Reality Show Idea: America’s Next Secretary of Defense!
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Some thoughts on the SecDef drama:
Secretary of Defense is probably the single most difficult job in the US government, very possibly in any government. The Department of Defense is a globally unique institution, responsible for a massive variety of duties and employing a spectacular number of people is a dizzying array of positions. It was created from two different cabinet departments, and encompasses virtually all the uniformed military services of the United States along with an army of civilian employees. Since 1947, the Secretary of Defense has sat uneasily at the top of this pile, trying to influence its direction in one way or another and usually failing. Lists of “Great Secretaries of Defense Ever” usually put Dick Cheney at the top and follow him with a few statesmen who managed to fail in less sensational fashion than their brethren. It is worth noting that America’s first Secretary of Defense, James Forrestal, hurled himself from a hospital window shortly after being pushed out of the position by President Harry Truman…
Into this, Donald Trump decided to throw Pete Hegseth, former Army National Guard officer, Fox News presenter, and probably the most spectacularly unqualified individual ever to be considered for such a difficult post.
I think that Hegseth is cooked and I actually do think that Desantis is a better pick on the merits, although I don’t have any idea why he’d take the job.
Other links:
- Right wing paranoia sank a table top exercise on election management in Georgia.
- Looks like Xi is purging China’s defense industry…
- Retirement of a handful of Ticonderogas has been pushed back to 2029…
- Nice NYT account of a 1983 wargame that highlighted the dangers of nuclear spirals…