DoD Buzz is covering the news of the Quadrennial Defense Review Review Panel, noting several new appointments. For those who have not been following this, Congress included a law requiring an eight member independent panel to review the Quadrennial Defense Review findings. The panel will be picked by congressional defense committee leaders and the Secretary of Defense. The panel appears to be coming together.
According to DoD Buzz, Defense Secretary Robert Gates will ask former Defense Secretary Bill Perry to be one cochairman of the oversight panel. DoD Buzz is reporting Perry would be the Democratic co-chair, leaving Gates still to find a GOP member. Today House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton also selected his panel members; retired general Robert Scales and former Air Force historian Richard Kohn. They will join the picks made by Rep. Buck McKeon last week; former Missouri Senator Jim Talent and Eric Edelman, former undersecretary of defense for policy during the Bush administration.
Senators Carl Levin and John McCain have not named their panel members yet, and according to DoD Buzz, both appear to be having trouble finding candidates without close ties to the defense industry.
In looking at the list so far, one might immediately note that the Navy and Marine Corps are not very well represented by this independent panel. When Senator Warner declined to represent the Republican co-chair position, the Navy lost a major potential voice on the panel. Hopefully Secretary Gates finds someone capable of filling that position with Navy ties (like this guy).
I do not really have a recommendation for Secretary Gates, primarily because I can't think of a Republican of the caliber of Senator Warner that could be named, but I do have a recommendation for one of the positions that might be named by both Senator McCain and Senator Levin.
For Senator McCain, he would be very smart to name Mackenzie Eaglen of the Heritage Foundation. For starters, she was who pushed the idea of an independent panel anyway, so clearly she is a source of ideas Congress trusts. Beyond that though, she is the most published conservative analyst on naval affairs, but her publications and analysis are not limited to only naval affairs. As an incredibly smart conservative defense analyst, there is no question she is one of the young superstars in the Republican Party. If the Republican Party is going to be represented by anyone under the age of 50, her name has to be top of the list.
For Senator Levin, he would be very smart to name Information Dissemination's own Dr. Robert Farley. Not only is Dr. Farley widely respected in the progressive community as one of the up and coming young superstars in progressive political circles regarding analysis of foreign policy and military strategy, but he is widely and regularly published for comment on naval affairs and foreign policy. While the Center for American Progress might be offended that you chose Dr. Farley over one of their young folks, the simple answer is the only analyst at CAP producing quality strategic defense analysis is Dr. Lawrence J. Korb, and he actually makes a lot of sense as Senator Levin's other pick. Bottom line, CAP doesn't have any young superstar strategists over there, they have a bunch of young regional experts. That great and all, but it doesn't help for a QDR.
FYI, most think tanks are non-partisan, so it is important to point out this is not easy when you add the political element.
Mackenzie Eaglen is wrong about the way the independent QDR panel should be formed by the way. She sold this idea on the merit that an independent panel loaded with elder political statesman in defense policy will well represent a credible review of the QDR. Mackenzie, love ya, but an optimal panel will be loaded with plenty of top notch veteran talent combined with younger talent. While it is tempting to load down the QDR panel with nothing but big names, the result will prevent new ideas, because I got news for you... old dogs not named Mike Mullen do not learn new tricks after the age of 50-60 - and Admiral Mullen was the exception, not the rule.
The independent review panel has a serious need for a small few of younger folks on both sides of politics who will almost certainly bring a unique perspective. I don't like the idea that we would put together a QDR review panel without developing the younger generation as part of the process, because unless you haven't noticed, Gates is faced with a problem finding a credible conservative to co-chair the panel. With the future military environment at sea projected to expand much faster than in other areas (with the exception of space and cyberspace), grab two young superstar analysts with obvious political associations who are the most published in maritime strategic affairs, who btw are named Mackenzie Eaglen and Dr. Robert Farley, and add them to the independent QDR panel.
Even though I know both Mackenzie Eaglen and Dr. Robert Farley, I didn't ask for their opinion nor seek their approval before writing this post. To do so on topics like this just isn't my style.
No comments:
Post a Comment