Warner Withdraws From Consideration for QDR Panel
By JOHN T. BENNETT
Published: 16 Nov 2009 20:07
Former Republican Sen. John Warner said Nov. 16 he will not chair a special panel that will scrutinize the Pentagon's 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review.
John Warner is a former Senate Armed Services Committee chairman and Navy secretary. (Heather Wines / GNS)
The statute that requires the Pentagon conduct the strategic study every four years also mandates the defense secretary "not later than six months before the date on which the report on a Quadrennial Defense Review is to be submitted … establish a panel to conduct an assessment" of the QDR, according to Title 10 of the U.S. Code.
Sources in recent days indicated Warner's involvement in the panel was in doubt after House-Senate conferees inserted language adding eight members to the panel that will be selected by congressional defense committee leaders. Warner, a former Senate Armed Services Committee chairman and Navy secretary, confirmed it was the authorization conferees' changes to the makeup of the QDR assessment committee that led him to conclude he could not participate.
"I advised the Office of Secretary of Defense, by a written legal memorandum, that, as a consequence of the provisions of the recent [defense] authorization conference report, I foresaw potential conflicts of interest which could limit my participation as a member of the review committee" Warner told Defense News.
A provision included in the 2010 Defense Authorization Act "added eight additional members to the review committee to be selected by the leadership of the Senate and House defense committees," Warner said. "My name has been withdrawn from further consideration to remain in compliance with Title 18, section 207, U.S. Code.
That part of the U.S. Code places a list of restrictions on the kinds of work former federal officials, employees, and elected officials can do. One of the section's chief goals is to prevent conflicts of interest from tainting government efforts.
Earlier this year, the House Armed Services Committee included in its version of the 2010 Pentagon authorization measure language requiring a National Defense Panel be established to draw up a set of assumptions and conclusions about how Washington should shape its defense strategies. According to the House panel's vision, the NDP would have been composed by an independent group of national security experts from both political parties.
The authorization conferees decided to combine the NDP concept with the quadrennial review assessment panel the defense secretary was already required by law to create, and let congressional defense leaders pick the new eight members.
Mackenzie Eaglen, a defense analyst at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation and a former Senate aide, led the call for creation of an alternative U.S. defense strategy study.
While U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates "will still play a prominent role in its formation, the provisions guiding the expanded independent panel promise to inject a new level of critical analysis into the QDR process," Eaglen wrote in a Nov. 2 Heritage Foundation report.
"This additional scrutiny with supplemental 'outsiders' will help strengthen the analytical assumptions informing future defense budget decisions," Eaglen wrote. "Congress should be applauded for providing robust oversight of the executive branch and retaining an independent panel with congressional appointees - one that will serve as a reality check on the prevailing strategic views and assumptions within the Pentagon."
Warner said he and Pentagon brass "arrived at a mutually agreed understanding."
Pentagon spokeswoman Air Force Lt. Col. René White declined to comment on the make-up of the review panel.
"The appointment process requires careful vetting - for conflicts of interest, and ethics vetting, etc.," White said in a Nov. 16 e-mail. "The process is slow-going, but going as quick as it can. We're taking care to make sure we get this right."
Warner was a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee for 30 years, and was its chairman on three different occasions. He is now a partner in the Washington wing of Hogan & Hartson LLP, a global law firm, where he is working on defense, climate change and government contracting issues.
Sources say putting together a high-level panel of experts - all of whom likely will be heavy hitters in Washington's national security community - is a tough task.
Picking leaders must be done strategically, sources say, because those decisions go a long way in recruiting the rest of the panel - meaning Warner's absence could complicate the Pentagon's efforts to fill out its portion of the review group.
One defense source compared the process to baking a cake. Excluding one key ingredient during the baking process, the source said, means you suddenly find yourself baking an entirely different kind of cake.
"It would have been a privilege for me to have participated," Warner said. "Given the challenges facing the military today, all phases of preparation and review of the Quadrennial Defense Report are of utmost importance."
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