The Pentagon's Elaine McCusker isn't the problem -- politics is (meaning Cheeto)
The Pentagon's Elaine McCusker isn't the problem — politics is
BY DOV S. ZAKHEIM, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 03/06/20 11:30 AM EST
The Hill
Reacting to the Trump administration’s withdrawal of Elaine McCusker’s nomination to become comptroller of the Department of Defense (DOD), a friend of mine emailed me: “I worked for her at CENTCOM when she was comptroller there. She was very good.”
How true. Not only was she very good at the Central Command’s headquarters in Tampa, but she carried out a highly commendable job both as congressionally-confirmed principal deputy under secretary of Defense to then-Comptroller David Norquist, and then as Norquist’s acting replacement when he moved up to become the DOD’s deputy secretary. Indeed, she was respected by both Democratic and Republican comptrollers who preceded her in that office.
McCusker’s sin was that she had questioned the ability of the White House to hold up funds for military assistance to Ukraine. As has been widely reported, Michael Duffy, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) associate director for national security programs, emailed McCusker and others at DOD regarding the White House’s decision to put a hold on the assistance....McCusker was incredulous. Unlike Duffy, who had relatively little budget experience, McCusker was a career budgeteer with intimate knowledge of both budget process and law. She wrote back: “You can’t be serious … I am speechless.” Her reply was her political death knell. It was only a matter of time before her nomination would be withdrawn.
... But defense budgeting is highly technical, even an arcane pursuit. To manage the department’s massive budgets and programs requires years, even decades, of hands-on experience. That the president sought to remove a talented budgeteer is a reflection of his ignorance of what her job entails. That she remains on the job, at least for the time being, is a reflection of the DOD leadership’s understanding of the position’s crucial importance to the defense of the nation. Indeed, it is testimony to her fortitude, too; having been rejected for the job she currently holds in an acting capacity, she might well have resigned. That she has not done so demonstrates her personal commitment to both the military and the DOD civilians whose budgets she oversees.
Dov S. Zakheim is a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and vice chairman of the board for the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He was under secretary of Defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer for the Department of Defense from 2001 to 2004 and a deputy under secretary of Defense from 1985 to 1987.
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/486264-pentagons-elaine-mcmusker-isnt-the-problem-politics-is