Congressional Aide Says Goldin Should Go
A congressional aide speaking on condition on anonymity said it’s
time for Dan Goldin, the head of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), to leave his post. “Nine years is a
long time for someone to serve as an administrator of a federal
agency. There are lots of issues facing the new administration,
and it is time for new leadership,” he said. “The issue
of finding a new NASA administrator has been communicated at many
levels.” The aide explained that the Bush administration is
currently looking for someone to succeed the charismatic leader
of the administration, who coined the phrase “faster, better,
cheaper.” Signals from the administration indicate the new
leader of the space agency “would be someone like a CEO, who
could implement management reform and instill fiscal responsibility,”
the aide said.
According to an internal email sent to all 22,000 NASA employees
and made public on the Web site spaceref.com, Goldin does not plan
to leave NASA of his own accord. In January, Goldin announced he
would stay on at NASA “until the new Administration makes
some final decisions about the direction of the space agency.
“I serve at the pleasure of the President of the United States,”
said Goldin. “I am pleased to be of assistance during this
transition process. I am committed to making this transition smooth,
and I expect that every employee will support that goal,”
he said
Lockhart Discusses Bush Defense Policy
Joseph Lockhart, most famous for having been press secretary to
President Clinton during his impeachment, recently formed a public
relations consulting group with Carter Eskew, a former advisor to
Vice President Gore, in Washington, D.C. In one of his first public
statements as a principal of Glover Park Consulting, Lockhart spoke
at the National Press Club, discussing President Bush’s policies
concerning the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty and his goal
to erect a missile-defense shield.
Lockhart said Bush has “changed fundamentally the direction
of U.S. foreign policy” without consulting the American people.
“He never said in the campaign that he’d abrogate the
ABM treaty,” Lockhart said. “He’s made one speech
and now he’s acting like it’s policy.”
In comparing Bush’s first 100 days in office to Clinton’s,
Lockhart said “At the end of Bill Clinton’s first 100
days, people knew who he was, and a lot of people liked him intensely.”
Bush, however, “didn’t make a connection with the American
people. Sixty percent of Americans approved of the job he was doing,
but they didn’t have a firm view of what he stood for,”
Lockhart said.
Shipbuilding Industry Should Look Within for Solutions
Executives from the U.S. shipbuilding industry often have complained
that it’s difficult for their shipyards to compete internationally
because other nations’ firms get more government support than
American yards do.
During a recent forum of international shipbuilders in Washington,
D.C., U.S. executives urged the Navy to step up its efforts to help
U.S. yards become more competitive in the global market.
But rather than seek help from the Navy to make international sales,
the shipbuilding industry should be “looking internally”
for solutions to its problems, said Rear Adm. Don Newsome, director
of the Navy International Programs Office, during a brief interview
after he addressed the National Defense Industrial Association’s
International Committee.
Without being too specific about what shipyards should do to be
more competitive, Newsome said that shipbuilders need to find ways
to cut costs and need to figure out how to better respond to customer
requirements. He urged the shipbuilding sector to take a page from
the aerospace industry’s playbook: “The U.S. aircraft
industry doesn’t have trouble competing internationally,”
he said.
Transportation Chief Wants More C-17s
Gen. Carl T. Robertson, USAF, who has been commander-in-chief at
the United States Transportation Command since August 1998, would
like to retire a dozen C-5As and replace them with C-17s.
“We have a few C-5As that are problems for us,” he
said. Modernization of the airlift forces has been a continuing
theme during Robertson’s tenure. “Let there be no doubt,
our continued readiness is absolutely dependent on the continued
modernization of the tools of our trade, as well as on the continued
improvement of the critical mobility processes of the defense transportation
system.
“From the procurement of new C-17s...to modernization of
our critical C-5 fleet, to pursuit of our C-130 master plan, to
the integration of cutting-edge command and control...is absolutely
essential if we are going to carry the label ‘world class’
into the 21st century. In the same manner, the continued improvement
of our core transportation processes and the integration of our
modernization efforts with those processes will be key to preparing
ourselves for world class entry into the 21st century.”
Russia Expert Endorses Expanded Sanctions
Heritage Foundation fellow Ariel Cohen said that Russia’s
position is improving in relation to the G-8 nations. The G-8 nations,
which include Japan, the United States, Britain, Germany, France,
Italy, Canada and Russia, meet yearly on issues related to international
trade, economics and relations with developing countries. “Russia
realizes that the U.S. is the only source of technology and investment
for them,” he said. Explaining that Russia needs to create
a more favorable environment for business investment in order to
invigorate the economy, Cohen said that Russia’s relationships
with nations such as Iran are being watched closely.
“Russian companies, such as the natural gas monopoly, should
not be allowed to raise funds from U.S. investors benefiting their
energy schemes in Iran, since they could fund its military buildup
and ultimately could be used to threaten U.S. interests in the region.”
Cohen believes that strengthening the United States’ relationship
with the Gulf Cooperation Council would “lessen Iran’s
ability to intimidate its weaker neighbors and would enhance efforts
to contain both Iran and Iraq.” Cohen also favors sanctions
to countries that work together on weapons of mass destruction.
“The United States should expand sanctions against Russian
companies and institutions that help Iran build missiles or that
transfer weapons technology. They should be forced to choose between
trading with America or aiding Iran,” he said.
Marketplace Will Help NATO Interoperability
One of NATO’s biggest challenges for the next decade will
be to create a transatlantic marketplace where European and United
States industry can work together to achieve the goal of interoperability,
according to Rand Corporation senior advisor Robert E. Hunter. Hunter
served as the U.S. ambassador to NATO from 1993 to 1998.
“The only country keeping pace with the United States in
military high-technology is Britain,” he said. “The
only way to sustain the alliance is to create capabilities on both
sides of the Atlantic.” Not just in terms of spending, the
allies will have to keep up in terms of research and development,
to prevent a “hollowing out,” of the NATO alliance,
Hunter said. “We must work with the allies to protect power
beyond Europe, as we have to be able to communicate with one another
as our forces are deployed around the world. A genuine transatlantic
defense marketplace in goods, where technology is shared across
borders, is the answer. Our forces must be interoperable,”
he said.
NATO Secretary-General Rethinks International Security
Lord George Robertson, secretary-general of NATO since 1999, said
that the alliance must rethink the way that it deals with emerging
security challenges. Until now, Robertson said, “it has been
our approach to apply a heavy penalty for any military attack against
a NATO member,” he said. But with the new kinds of challenges
on the horizon, “there may never be a clear state-to-state
attack.
And if there is an attack—say a biological weapon in a suitcase—we
may not be sure who is responsible. And we are less and less satisfied
with the notion that a single terrorist or rogue state could hold
one of our cities hostage.”
Robertson was in the United States for a last official round of
meetings with U.S. officials before next year’s NATO Summit
in Prague. At the summer 2002 meeting, “there will be an enlargement
of NATO. At least one invite will be extended,” he said.