Posted on 03/18/2003 7:11:18 AM PST by TADSLOS
In another display of skepticism toward Army transformation, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has commissioned an independent panel to review the service's plans for its future force, sources said last week.
During a March 8 meeting with top Army and Defense Department officials -- including Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki, Vice Chief of Staff Gen. John Keane, Army Secretary Thomas White, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Pete Aldridge -- Rumsfeld questioned nearly every aspect of the Army's vision for the Objective Force, these sources said. The defense secretary agreed in principle with the notion that the Army must become more deployable, but he expressed dissatisfaction with many of the details -- or lack thereof -- in the service's blueprint for the next generation, they added.
Rumsfeld subsequently "suggested" that the Army establish an independent panel to conduct a 30- to 60-day "quick and dirty" assessment of the Objective Force and the Future Combat Systems, sources said. He further recommended that retired Air Force Gen. Larry Welch lead the effort, which must be completed by May 10.
Last year, Welch reviewed the Army's troubled Comanche program; most of his suggestions for improving the RAH-66 effort were accepted and implemented when the service and the Office of the Secretary of Defense restructured the program at the end of 2002.
Welch, a former Air Force chief of staff, also led a highly influential panel that looked into missile defense plans in the late 1990s.
The Army is supposed to generate the guidelines, or terms of reference, for the Welch study. According to sources, the panel must include a recently retired combatant commander who has directed joint forces in a conflict within the past five years. Officials also have recommended that retired Gen. Jim McCarthy be appointed to the team; McCarthy recently completed a "lessons learned" assessment of the war in Afghanistan.
Many defense insiders believe that Rumsfeld's decision to seek an independent appraisal of the Objective Force is an ominous sign. A milestone B review of the Future Combat Systems is scheduled for May; at that time the Army and OSD are to decide whether the program should proceed to the next stage of development. The review's findings are not expected until the same month -- a timing coincidence that several sources found suspicious.
"It sounds like a stall to stand this up this late in process," commented one source.
"I think [OSD is] setting conditions for failure," said another, who predicts the milestone B decision will be pushed back to September.
Another source cautioned that there has been "no agreement on slipping" the milestone B decision, but added that "everyone believes in the rumor."
"It's insulting to the Army," said one source of the independent review. "Rumsfeld is never going to get Army transformation. OSD is sort of giving this reluctant support rather than a pat on the back and a helpful shove in the right direction.
"He doesn't understand the Army. He's got personality issues," the source continued, referring to the allegedly constant conflicts between Rumsfeld and the Army leadership, most notably Shinseki and White.
The suspected disharmony between OSD and the Army was recently put on public display. During congressional testimony regarding troop requirements for a post-war Iraq, Shinseki and Wolfowitz offered substantially different estimates. White backed his chief of staff, an action that reportedly irked Rumsfeld to the point of almost firing the Army secretary.
Other sources also locked onto the reported animosity between Shinseki and Rumsfeld, suggesting that the defense secretary would do anything to avoid handing Shinseki "a win" -- such as FCS passing its milestone B -- before the Army chief retires in late May or early June.
The Welch study "could be an excuse to delay FCS," stated a source.
The Army is supposed to brief Rumsfeld again at the end of March on FCS and transformation. According to sources, he specifically wants more information regarding the intelligence requirements, capabilities and connectivity associated with FCS and the Objective Force. Rumsfeld also has asked the service to define and explain the proposed organizational structure of the Objective Force, including the role and retention of the brigade, the division, the corps and Army and theater headquarters. The Army must show how FCS units and the Objective Force will incorporate McCarthy's Afghanistan lessons learned, as well.
Notably, Rumsfeld has directed the Army to focus the Objective Force on warfighting only; all of its capabilities must inherently contribute to force lethality. Rumsfeld does not support development of a capability set for peacekeeping and related operations, sources said.
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