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Donald Rumsfeld
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PNAC signatory Donald Rumsfeld is currently Secretary of Defense in the George W. Bush Administration. He also served as Secretary of Defense in the Ford Administration (1975-77).
He has strong ties to the intelligence community.
A PNAC signatory, his name appears on
the 1997 PNAC 'Statement of Principles', and on the 1998 letter urging Clinton to attack Iraq. [1]
Seymour Hersch on Rumsfeld: [2]
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In the 1990s, Rumsfeld would join with five other former Secretaries of Defense to urge Senate leadership to reject ratification of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty that Clinton was seeking.
The fact that six former secretaries of Defense urged the Senate leadership to reject ratification was undoubtedly a factor in the final outcome. James R. Schlesinger, Richard B. Cheney, Frank C. Carlucci, Caspar W. Weinberger, Donald H. Rumsfeld, and Melvin R. Laird argued, in a letter to Lott and Sen. Thomas Daschle (D-S.D.), the minority leader, that if all nuclear tests, even of the lowest yields, were permanently prohibited, the reliability of America's own nuclear arsenal would inevitably decline--as would, of course, the overall U.S. deterrent credibility. [3]
Rumsfeld is one of the Gang of Four - four protoconservatives
who, having originally worked closely together under Nixon (see below), would each become a Defense Secretary in later Administrations: Rumsfeld, Cheney, Carlucci and Weinberger. This is a tight-knit group of individuals who have, in various combinations under various administrations since the days of Nixon, sought to promote the right-wing conservative agenda that failed to come to fruition when the Nixon administration collapsed under the weight of the Watergate scandal [see Elliot Richardson]. For more on this, see: Gang of Four
A naval aviator from 1954 to 1957, Rumsfeld was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois in 1962, at the age of 30. He was re-elected in 1964, 1966 and 1968. "As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives in the mid-1960s, Rumsfeld was one of the architects who supported legislation establishing a volunteer military".[4]
He later held various positions in the Nixon and Ford Administrations:
- Under Nixon (1969-1974) he was U.S. Ambassador to NATO (1973 to 1974), Director of the Economic Stabilization Program (1971 to 1972) and Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity (the creation of which
Rumsfeld has opposed as Congressman) and Assistant to the President( 1969 to 1970). "Fortunately for Rumsfeld, Nixon appointed him ambassador to NATO in 1972, thus sparing him from possible association with the Watergate scandal."[5]
At OEO, Richard Cheney and Frank Carlucci (both later to become Secretaries of Defense in the Reagan Administration), worked for Rumsfeld. Melvin Laird and Elliot Richardson were both Defense Secretaries under Nixon during this period.
Jim Leach (later to become Rep. Jim Leach) was also there. Leach had interned for Rumsfeld when he was a Congressman in the mid-60s; when Rumsfeld took OEO over, Leach left his position at the State Department to join him. (Leach returned to the State Department in 1971, where he served for several months under then-ambassador George HW Bush). [6].
- Under Ford (1974-77), Rumsfeld served as the youngest Secretary of Defense in U.S. history. He also held the post of Chief of Staff of the White House and Chairman of the Transition to the Presidency of Gerald Ford
"During his business career, Mr. Rumsfeld continued his public service in a variety of Federal posts, including": [7]
- Member of the President's General Advisory Committee on Arms Control (1982 - 1986);
- Special Presidential Envoy on the Law of the Sea Treaty (1982 - 1983);
- Senior Advisor to the President's Panel on Strategic Systems (1983 - 1984);
- Member of the U.S. Joint Advisory Commission on U.S./Japan Relations (1983 - 1984);
- Special Presidential Envoy to the Middle East (1983 - 1984);
- Member of the National Commission on Public Service (1987 - 1990);
- Member of the National Economic Commission (1988 - 1989);
- Member of the Board of Visitors of the National Defense University (1988 - 1992);
- Member of the Commission on U.S./Japan Relations (1989 - 1991); and
- Member of the U.S. Trade Deficit Review Commission (1999 - 2000).
Rumsfeld during the Reagan Administration
In the 1980's, Rumsfeld served under Ronald Reagan as a member of the President's General Advisory Committee on Arms Control. He was also President Reagan's Special Envoy on the Law of the Sea Treaty; his senior advisor to the Panel on Strategic Systems; a member of the U.S. Joint Advisory Commission on U.S./Japan Relations; a special envoy to the Middle East; a member of the National Commission on the Public Service; and a member of the National Economic Commission.[8]
Under George HW Bush Rumsfeld served on a National Economic Commission
on deficit reduction.[9]
In his current incarnation as Defense Secretary, Rumsfeld is in a position to implement the 'defense' policy that
is articulated in the document that he, and others, commissioned in 1997, the 'Project for a New American
Century' (PNAC).
One of the programs that is currently in planning under Rumsfeld is 'a super-Intelligence Support Activity' that will 'bring together CIA and military covert action, information warfare, intelligence, and cover and deception':
According to a classified document prepared for Rumsfeld by his Defense Science Board, the new organization--the 'Proactive, Preemptive Operations Group (P2OG)' - will carry out secret missions designed to 'stimulate reactions' among terrorist groups, provoking them into committing violent acts which would then expose them to 'counterattack' by U.S. forces. [10]
A U.S. plan to provoke terrorist attacks should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the PNAC document. Published a year before the events of 9/11, it spoke longingly of the prospect of a 'new Perl Harbor', without which the radical policy changes that it envisions could not be quickly implemented. [For more on the history of this kind of thinking in the CIA, see the Kennedy Administration page, in which 'Operation Northwoods' is discussed, the U.S. plan to wage terrorist attacks against American citizens and blame Fidel Castro as a pretext for war.]
Rumseld, in 2002, on the topic of the Defense Policy Board, led by Richard Perle:
"We have former secretaries of defense and state, national security advisers," Rumsfeld said. "We have people who are very thoughtful and knowledgeable--former speakers of the House of Representatives, a couple of them. We have academics, people who think about these things full-time. And I have always benefited from a competition of ideas."
[10] [See above, and
Gang of Four]
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