Why Leon Panetta Shouldn't Be Secretary of Defense Posted by Michael Cohen

So according to the Washinton Post, the leading candidate for Secretary of Defense is current CIA director Leon Panetta. Hearing this news reminds of this little tidbit from Bob Woodward's, "Obama's Wars" and the debate about escalation in Afghanistan from the Fall of 2009:

He [Panetta] told other principals, "No Democratic President can go against military advice, especially if he asked for it." His own recommendation would be, "So just do it. Do what they say." He repeated to other key White House officials his belief that the matter should have been decided in a week. 

As I wrote last Fall it's almost as if in Leon Panetta's world we don't need a president.

If there has been a defining feature of US national security policy in the Obama Administration it would be the gradual erosion in civ-mil relations and in particular, the strengthening of the military in national security decision-making. This is, in part, what helped lead to the decision to escalate in Afghanistan and the President to embrace a flawed counter-insurgency policy that, as we've seen over the past 15 months, is not working. Much of this erosion is due to the fact that we have a "Democratic President" who for political reasons seems unwilling to get in a public battle with the military or openly disagree with military advice (it is of course not coincidence that the quote above refers to a Democratic President - one can imagine that a Republican President would, in Panetta's world, have a bit more latitude).

Indeed, more than ever what is needed is a Defense Secretary, and civilian leadership at the Pentagon, that is willing to rein in the military's adventurous spirit - especially in Afghanistan.  Even more important we need a Democratic president (and civilian advisors) who is inclined to make decisions about the use of military force based on policy not politics.

I'm not sure how appointing someone who allegedly said the words above to the top job at DoD is going to help in that process.

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