Thomas P. Barnett on Rumsfeld

Posted By Blackfive

Thomas P. Barnett at Real Clear Politics profiles Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld.  Here's a taste:

...HE IS KNOWN to his personal aides and longtime colleagues as a "deep diver." Confront him with a tough new bureaucratic nut to crack and he goes deep- waaaay down -on the subject until he feels he gets  it  sufficiently to assemble the right smart people to handle the job. It doesn't matter how much time he appears to be wasting on the process; he simply doesn't move ahead until he's got the picture in his head of what "this thing"-whatever it is-is really all about. He will keep the U. S. military's most powerful men sitting around a table for however long it takes for that to happen...

Be sure to read the whole piece.  It is a well written synopsis of what happens in Rumsfeld's inner circle.

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Comments

[David]

Excellent Article. Well written, and I understand the man more. All should read it.

Thx for the link

[JG]

So he decided to write his wife's life story himself in his spare time.

Says a bunch doesn't it.

[John]

Terrific article about a terrific guy!

[Ron Mexico]

Am I missing something about the "terrific guy" who is supposed to mysteriously haunt the Esquire article?

This was the cardinal paragraph, to me:

"Giving someone the wire brush means chewing them out, typically in a public way that's demeaning to their stature. It's pinning their ears back, throwing out question after question you know they can't answer correctly and then attacking every single syllable they toss up from their defensive crouch. It's verbal bullying at its best, and when you're a ranking civilian and we're talking some military officer, you can certainly get your rocks off doing it because-hey-they have to take it from you, what with civilian control and all. Plus, there's a certain brand of military officer who really keeps it in-really tight inside. Those guys you can play like a fiddle."

The article was nuanced, but I came away wondering if Rummie isn't a little cruel to the uniformed castes serving him. I can't imagine this is effective leadership.

While many of us support the reformist zeal and intelligence he brings to civilian oversight of DoD, I hardly come away from this article feeling he's a "terrific guy."

[tco]

The problem with a lot of US business is that people DON'T deep dive enough. That's how you get enrons and dotcoms. And when someone does push very hard for truth it is characterized as "aggressive" and "not team oriented". I learned a different style in the nuclear submarine force. There clear thinking and pursuit of truth and accountability are everything. You can fuck up. fine. But try to cover it up or obfuscate? They'll eat you and throw you to the side.

[Outlaw13]

About the "wire brushing" comments. If you ask a typical GO they probably aren't going to react too well to being treated the way some of them treat their own subordinates. What's good for the goose as they say.

Maybe he's abrasive but you'd think these "warfighters", after their years of service, might be able to handle what is being dished out...if they're so fragile physiologically maybe they do need to leave the service.

[Subsunk]

Regarding "wire brushing" and whether it is warranted for flag officers or not mentioned above. If you are a flag officer and can't take some piercing criticism from your superior in public, then I guess I don't feel you have any businees leading men in combat anyway. You don't deserve command just because you can handle it when its easy. If these things were easy, your 16 yr old sister would do them. You EARN command by accepting criticism in whatever form it shows itself and learning from it.

I served with 4 Commanding Officers before I ever found one who didn't berate his officers in public and belittle our contributions aloud to everyone in general. It makes you a hard man to stop if you can keep going when everyone thinks you a fool, and the Old Man has little good to say about you, but you get results. To this day, results are what count. Not who thinks you could have done the task better.

Besides, the article shows if you have the backbone to stand up to the Old Man when you know you are right, he respects you and keeps you on. But if you can't stand up to a 76 yr old squash player, then what right do you have to insist that you be treated fairly by Zarqawi thugs on the battlefield, and why should I support you as a flag officer. I clearly see why the troops love Rumsfeld. He is a Real Man who doesn't suffer fools gladly. He wants results. And they deserve results.

Color me unimpressed by complaints about his leadership style. Color me very impressed that a Man has his head on straight enough to worry about how his grandchildren will remember Granny before he worries about how he will be remembered by historians and Hollywood.

"If you can bear to hear the Truth you've spoken, twisted by Knaves to make a trap for Fools, or watch the things you gave your life to -- broken, and stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools ..... If you can fill the unforgiving minute, with sixty seconds worth of distance run, then yours is the Earth, and everything that's in it, And, which is more, you'll be a Man, my son." ---- Rudyard Kipling

Sounds like a Real Man to me.

Subsunk