The Insider

The Hill is reporting something we've been hearing, too -- Robert Hale for Pentagon comptroller:

Hale, who is currently the executive director of the American Society of Military Comptrollers (ASMC), is expected to be named comptroller of the Pentagon, where he’d head the office that manages the world’s largest military budget, according to sources familiar with the Obama transition team selection process.

Hale is a former Air Force comptroller.

His bio is here.

Because of the unprecedented challenges facing President-elect Obama, the outgoing administration is facilitating “a different kind of transition,” according to Stephen Hadley, President Bush's national security adviser.

Speaking at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event in Washington yesterday, Hadley said the transition “is very much a mutual effort by the outgoing team and the incoming team.”

The Bush national security team has prepared a document that summarizes the 40 key issues of the administration, including the team's strategy on each issue, what has been accomplished and the remaining work to be done.

“Why do we do this?” Hadley asked. “The new team doesn't need to read them -- certainly, doesn't need to follow the policies in them -- but what we thought was important, in this different kind of transition, ((was)) for them to know what they have to work with -- what kind of policies ((are)) in place, what kind of relationships are in place and what kind of tools they have available. And what we, at least, think are the challenges that are going to hit them quickly.”

In addition, the Bush team has prepared a series of briefing memorandums and “view-graph briefings” on relevant issues and is planning joint briefings for the outgoing and incoming National Security Council teams.

“Both sides, with the direction of both President Bush and President-elect Obama -- ((are)) trying to make this a very different transition, because we're in a very different time,” Hadley added.

The Wall Street Journal is the latest to note that Bill Lynn is likely to be the next deputy defense secretary. (We told you that before Christmas.)

Actually, the paper's "Washington Wire" says a bit more than that:

The Obama administration is expected to announce that it has offered the No. 2 job at the Pentagon to William Lynn, currently and executive at defense contractor Raytheon Co., according to people familiar with the situation.

According to these people, Lynn plans on accepting the post. He had been considered one of the front runners in recent weeks. Lynn, 55 years old, is a former comptroller of the Pentagon, a background that will come in handy as the defense budget comes under pressure. At Raytheon, Lynn is charged with heading the defense contractor’s Washington operations.

The proposed relocation of thousands of Marines and other military personnel to the Pacific island of Guam is raising tensions between the military and Environmental Protection Agency over who will pay for efforts to avoid negative environmental consequences as a result of the influx, sister publication Defense Environment Alert's Stuart Parker reports this week:

Local lawmakers are also worried that the military has not properly considered the implications of the repositioning program, with inadequate resources being dedicated to new infrastructure, including waste disposal.

Sources with the DOD Joint Guam Program Office (JGPO), which oversees the buildup, confirm they are now in talks with EPA over funding issues after EPA Region IX official Eric Manzanilla wrote by e-mail to JGPO head Gen. David Bice Nov. 13 warning that other government agencies would not be able to compensate if DOD fails to adequately fund activities to offset the impacts resulting from the increase in personnel and infrastructure. DOD says it is addressing some land issues related to the buildup, but does not specify what commitments it may make to offset environmental impacts.

Manzanilla, Communities and Ecosystems Director with Region IX, told Bice “we believe it is very unlikely that the government of Guam or other federal agencies will acquire all the resources to adequately address impacts that go beyond the military’s fencelines in Guam.”

Significant infrastructure-related impacts are expected from the massive buildup, with particular effects on the island’s drinking water supply and waste handling, sources say.

“Guam and the other U.S. Pacific Territories lag behind the rest of the nation in many socio-economic parameters, including environmental infrastructure,” Manzanilla says in the e-mail, warning of the possible emergence of “two Guams,” one military and adequately provided-for, and the other civilian and lacking resources.

In his e-mail, Manzanilla invites Bice to participate in a high level meeting to discuss funding infrastructure upgrades on the island. A spokesperson for JGPO could not confirm Bice’s commitment to such a meeting, but issued the following statement: “the Department of Defense is working with EPA, as well as other federal regulatory agencies such as U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services and ((the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration)), to address environmental issues associated with the military realignment.”

. . .

In a Dec. 19 letter to Defense Environment Alert responding to questions on the military buildup, Guam Senator Judith Paulette Guthertz (D) cites anticipated problems resulting from the environmental impacts of the military buildup, primarily pointing to fresh water supply and waste issues. Guthertz will chair the new Committee on the Military Buildup and Homeland Security in the Guam Legislature, which was to begin its session on Jan. 5.

