Posted on 04/22/2005 12:23:52 AM PDT by FairOpinion
WASHINGTON - President Bush's choice to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, has quietly helped shape the Pentagon's role in the global war on terrorism since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Bush is expected to announce as early as Friday that he will nominate Pace to succeed Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers as Joint Chiefs chairman. Pace is expected to win Senate confirmation easily.
Pace, 59, would be the first Marine to be chairman. He also would be only the second to rise from vice chairman to the top spot. Myers, due to retire Sept. 30 after four years on the job, was the first.
After nearly four years in the No. 2 job — a period in which the war on terror has been the military's dominant focus — Pace has remained a relatively unknown figure to the public. Privately, he is said to get along well with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who moved Pace into the vice chairman's spot on Oct. 1, 2001, after Pace had served only one year as commander of U.S. Southern Command.
Aides say Rumsfeld has viewed Myers and Pace as virtually interchangeable in their role as military advisers. In a reflection of his confidence in Pace, Rumsfeld on a number of occasions has had Pace at his side for Pentagon news conferences when Myers was traveling abroad.
A secretary of defense and a Joint Chiefs chairman work closely together, by necessity, but their relationship can sometimes be difficult. By law, the chairman is required to give his unvarnished advice on matters affecting the armed forces, but the defense secretary is the boss. That can sometimes make it appear publicly that the chairman is deferential and lacking in independence.
Pace touched on this point briefly during a Pentagon news conference in March in which Rumsfeld noted that his recommendations on filling senior Pentagon positions are ultimately decided by the president.
"All I would add," Pace said, "is no matter how thin the veneer, your military is 100 percent civilian controlled."
The Joint Chiefs chairman, who normally serves two two-year terms, is the senior military adviser to the president as well as the secretary of defense. He commands no troops and is not in the chain of command that runs from the president to the secretary of defense to commanders in the field.
Born in New York City and raised in Teaneck, N.J., Pace graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and earned 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 and was a commander for two years during the Somalia intervention that ended in a U.S. withdrawal.
Earlier in his career Pace's assignments included an unusual combination of staff and command jobs. After his return from Vietnam in 1969 he served as head infantry writer at the Marine Corps Institute in Washington, D.C., then security detachment commander at the Camp David, Md., presidential retreat.
He also served as a presidential social aide at the White House and later was commanding officer of the Marine Corps recruiting station in Buffalo, N.Y. After he reached the rank of brigadier general in 1992 he became president of Marine Corps University. It was during that assignment that he was sent to Somalia as deputy commander of Marine forces. He reached four-star rank in 2000.
Pace and his wife, Lynne, have a daughter, Tiffany Marie, and a son, Peter.
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Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, center, speaks to the media before a meeting with Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul, in Gonul's office in an Ankara file photo from Dec. 4, 2003. Pace, a Vietnam veteran whose military postings have ranged from the ceremonial halls of the White House to the violent streets of Somalia, is expected to be named chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a senior official said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici, File)
Semper Fi! ping to Gunny Bob
The outgoing CJCS, Gen Meyers, was absolutely brilliant in the role. Did anyone ever see him on the Sunday talk circuit? He is a better speaker and more intelligent than 90% of the politicians in Washington.
Godspeed Gen Meyers.
Go Marine's ....a perfect choice!
Another great reason to enlist as a Marine!
I am especially proud, as I am retired Marine and my twin sons have just enlisted in the Corps!
"I am especially proud, as I am retired Marine and my twin sons have just enlisted in the Corps!"
Congratulations!
When they graduate from boot camp there will be 3 Marines in your house!
Congratulations you proud papa!
I have met Chieftain's sons. They are very bright, attractive and great guys! Their service will make all Americans proud and they will be such an honor to the Marine Corps!!! I am so happy for you and the twins!
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Best to your sons!
Thanks, JLO. I am very proud of them, yet this morning I realize that we don't have much more time with them and life will be much different and I am getting choked up about it.
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