New deputy Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has quietly added another official to the Pentagon public affairs office. He is Eric Ruff, a former government and industry public relations specialist who was once a newspaper reporter. Mr. Ruff, currently a public affairs specialist working for Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, is likely to become the principal deputy assistant defense secretary for public affairs, the key deputy to Assistant Defense Secretary-designee Larry Di Rita. Many Pentagon news reporters, however, are unfamiliar with the new spokesman. Mr. Ruff was transplanted to the Pentagon from the Interior Department, where he was director of communications. He also worked on Capitol Hill, where he was an aide to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas Republican, and before that, he was an aide to Sen. John W. Warner, Virginia Republican. Mr. Ruff also worked in the first Bush administration at public affairs jobs in the Agriculture and Commerce departments. As a news reporter, Mr. Ruff covered the Hill for Congressional Quarterly and before that, he worked for the Donrey Media Group. He cut his newspaper reporting teeth in the 1970s and was the first to report the influx of Vietnamese refugees to Fort Chafee, Ark., in 1975 for the Southwest Times Record.
BTW Just what was he doing in Dupont Circle?