TOPICS

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has announced the appointment of 11 members to his Defense Policy Board, including former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, an outspoken Republican critic of the Iraq war.

Hagel will join two former lawmakers on the board, former Reps. Dave McCurdy, D-Okla., and Vin Weber, R-Minn. Also joining the board will be retired Gen. Larry Welch, former Air Force chief of staff; former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig, senior adviser on national security issues during President Obama's election campaign; former Deputy Defense Secretary Rudy DeLeon, a former staff director of the House Armed Services Committee now with the Center for American Progress and leading the review of the National Security Personnel System; and retired Army Lt. Col. Andrew Krepinevich, head of the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

The board provides Pentagon leaders with "independent, informed advice and opinion concerning matters of defense policy," according to a Defense Department statement released Wednesday.

COMMENTS

  • What in the world happened to any representation by WOMEN on this panel? The deeply-imbeeded instiutional seixim continues, and I am sick of it! So much for "change." It's men deciding things for the rest of us -- business as usual! So while you're at it, GET RID of this Bush/Rumsfeld farce known as pay-for-performance/NSPS once and for all, and immediately, before the good ol' boys dole out for themselves & their white male Republican jock buddies more raises while it's on in a last minute grab!
  • SJ Brown - While we are all concerned about your pay, I doubt the Defense Policy Board is – it is not really its charter. The Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, also referred to as the Defense Policy Board (DPBAC or DPB) is a federal advisory committee to the United States Department of Defense. Their charter is available on line through the Director of the Office of Administration and Management of the Department of Defense. The committee type is discretionary. Excerpt of Objectives and Scope of Activities from charter: 1. The Defense Policy Board will serve the public interest by providing the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary and Under Secretary for Policy with independent, informed advice and opinion concerning major matters of defense policy. It will focus upon long-term, enduring issues central to strategic planning for the Department of Defense and will be responsible for research and analysis of topics, long or short range, addressed to it by the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary and Under Secretary for Policy. Announcements for upcoming meetings of the DPBAC are published in the Federal Register. Historically, the DPBAC has mostly served as a method for the Pentagon to leverage consulting expertise in the private sector. However, the DPBAC served a very powerful and influential role in foreign policy and the George W. Bush presidency. Former Chairman Richard Perle was an influence in the decision to go to war in Iraq, and Jack Keane was instrumental in the implementation of the Iraq War troop surge of 2007.
  • This is a disaster. The fact that Secretary Gates is assigning a board to review means he is out of touch. I can tell him about DCIPS at my agency: The implementation (software, application, training) is over budget and won't be delivered on schedule; the annual performance period is now less than 8 months; the performance rating criteria is changing as of August 1st 2009; there is no process to make managers accountable for the plans; the process doesn't accommodate position rotations/changes; the individuals performance rating can be changed by the pay pool manager... The list goes on. Why does Secretary Gates need a board and a review. He can ask his workforce. Oh, yeah, I forgot, the Obama Adminstration doesn't engage it's federal workforce. It doesn't measure or reward performance. The performance criteria includes "critical thinking." I am thinking critically right now. Give me a rating of five.