I am watching this development with interest. The current system forces people out just at the point that they are figuring out how things work and have become truly effective. The result is that General Officers are frequently outmanuevered by long term savvy bureaucrats who are only interested in their own narrow interests. I have watched one particular superannuated Army civilian roll over a long succession of Army Chiefs - they are all gone and he is still in the chair.
I know that there is a widely held view that Clinton hand picked his generals. But, this is not actually true. After the Homosexuals in the military debacle, Clinton backed off the military and left selection of senior general officers to the services - he didn't want to take the political heat. Rumsfeld, on the other hand, is personally involved. You don't get the job (all 4-star jobs, and some 3-star)without several personal interviews, and the service nominees have not fared well. He is remaking DoD in his own image - hope he gets it right.
White's greatest contribution to the Army will be his reforms of the personnel and manning systems. This has received little attention, but will be an enduring legacy. He has had to fight the personnel weenies every step of the way, but has done the right thing. I hope his reforms will survive him, I'm sure that the sharks are already attacking the carcass.
That's revolutionary!
Still, I'm cautious of swapping an entrenched civlian bureacratcy for an entrenched and politicized general officer corps.