Yeah. It's been the subject of a lot of discussion in my circles, where Schultz is known, and not especially trusted. Like Ralph Peters, he thinks that Clinton had a better approach to terrorism. That's like saying France had a better approach to Hitler (you know, among other failings, simply untrue!)
Some of his points, though, are right on. Depending on the levels they've worked at, and some of the fellows I've discussed this with were at high levels indeed, everybody has seen some of his nine points in action, and collectively we've seen all of them, although we may not agree with him on the relative importance of these and other factors.
He is also right in saying that the uniformed military is part of the problem, with its culture of risk aversion. You might have seen the letter from an LT in Kosovo to his successor that's going around the email trees, where he compares life in Camp Bondsteel to life in prison (and finds several of the circumstances favour prison)? That's a perfect illustration of Force Protection madness, that reaches the point of interfering with the mission.
One thing is for sure, though... while the brass might have resisted Clinton administration underlings, they wouldn't have resisted anybody senior pushing for a whack at Osama. There was nobody senior who really wanted to attack Osama -- Clinton's only moves in that direction were aimed at domestic politics, and the Democratic candidates now all offer a foreign policy vision that reverts to Clintonian passivity in world affairs. What Rumsfeld (and Schoo) are doing is a perfect illustration of how the generals bitch and whine as thoroughly as any E-4 rifleman, but when its time to act the generals will follow orders loyally, just like the kvetching troopie.
One of my biggest beefs with Shinseki is that he put his personal politics above his duty. If he felt that strongly about the Crusader (the Maus tank or B-70 of its time, IMHO) then he ought to have resigned and then tried to undermine it -- not vice versa. The only reason his duffel bag wasn't in the E-ring hall after that one was that he was a racial minority, a decorated combat vet, and an amputee -- instead they humiliated him by making him a lame duck, which he asked for.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F