I'm sorry, but that is such a lame response. These letters are on behalf of folks who will never have a day job again.
It is the least Rumsfeld could do. He's a great guy and is doing a great job, but he's not perfect. He blew it, big time, on this one.
CC
Oh for goodness sakes, give the man a break. Autopen sigantures on documents that the Secretary has approved and signed off on has been the Washington way of business for a long long long long time. Until it was brought to his conscious attention, neither he nor anyone around him probably even thought about it. As has been previously discussed, these letters are traditionally written by the unit CO.