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Saturday, August 25, 2001
Bush nominates Myers as chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff
The ex-commander of Air Force Space Command endorses satellite defenses
By Ron Kampeas
Associated Press
   WASHINGTON - Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, nominated as top warrior Friday by President Bush, shares much with his commander in chief: a commitment to the bottom line and an eye toward the sky as America's best chance for defense.
   Myers, a Vietnam War fighter pilot, twice led troops in the Asia-Pacific region, where Bush perceives America's greatest military threat. Central to his selection, however, was his leadership of the U.S. Space Command.
   "He's from Kansas, a man of the prairie," said Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who joined Bush in introducing Myers in Crawford. "His career is the embodiment of the transformation with which he will be charged as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."
   Making good on promises
   Bush spoke frankly of the dilemma that he, Rumsfeld and Myers will face: making good on promises to expand America's space-based defenses with a tight military budget.
   "Our budget reflects the need to fully explore and, at the same time, make sure that today's military can fulfill the missions. And it's a balancing act," said Bush, who is convening discussions on reforming the military while on vacation.
   Myers must now be confirmed by the Senate.
   Unsettled by fierce Pentagon resistance to his plans to substitute space-based missile defenses for the "two-war" capability, Bush has found a like thinker in Myers.
   Supporting Bush's plans
   The Air Force chief suggested to reporters earlier this month that he supports Bush's plans to reduce forces in order to invest in a space-based defense system. He acknowledged that most military leaders felt otherwise.
   If anyone can keep expansion within budget, it is Myers, said Gen. Merrill McPeak, who as Air Force chief in the early 1990s was Myers' commander.
   "He has a ground-up understanding of how systems are acquired and produced," McPeak said.
   Myers, 59, would be the first airman to head the military since 1982 - but McPeak says he defies flyboy cliches.
   "There are fighter pilots who are hair-on-fire, kick-down-the-door, rip-your-face-off kind of guys - I'm that kind of guy," he said. "Dick is not. He's quietly effective. He gets an awful lot done without leaving fingerprints."
   Space-based defense
   Myers' past statements place him squarely in the corner of a space-based missile defense system.
   As commander of the Air Force Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado from 1998 to 2000, he heartily endorsed satellite defenses, even though three satellite launches famously failed on his watch.
   Speaking last year to his alma mater, Kansas State University, he called satellite systems essential to modern warfare and spoke dramatically of the threat: "the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the missiles that deliver them to our cities."
   Greatest threats
   Myers' experience in the Asian theater is useful to an administration that perceives China and North Korea as posing the greatest threat to American interests. Ending his three-year stint as the commander of U.S. forces in Japan in 1996, Myers said the North Korean threat should spur Japan to raise its military profile.
   "He knows more about China and Asia than probably anyone else who would have been chosen," said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., a Bush ally on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
   Philosophy aside, Col. Don Black, Myers' chief spokesman from 1997 to 2000, said his ex-boss' strength is in delegation.
   "He lets the staff, the people who work for him, know what his priorities and expectations are, and lets people do their job," said Black, who is now retired.
   Close to his staff
   Myers and his wife, Mary Jo, were close to his staff, Black said, often having them over for dinner and parties.
   Myers earned kudos during his Space Command term for keeping qualified people in the service through liberal promotions and good housing, said Hal Littrell, a Colorado banker who worked with Myers on community issues.
   "He never played games, asking for more to get what he wanted," Littrell said. "His requests were always very specific."

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