The Wednesday Quote

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said something interesting on Wednesday. From the transcript of his speech.

But in all seriousness, Ash’s experience and his strategic vision will be invaluable in this time, in particular, of fiscal challenge and as our military faces a turning point after a decade of war. As my Deputy, Ash serves as the Department’s Chief Management Officer, and is taking the lead on looking at wasteful spending, eliminating inefficiency, and finding ways to reduce costs while maintaining the finest military force on the face of the earth. He is also guiding the Department’s ongoing assessment of our current and future strategic needs, which will shape the kind of force we absolutely have to have for the challenges of today and the threats of tomorrow.

This is no easy challenge, as those of you that have worked in the Pentagon understand. There are a number of areas that you have to look at, and every area has implications in terms of the impact on national security. To be able to look at each of those areas, to look at the weapons systems, to look at the force structure, to look at the areas for efficiencies, to look at all of the various elements that are here, to be able to analyze them in terms of impact, understand those impacts, is absolutely essential if we’re to do the best possible job on behalf of the American people to be able to meet our fiscal responsibility, and yet also meet our responsibility to national security.

As a nation and as a Department, the challenges we face are absolutely enormous. But we also have great opportunity, and every challenge represents an important opportunity for the future - an opportunity to forge a better force for the future and an opportunity to modernize and strengthen our military. Ash’s experience, his intuition, and his ability to institute change will be essential to seizing these opportunities as we move the Department of Defense into the future.

I was under the impression Michèle Flournoy was leading "the Department’s ongoing assessment of our current and future strategic needs" but maybe not?

Thoughts?