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All Things Considered
24 August 2001

Listen as NPR's Tom Gjelten reports for All Things Considered
on the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman post.

LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:

Assuming the Senate confirms him, General Richard Myers will be the first Air Force officer to chair the Joint Chiefs of Staff in nearly 20 years. President Bush's choice of General Myers is one more indication that he wants to reshape the military, putting less emphasis on ground forces and more on air power and high-tech weaponry. General Myers served previously as head of the US Space Command. Today, the president cited that experience as a factor in his selection. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.

TOM GJELTEN reporting:

Standing next to the man he has chosen to lead the US military, President Bush reiterated his campaign pledge to spend more on defense. It's money, he said, the military needs, and money our budget allows. But he also said, again, that he wants to spend more wisely on defense, with more money going to combat what he says are the new security threats, 'like a rogue nation,' in his words, 'with a weapon of mass destruction.' To combat a threat like that, President Bush said, he's asking for $8 billion to work on a national missile defense. President GEORGE W. BUSH: There's a lot of money for research and development, which is absolutely necessary. And one of the reasons Dick Myers is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs--nominee--is because he's had a lot of experience in space, for example. It's an area that we need to explore and to know more about. He's had a lot of experience when it comes to the leading edge of technology that is becoming more and more prevalent in our military.

GJELTEN: The US Space Command, which General Myers headed until last year, is a relatively small military command not well known outside military circles. Based in Colorado Springs, it oversees the military's outer space interests, mainly satellites. John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org says General Myers is the first former space commander to be promoted to a higher leadership position.

Mr. JOHN PIKE (GlobalSecurity.org): Normally what happens is that a four-star general who's been a fighter pilot goes out to US Space Command, runs it for two years and then retires. I think that General Myers was really the exception to that, going to be vice chair and now chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

GJELTEN: One reason General Myers apparently captured the Bush administration's interest is that he used his position at the US Space Command to argue that space could be an important area of warfare in the future, a view he shares with President Bush, though not so much with the Clinton administration under which he was serving at the time. Pike points to a 1999 speech by General Myers in which he argued that the United States should be prepared to use force in space, if appropriate, to respond to infringement on our sovereign rights.

Mr. PIKE: The speech was noteworthy because it was certainly getting out in front of the administration's policy at that time in terms of what sort of space combat capabilities were required, and how the United States government would decide that the use of force was consistent with the rules of law, which, of course, we always attempt to do in combat here on Earth.

GJELTEN: After leaving the space command, General Myers served as vice chair of the Joint Chiefs, where his vision was broad and where he worked with commanders of all the services. Former Air Force historian Richard Kohn, who's known Myers for many years, says Richard Myers' personal attributes--a low-key nature, a sense of humor--may have been the main factor in his selection to serve as chairman. At a time of change in the military establishment, Kohn argues Myers is just the person to smooth relations between the services and their civilian masters.

Mr. RICHARD KOHN (Former Air Force Historian): I also think he has the skills and the confidence of the military establishment to lead them to accept a higher degree of risk and uncertainty, and to get the military not to obstruct these changes, and get them to realize that it's the job and the responsibility of the civilians to make these decisions and make these changes.

GJELTEN: Myers' space and high-tech background will be complemented by the experience of his prospective vice chair, Marine General Peter Pace. Pace is currently the commander for the US Southern Command, and is responsible there for the down-to-earth challenge of the drug war in Latin America. Tom Gjelten, NPR News, Washington.