Department of Defense, Deputy Secretary of Defense

Department/Agency: Department of Defense

Position:

Department of Defense, Deputy Secretary

Executive Schedule: Executive Level II - Presidential Appointment with Senate Confirmation

Major Responsibilities:

Chief operating officer of the $515 billion Department of Defense, with 1.3 million military and 700,000 civilian personnel
Oversees the day-to-day business and management of the Pentagon
Can act as acting secretary on the Secretary’s behalf with full power and authority
Responsible for acquisitions and Base Realignment and Closure
Chairs the Defense Resources Board and manages the Quadrennial Defense Review
Sets performance goals to improve the DOD’s efficiency and effectiveness

Key Competencies and Preferred Qualifications:

Seasoned industry or government executive with broad management experience
Political sensitivity and ability to work with Congress
Grasp of national security issues and understanding of the defense industry
By statute, must be a civilian, at least 10 years removed from active military service

Insight:

With the United States fighting the longest war in its history and the Pentagon budget showing strains after a decade-long military build-up, whoever is selected by President Obama for the No. 2 job in the Department of Defense faces daunting challenges. The U.S. military is stretched thin by the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Even without a global financial crisis, analysts were forecasting hard decisions ahead in 2009 on defense spending. While maintaining U.S. military might and meeting new threats, the Pentagon must replace armaments and materiel sorely depleted since 2001, and move ahead with expensive new ships, fighter jets, and advanced weaponry. In extraordinarily difficult times, the new deputy secretary of defense will have to stretch the Pentagon’s half-trillion dollar budget to ensure that it meets the country’s war-fighting and peace-keeping missions.

Rudy deLeon, who capped a career in government service as deputy secretary of defense in the Clinton administration, wrote in a recent Op-Ed in The Philadelphia Inquirer, that, “Our 44th commander in chief must develop a new strategy that looks out for the safety of our troops, makes effective use of our military power, and capitalizes on the strength of our diplomacy.” DeLeon is now senior vice president for national security and international affairs at the Center for American Progress.

As Gordon R. England, current occupant of the position puts it, the deputy secretary functions as the secretary of defense’s “alter ego” inside the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill, and in high level policy meetings at the White House. He also runs this huge and complicated department day to day and oversees acquisitions, base closing and other politically explosive managerial missions.

England fits the classic mold for deputy secretaries of defense. He is a former aerospace industry executive who served twice as secretary of the Navy, and also briefly as deputy secretary for homeland security. He was on the job for Donald Rumsfeld’s final year as DOD secretary, then stayed on under Secretary Robert Gates as the United States changed strategy in Iraq.

England repaired relations with Congress after succeeding Paul Wolfowitz, an architect of the original Iraq strategy and the wider war on terror. More manager than strategist, England kept a distinctly lower profile than the controversial Wolfowitz. England told the Senate Armed Services Committee before confirmation that he expected his role to “be more of a classic Chief Operating Officer responsible for the operation of DOD and implementation of national defense policy and strategy. This will include financial management, personnel policies, acquisition management and integrity, oversight of Military Departments’ roles, BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure), Quadrennial Defense Review management, legislative affairs, public affairs and the like.” He added, “As a businessman, I fully appreciate the benefits that clear plans, goals, expectations, and results can bring to an organization.”

This is England’s fourth Senate-confirmed position, and he commands wide respect on Capitol Hill. Still, he told the senators, “the Department of Defense is astonishingly broad in scope and complexity and will be a profound challenge for even the most experienced executive.” Senators praised his management acumen and political skills. Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) called England the Pentagon’s “Mr. Fix-it” and noted that he had been asked to design a new national security personnel system and oversee one of the first reviews of the status of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. “If there's a problem to be solved, Gordon England has frequently been the one that the president has looked to provide that solution,” said Levin, who called the DOD job “a position of awesome responsibility.” Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) said, “In a city that is very ideological and partisan, you are a wonderfully sensible man who keeps his head while a lot of others around are losing theirs.”

Prodded by Congress and its auditors to appoint a chief management officer, the Pentagon added that role to England’s job duties as well as chief operating officer in 2007.

The Government Accountability Office, in a review of major weapons programs, said that since 2000, the Pentagon had doubled its planned investment in new weapons systems from $790 billion to $1.6 trillion, but acquisition costs have increased 26 percent from first estimates and programs “have also often failed to deliver capabilities when promised.” From the $436 hammer that became a symbol of Pentagon waste in the Reagan era to multi-billion-dollar overruns in weapons systems, one of the deputy secretary’s toughest duties is keeping a rein on spending and ensuring that taxpayers’ dollars are well and carefully spent. Recently the Pentagon reopened the bidding in 2008 on a controversial $35 billion contract to replace the Air Force’s aging aerial refueling fleet that originally was awarded to Northrop Grumman and the European consortium that makes the Airbus, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS). The GAO said the original process had been flawed and unfair to Boeing Corp. After initially trying to complete the rebidding on his watch, Secretary Gates decided to leave the new competition to the next administration.

The next deputy secretary will be the 26^th in a distinguished line that stretches back to a major Pentagon reorganization by Congress and the Truman administration in 1949. The distinguished roster includes such CEOs as David Packard, William Perry and John White, and statesmen and civil servants such as Cyrus Vance, Paul Nitze, Frank Carlucci, and deLeon.

William H. Taft IV, a prominent attorney who was deputy secretary in the Reagan administration told the first Prune Book in 1988 that he regarded chairing the Defense Resources Board as among his most important duties. That board was the mechanism through which all budgetary decisions were made, “not only for weapons systems, but for operations as well, plus personnel issues, pay raises, military construction,” Taft said.

DOD Organization Chart

Key Relationships – Within the Department or Agency:

Secretary of Defense
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics
Vice chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Secretaries of the Army, Air Force and Navy

Key Relationships – Within the Government:

Deputy Secretary, Department of State
Deputy Secretary, Department of the Treasury
Deputy Secretary, Department of Commerce
Assistant to the President, National Security Affairs
Associate Director, National Security and International Affairs, OMB
Director of National Intelligence
Director, Central Intelligence Agency

Key Relationships – Outside the Government:

Defense industry groups
Allied defense and diplomatic representatives
International organizations
Veterans groups
Defense policy and research organizations
Foreign affairs organizations

Nomination Referred to:

Senate Committee on Armed Services

Current Position Profile:
1. William J. Lynn III, J.D. (Confirmed: Feb. 11, 2009). Former Senior Vice President, Government Operations and Strategy, Raytheon Company. Formerly, aide to Senator Edward M. Kennedy and an undersecretary of defense and comptroller at the Pentagon under President Bill Clinton.

Recent Position Profiles:

2. Gordon R. England, M.B.A. (2006- 2009). Aerospace industry executive. Twice secretary of the Navy. First to hold job of deputy secretary of homeland security. Former executive vice president of General Dynamics Corp. Engineer. One time city council member in a Fort Worth, Texas, suburb.

3. Paul D. Wolfowitz, Ph.D. (2001-2005). Political science professor, ambassador, arms control expert and defense strategist.

4. Rudy D. Leon (2000-2001). Former staff director of the House Armed Services Committee. Held several senior jobs at Pentagon. Later became a Boeing Co. executive, now senior vice president of Center for American ProgressEarlier Clinton appointees: John Hamre (1997-2000); John P. White (1995-1997); John M. Deutch (1994-95), and William J. Perry (1994-94)