Armed forces secretaries roughed up at Senate hearing

The Navy and Air Force secretaries endured unusually harsh grilling at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday over the controversial issues of Navy training on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques and the proposed Air Force lease of 100 Boeing-767 airliners as tankers.

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., a harsh critic of the Bush administration's decision to end use of the training ranges on Vieques, demanded that Navy Secretary Gordon England say whether he would grant top Navy and Marine Corps officers' request to conduct live-fire training to prepare their forces for the war on terrorism.

But England, who publicly has supported the White House decision on Vieques, refused to answer directly. "The decision is not that simple," England said, raising the environmental and political concerns that Vieques protesters have voiced.

Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., later told England he was "embarrassed" by the response to Inhofe and said the Navy secretary had not been "truthful and forthright" as he promised during his confirmation hearing.

Air Force Secretary James Roche received even rougher treatment from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., over the plan approved in the fiscal 2002 Defense appropriations bill to allow the Air Force to lease the 767s for conversion to tankers.

McCain berated Roche for failing to consult with the leadership of the Armed Services Committee and for "orchestrating" the appropriations language, while violating longstanding congressional opposition to leasing major weapons systems.

McCain told Roche that the action in bypassing the authorizing panel was "not only an indictment of your behavior, but also an indictment of the system we have today," in which appropriators have taken over, while the authorizers have become "a polite debating society."