer than the 40 squadrons of JSFs currently planned (supported by 680 aircraft, divided equally between Bs and Cs) and to look at the possibility of accelerating development of unmanned alternative systems. Canceling both the F-35B and F-35C was not identified as an option.
"The instructions were included in a July 7 memo from Work to Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley, Vice Chief Of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert and assistant Marine Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford. Work told the leaders to form a team to develop three alternative tactical aviation force structures, respectively representing cost savings of $5 billion, $7.5 billion and $10 billion across the future years defense plan. Ultimately, Work expects to determine the best-value alternative, factoring in both cost and capability."
http://www.informationdissemination.net/2011/08/navy-reviews-options-for-jsf.html
In any case he would be better than Frank Kendall, who constantly has his knee-pads on for industry and won't talk to anyone else.
This is the Man who thinks the LCS is the Next great Frigate. I think the DoD is going to be a in a heap of trouble now
ReplyDeleteI know, but he's not the only one (many in uniform who should know better) and he was willing to discuss it.
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