Powell Floated for Sec. Defense
Laura Rozen reports:
With Jim Jones’ resignation last week as National Security Adviser and the elevation of his deputy Tom Donilon to succeed him, speculation is turning to who might succeed Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The Obama cabinet heavyweight has reasserted his intention to depart before the 2012 presidential campaign gets underway, likely in the first half of next year.
One new name that has become a topic of speculation on military listservs and among Democratic national security hands in recent days is that of retired four-star Gen. Colin Powell. The moderate Republican former Secretary of State, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and National Security Adviser to Ronald Reagan post-Iran Contra famously endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2008.
Powell has consulted with Obama on Iraq and Afghanistan including in a White House visit the weekend before Obama rolled out his Afghanistan strategy last December. Indeed, Obama has consulted Powell so often, it has raised the eyebrows of some retired senior Democratic national security figures he has apparently consulted less so. Nevertheless, some Democratic national security hands and former military officials have in the past week raised Powell’s name as a possible candidate for Obama to consider to succeed the exceedingly hard-to-replace Gates.
“It would fulfill George Marshall’s example perfectly,” former advisor Larry Wilkerson told POLITICO Wednesday, explaining that no other person besides George Marshall has served as army chief, Secretary of State and Defense Secretary.
Powell, 74, might be reluctant to take the job if offered, Wilkerson posited, because he is “fairly comfortable out of government, he makes a lot of money and he has made a lot of progress” in establishing a strong economic foundational base to support his extended family.
But if Obama asked him, Powell might be willing to consider it, Wilkerson said, adding that Powell would be mad at him for saying so.
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