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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Jessica Rettig
June 13, 2011
Panetta's Pentagon style remains a mystery
After bidding farewell to American soldiers on his 12th and final trip to Afghanistan as defense secretary, Robert Gates is now in Brussels to meet with fellow
Gates, the only cabinet member of George W. Bush's administration to stay on under Obama and the only defense secretary in U.S. history to be asked by a newly-elected president to keep his job, has served eight different presidents during his career. He's been praised by some as one of the best defense secretaries ever. And now, as the country contemplates its continuing role in Afghanistan and faces dire economic challenges, the man nominated to succeed him,
Since supporting the surge of U.S. forces in Afghanistan authorized by Obama in December of 2009, Gates has spoken out repeatedly about the planned July troop withdrawal. Recently, Gates has suggested that the drawdown should be "modest," so not to ruin the progress made since the troop increase. "I have every confidence that the decision that's made will be a responsible one," Gates said from Afghanistan on Saturday. "Nobody wants to give up the gains that have been won at such hard cost. And nobody wants to give our allies the excuse to run for the exits."
Minding the risks overseas, Gates also recently acknowledged the growing "weariness" both in Afghanistan and in the United States over the time and money that's already been devoted to the conflict, which, now in its 10th year, has become the longest war in American history. Mix that sense of fatigue with growing domestic worries about paltry job gains and weak economic growth, and selling the war effort in Afghanistan becomes an even greater challenge politically for his successor. "Panetta's inheriting the harder job," says Michael O'Hanlon, research director at the
Panetta's stance on the conflict in Afghanistan has been less clear than Gates' up to now. The current intelligence chief -- who can boast that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed under his watch -- served President Bill Clinton as chief of staff and director of the
O' Hanlon, who is as much in the dark as the rest of Washington about Panetta's thinking, says the change at the helm itself will have an impact, as new relationships will have to be forged with both
Panetta's advisory style, in particular, will be closely observed. What kind of advice he gives, and whether he'll try to be assertive or deferential, public or private, are among the questions that people on
According to Ron Kessler, author of The CIA at War, the changes, which include U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Gen. David Petraeus taking Panetta's gig at the CIA, will affect little in terms of Obama's overall policy on defense and national security issues. The president likely will begin to withdraw troops in July as promised, and he'll keep his goal to have Afghan security forces take over by 2014. "We'll see more of the same," says Kessler.But in terms of how those broad policies will be implemented, the potential for change could be significant. As the new national security team takes shape, the speed and degree by which
The new team of generals West refers to will eventually consist of
As hard as winding down the war and establishing stability in Afghanistan will be, Gates also leaves to Panetta the daunting task of shrinking the Pentagon budget after years of steadily rising outlays. Even for Panetta, who was yanked from
"The hard part of the job is not to do the arithmetic, it's to create domestic political support from as many constituencies as possible for painful cutbacks that many people aren't going to like, and that many people are going to worry might weaken our security. You've got to show a real understanding about the nature of those risks," O'Hanlon says. "Panetta's a very capable guy, but one shouldn't assume that just because he did the OMB thing that therefore he's well-positioned for secretary of defense at a time of fiscal austerity. The challenges are different at
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