Defense lays groundwork for new management chief

While it will be up to President-elect Barack Obama to fill a congressionally mandated deputy chief management officer position at the Defense Department, the Pentagon already is making preparations for the new official's arrival.

The nomination and Senate confirmation of a management chief is statutorily required in both the 2008 and 2009 Defense authorization bills. But creating a new office to consolidate business leadership across the massive agency does not happen overnight, so the Office of the Secretary of Defense is getting a jump-start on the process.

Beth McGrath, principal deputy undersecretary at Defense's Business Transformation Agency, was appointed assistant deputy chief management officer in October and has begun coordinating business management across offices and military departments. Defense Deputy Secretary Gordon England, who also holds the chief management officer title, has developed a charter, timelines, and scope and responsibility papers for the incoming nominee.

"We're moving forward by standing up that office and getting the infrastructure and the roles and responsibilities clarified pending the new leadership's arrival," said David Fisher, director of the Defense Business Transformation Agency, which will report to the DCMO.

Fisher said the new position will provide the Pentagon with a much-needed senior official whose primary job will be to overcome the impediments to transformation that result from the very compartmentalized nature of the Defense Department.

"One of the key roles of the DCMO is to break down silos," Fisher said. "There is a reason to have functional owners… just like in corporate America, you have a chief financial officer and chief human capital officer and those kinds of roles. And there is a functional expertise that needs to be in place. But every organization needs a bridging function as well."

Obama's nominee to the DCMO slot, like many of his appointees, will face a massive job. Fisher said he hadn't heard any names mentioned for the position and didn't expect to until after a deputy secretary was appointed to replace England. Fisher nonetheless had some ideas about what kind of background would make for a good defense management leader.

"What is required is someone who has run a large organization, a complicated organization, who understands that there are various motivations and cultural impediments to doing things but has the wherewithal and skill to overcome those by creating the greater benefit for all, and being firm and decisive in driving things forward from that enterprise perspective," he said.

And while business experience is a must, it should be tempered by an understanding that, at the Pentagon, the currency is slightly different than in industry, according to Fisher.

"Sometimes the bottom line isn't dollars," he noted. "Sometimes it's people, it's bodies. There has to be a recognition that when effectiveness means people's lives, sometimes we have to trade off efficiency. Does that mean that [the DCMO] needs to have served in the military or served in the Pentagon before? I don't necessarily think so … as long as that deep appreciation is there."

Fisher said it would be hard for Obama to avoid making management a Defense priority, especially given the economic crisis and increasingly tight budget situation.

"We'll need the commitment … from the next administration to staff [management] positions … with people who really can do those jobs, with the business background, the leadership and discipline that it takes to run large complex organizations as well as the appreciation for the military side of it," he said. "Those positions and the empowerment of those individuals I think are going to be key to our ability to be successful over these next four to eight years."