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The resignation on Friday of Army Secretary Thomas White and the pending retirement of Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki could leave the Army with a serious leadership void, according to defense analysts.

Technically, the military services can operate without top civilian and uniformed leaders, said Loren Thompson, chief operating officer at the Lexington Institute, an Arlington, Va.-based think tank. But without those leaders, the Army would lack effective advocates at the Pentagon, opening the door for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to dictate the agency's agenda, he said.

Shinseki is set to retire in June and so far, the Defense Department has not found a replacement, Thompson said. Vice Chief of Staff Gen. John Keane rejected a nomination for the position, according to Thompson.

The Defense Department has not provided an explanation for White's departure, but the move comes as no surprise to the defense community, according to Thompson. White has been "on the skids for some time" because of his former involvement with the scandal-ridden Enron Corp., Thompson said. Before accepting President Bush's nomination in May 2001, White spent a decade in executive positions at the company, which was embroiled in last year's corporate accounting scandals.

White's exact departure date is still not set, according to a Defense statement. The department has also not named any potential replacements or announced a time frame for filling the position. Thompson said he has heard Michael Wynne, currently the principal deputy undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics mentioned in "political circles" as one possible replacement.

Depending on when White actually leaves office, the Army could miss his guidance on "a number of critical issues that are pending," said John Grady, a spokesman for the Association of the United States Army, a nonprofit advocacy group. For example, the Army is working on a "third wave" review where it will look over positions to determine whether they are best classified as military or civilian, or whether they could be contracted out.

In a brief statement, Rumsfeld said he appreciates White's "long and able service to the country." White graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1967 and subsequently served for 23 years before leaving to work at Enron. He completed two tours of duty in Vietnam and led the 11th Calvary Regiment in Germany from 1986 to 1988.

This experience has helped him relate especially well to the troops, according to both Grady and Thompson.

"The soldiers liked White a lot," Thompson said. "They felt as though he understood their needs."