Don't think so. Les Aspin was SecDef during Black Hawk Down; he took responsibility (imagine, a Clinton appointee doing that) by resigning. And was replaced by a Republican - justifying my point that there hasn't been a successful Democrat SecDef in a long time. I don't know how good anyone thinks Carter's SecDef was, but other than that you'd have to go back to Robert S. McNamara of Vietnam "fame." And if you don't take that for a good reputation for SecDef, you'd have to go all the way back to Truman for a good Democratic SecDef . . .