“The military’s buildup plans primarily concern northern Guam where our aquifer, a water lens ((reservoir)) below ground level, is located. One of our concerns in the north is the possible negative impact on our water supply through ground contamination,” says Gutherz.

A Government Accountability Office report released last September found that the Defense Department had developed a basic framework for the military buildup on Guam but had not issued the congressionally required master plan that was initially due.

A separate GAO report released in May calls on the Navy to plan ahead for voyage repair capabilities in Guam that will be impacted by the cadre of vessels the service aims to locate there by 2012.

While the Air Force was perhaps the most vocal of the services about plans to fight in cyberspace, others also are gearing up for the fight online. The Army, for example, is doing some intense soul-searching about what changes are needed to ensure soldiers can keep the upper hand in future cyber-fights. After a period of introspection, we're told, Army officials plan to start work on a field manual for cyberspace as part of the service's "3" series. The designation indicates the document will have an operational focus.

In a blog entry on the Combined Arms Center Web site, Army Lt. Col. Chip Bircher gave a good overview last month of the ground service's general thinking in the cyberspace realm. Bircher is the deputy director, futures, in an organization called the U.S. Army Computer Network Operations & Electronic Warfare Proponent.

We talked to Bircher's boss, Col. Wayne Parks, in November, and he told us service officials had begun deliberations about a dedicated force structure for cyberwarfare.

In his blog post, Bircher cites the cyber attacks on Estonia (2007) and in Georgia last summer -- both were allegedly carried out by Russians -- as examples of the types of clashes U.S. forces might face in the near future.

"Cyber attacks prior to the introduction of conventional Russian military forces ((into Georgia)) were in many respects analogous to deep strikes against key infrastructure which set the conditions for a successful Russian ground invasion," he wrote.

This stark assessment of Russian military cyberwar power during the spat with the former Soviet republic is noteworthy, by the way. So far, experts have concluded the cyber attacks were merely aimed at defacing Georgian government Web sites and that there was no link to military action on the ground.

After the lighter literary fare of the holidays, some might eagerly want to return to the somewhat drier texts of the U.S. military establishment. For those, a great read will be the latest edition of the Joint Staff's Joint Strategic Planning System, issued last month. The document outlines exactly how the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff goes about the business of providing military advice to the defense secretary and the president.

For the first time, the new edition describes the inner workings of the so-called Comprehensive Joint Assessment, which we told you about here and here. The CJA process, begun last October, is designed to provide a snapshot of requirements and challenges of the combatant commanders.

Some have described the timing of the drill as opportune, as it offers President-elect Barack Obama a good idea of what is currently important around the COCOMs just as he prepares to take office later this month.

President-Elect Barack Obama's Defense Department transition team has notified more than a third of the Pentagon's 250 political appointees that they will not be asked to stick around after Jan. 20, according to The Hill.

Despite keeping Defense Secretary Robert Gates in the Pentagon, President-elect Obama’s transition team informed 90 Bush appointees their services will not be needed after Inauguration Day.

Scott Gration, a senior official on Obama’s transition team, called and emailed several of President Bush’s Pentagon appointees about 10 days ago to inform them they were being dismissed.

“It was very professionally done,” a senior Pentagon official -- who will not remain in place beyond Inauguration Day -- told InsideDefense.com on Dec. 31 of the notification process which took place early last week.

On Dec. 19, Gates -- speaking on behalf of Obama -- sent a note to all 250 Pentagon political appointees asking them to consider working until they pass their respective portfolios directly to their replacements. In that memo, reported here, he advised that some individuals would be told by Dec. 22 that they will be asked to vacate their posts with the administration change. In addition, Gates said:

To the extent you are willing and in a position to continue to serve, I am deeply appreciative. However, I encourage you to continue to prudently plan for the transition from DOD employment, as the pace of personnel decisions by the incoming Administration is likely to accelerate.

I regret the delay in being able to provide you with more clarity and guidance on how long some of you will be asked to continue serving in your current positions. I appreciate your patience and the willingness to consider this request in the interest of providing continuity for this Department and for its critical mission to the Nation in a time of war.