Edelman Establishes New Policy Office, Implements Sweeping Changes

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Inside The Pentagon
January 4, 2007
Pg. 1


The Defense Department last month formally established the new office of assistant secretary for global security affairs, a position that is central to the sweeping reorganization of the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s policy shop that was kicked off last fall.
Eric Edelman, the under secretary of defense for policy, on Dec. 13 signed a memo establishing a number of new deputy assistant secretary positions, and directed numerous organizational changes across the office that are intended to realign regional and functional responsibilities to better deal with future national security challenges. These moves are to take place by Jan. 15, according to a follow-up memo sent to the entire policy staff by Ryan Henry, Edelman’s deputy, on Dec. 15.
Senior Pentagon officials announced the bureaucratic shake-up last summer, and received permission from Congress in the fall to add one assistant defense secretary. The goal is to bring a key Defense Department office more in line with other arms of the federal government and address the growing emphasis on managing international military coalitions, equipping partner nations to fight terrorists, and managing the U.S. military response to a growing array of transnational threats (Inside the Pentagon, Aug. 31, 2006, p1).
“A core principle of [the office of the under secretary of defense for] policy transformation is to create a more adaptable organization,” Edelman states in his memo. “As we implement this phased reorganization, I expect there will be changes at the margin. Further, we will continue to evaluate the need to adapt the organization as the national security environment changes.”
The mid-December action disestablished the office of the assistant secretary of defense for international security policy. The deputy assistant secretary for forces policy, which worked for this office, is being renamed the deputy assistant secretary for strategic capabilities and will report “on an interim basis” directly to the principal deputy under secretary for policy, according to the memo.
A new deputy assistant secretary for partnership strategy and a new deputy assistant secretary for coalition affairs -- a post that will absorb the coalition management portfolio -- have been created to support the new assistant secretary of defense for global security affairs, according to the memo.
Also reporting to the new global security affairs assistant secretary are the deputy assistant secretary for counternarcotics, counterproliferation and global threats; the deputy assistant secretary for detainee affairs; the deputy assistant secretary for POW/MIA affairs; and the deputy under secretary of defense for technology security policy and Defense Technology Security Administration. In addition, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency will report to the new assistant secretary; previously, it fell under the assistant secretary for international security affairs.
The other notable changes Edelman has approved include the renaming and widening of the portfolio of the assistant secretary for homeland defense. The new name for the office is the assistant secretary for homeland defense and Americas’ security affairs. The former deputy assistant secretary for forces planning in this shop has been renamed the deputy assistant secretary for homeland defense. A new deputy assistant secretary for homeland security integration will absorb the responsibilities of the deputy assistant for strategy, plans and resources. A new deputy assistant secretary for crisis management and defense support to civil authorities will carry on the work done by the former deputy assistant secretary for defense continuity and crisis management.
Perhaps the most significant change to this assistant secretary post is the new regional responsibilities that come with the addition of the deputy assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere, a move Edelman’s memo directs.
Paul McHale, a former congressman and a Marine reservist, will continue his tenure as assistant secretary for homeland defense and Americas’ security affairs when he returns this summer from Afghanistan, where he is on active duty with his Marine unit.
The four other assistant secretary posts are vacant. Still, Ryan Henry -- Edelman’s principal deputy -- pressed forward with naming people to lead key positions in the new office. In his Dec. 15 office-wide memo, Henry noted that principal deputies would lead offices that do not yet have deputy assistant secretaries.
In the office of the assistant secretary of international security affairs, Mark Kimmitt will be deputy assistant secretary for the Middle East and Bob Newberry will be his principal deputy. Theresa Whelan will stay in the role of deputy assistant secretary of defense for Africa; Chuck Kosak remains her principal deputy. Dan Fata will continue as deputy assistant secretary for Europe and NATO along with his principal deputy, Tony Aldwell. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Eurasia James MacDougall will be supported by David Cooper, his principal deputy.
Three deputies, none of whom had been named as of the mid-December memo, will support the assistant secretary for Asian and Pacific security affairs. John Hill, the principal deputy for East Asia, will run that shop for now, and Brig. Gen. John Toolan, the principal deputy for South Asia and Southeast Asia, and Scott Schless, the principal deputy for Central Asia, will head their respective offices.
Supporting McHale’s office are Steve Bucci, the nominee for deputy assistant secretary for homeland defense; Scott Rowell, the deputy assistant secretary for home security integration; Bob Salesses, the principal deputy for crisis management and defense support to civil authorities; and Steve Johnson, deputy assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere, whose deputy is Paul Hulley.
The global security affairs shop will have four deputies: Jeb Nadaner, deputy assistant secretary for partnership strategy; Debra Cagan, the principal deputy for coalition affairs, will act as the deputy assistant secretary; and the counternarcotics, counterproliferation and global terrorism deputy, Richard Douglas, will be supported by Ken Handelman, his principal deputy. Cutty Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, will be supported by Alan Liotta.
Lastly, the assistant secretary for special operations/low-intensity conflict and interdependent capabilities will also have three deputies. Mike Dumont will support Mario Mancuso, deputy assistant secretary for special operations capabilities. Joe McMenamin, principal deputy for stability operations, will head that office for the time being. And Tim Morgan will support Terry Pudas, acting deputy assistant secretary for forces transformation and resources.
Offices that report directly to Henry in the new organization include policy planning, headed by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Thomas Mahnken and his deputy Amanda Dory; support to public diplomacy, headed by Alisa Stack O’Connor, the principal deputy in that office; and strategic capabilities, headed by Brian Green and his principal director, Rich Davison.
-- Jason Sherman
 
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