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Bush Likely to Tap Marine to Head Military
WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has recommended to President Bush that he nominate Marine Gen. Peter Pace to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a senior official said Wednesday. Bush was expected to announce his choice soon, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Pace, 59, currently the Joint Chiefs vice chairman, would be the first Marine to hold the top job in the military. The Joint Chiefs chairman is the senior uniformed adviser to the president and the secretary of defense. It is widely expected that Bush will name Navy Adm. Edmund Giambastiani, Jr., to succeed Pace as vice chairman. Giambastiani, 56, was Rumsfeld's senior military assistant before being named commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command in 2002. The Pace and Giambastiani moves are among many changes in the works at senior levels of the Pentagon. The Navy's top officer, Adm. Vern Clark, is due to retire this summer, and the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. John Jumper, is due to depart this fall. The job of Air Force secretary is vacant, and the current Navy secretary, Gordon England, has been nominated to replace Paul Wolfowitz as deputy defense secretary. Rumsfeld's top policy aide, Douglas Feith, also is leaving. If confirmed by the Senate, Pace would succeed Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, who is scheduled to retire late this summer after four years as chairman. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and raised in Teaneck, N.J., Pace graduated from the Naval Academy and got a master's degree in business administration from George Washington University. After basic training in 1968, he was sent to Vietnam as a rifle platoon leader. He later served in Korea, as a commander for two years during the Somali intervention, in Japan and as head of the U.S. Southern Command. He became vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs in 2001, shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Joint Chiefs chairman has the authority to transmit communications from the president and defense secretary to leaders of the nation's combatant commands, but does not exercise direct military command over any forces. Posted by: tu3031 2005-04-20 |
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