Paul McHale

he last time the United States went to war in Iraq, Paul McHale was an infantry officer with the Marine Corps. A Pennsylvania lawyer who had served five terms in the state legislature, McHale resigned his seat in 1991 and volunteered for active duty in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.

A decade later, after serving four terms as a Democratic congressman and returning to Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley in 1998 to practice law, McHale is again working to protect the country. This time, however, his focus is on homeland defense. In February, he became the first assistant secretary of Defense appointed strictly to oversee homeland defense.

McHale serves as a liaison between Defense and the Homeland Security Department, providing reserve troops when necessary. He also oversees the military defense of the United States and its territories. It's an appropriate job for the man who co-founded the congressional National Guard and Reserve Components Caucus.

However, the new assistant secretary does not directly oversee the National Guard and Reserves. They are the province of the assistant secretary of Defense for reserve affairs, Thomas Hall. There have been news reports that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld would like to eliminate Hall's job, but many observers believe it would be difficult to get Congress to approve such a move.

At his confirmation hearing, McHale said the National Guard and the Reserves would play a larger role in defending the United States than in the past. But he disagreed with suggestions that the Guard should not be deployed overseas.

Despite his Democratic background in a Republican administration, and despite having been the first Democratic congressman to call for President Clinton's resignation after the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke, McHale has bipartisan support.