Another reason Gen. Bruce Carlson isn’t a long shot to head US Pacific Command (see above) is that his immediate predecessor, Gen. Gregory Martin, originally was picked for the PACOM job. He withdrew when Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) threatened to turn Martin’s confirmation process into a circus over USAF’s tanker lease program and the Darleen Druyun affair. Martin did nothing wrong, but wanted to spare the service a public rehash of the tanker soap opera. The Pentagon then tapped Adm. William Fallon to replace Martin as the PACOM nominee.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
