INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, JULY 11, 2015 Atop military heap, spotlight bright but powers dim Most powerful man in uniform commands nothing WASHINGTON: The man often called America’s top Chiefs of Staff - the top officers of the Army, Navy, the role of the chairman. rejected it, although last year he initiated a $500 military , the most powerful person in uni- Air Force and Marine Corps, and since 2012, the Dempsey says the chairman is supposed to be million plan to train and equip Syrian rebels to fight form, actually commands nothing. No tanks, no National Guard. Collectively they form a sounding an adviser, not an advocate for any particular strate- Islamic State militants. planes, no ships, no troops. His voice carries great board for commanders of key combat organiza- gy or policy that the president may be considering. weight, but he gives no combat orders. He is chair- tions such as US Central Command, and for the He sees his role as explaining to his civilian bosses - Divisive ordeal man of the - adviser to presi- president and the secretary of defense. The position and to members of Congress - which military Peter Pace, the retired who was the first dents, advocate for troops, strategic thinker, and of Joint Chiefs vice chairman was added in 1986. options are feasible and assessing their risks and Marine to hold the job, said he never shaped his occasionally a political punching bag. He stands The chairman advises the president and the costs. But it’s up to civilian leaders to set policy advice to President George W Bush based on poli- atop the military heap, and the role has grown in defense secretary on military threats, risks and goals and to decide whether to undertake any mili- tics. But politics shaped his term as chairman. Pace influence and public prominence, yet it remains options, but he bears no obligation to toe the politi- tary option in pursuit of those goals. is seen by some as a political casualty of the war arguably one of the least understood. In the view of cal line of the . Yet this proximity to “There’s actually an acronym: pol-mil. I’m the Bush started in Iraq in 2003 while Pace was the vice some who have held the job, this disconnect has chairman. Bush’s defense secretary, , made the chairman more vulnerable to political announced in June 2007 that he advised Bush not swipes from all sides. to re-nominate Pace to a second two-year term as With the Joint Chiefs of Staff officially estab- chairman because it would create a “divisive lished after World War II, 18 men have held the job ordeal” in the Senate over the decision to invade since 1949. Nine were Army generals, four were Iraq and the mistakes that followed. Navy admirals, four were from the Air Force and “Not being re-nominated was very much a polit- one was a Marine. (No woman is likely to fill the job ical reality,” Pace said in an interview. In blunter lan- anytime soon in a male-dominated military.) guage, another of Dempsey’s predecessors, retired Pending an expected Senate vote to confirm him Army Gen. Henry “Hugh” Shelton, says he dodged this month, Gen will be the next politics like it was enemy fire. “I did my best to iso- chairman. The commandant of the Marine Corps late myself from the political arena and walk sailed through his confirmation hearing Thursday squarely down the middle - not an easy task in a and is expected to take over Oct 1 for Gen Martin E city where one’s party affiliation seemed more sig- Dempsey, who will retire after a 41-year Army nificant than his blood type,” Shelton, who served career. as chairman from 1997 to 2001 under two adminis- The chairman is the public face of the military, trations, wrote in his 2010 memoir. but he is not in the formal chain of command link- More so than his successors, Shelton deliberate- ing the president to his commanders in the field. ly limited his public exposure, believing the nation- Dempsey, who is completing four years in the job, al security spotlight should fall mainly on the presi- has said it reminds him of entering the Army as a dent and defense secretary. In an interview, Shelton lowly second lieutenant. “I felt like I had enormous WASHINGTON: Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen speaks during an inter- cited one exception - the immediate after- responsibility but I didn’t have very much authority; view with The Associated Press at the Pentagon. —AP math of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which that’s kind of what it’s like being chairman,” he said power is what sometimes makes the chairman a dash,” he says. “I’m the guy that lives in between left a portion of the Pentagon in smoking ruin and in January 2014. ready target of partisan political attacks. the policy objectives as articulated by our elected raised public fear about the country’s vulnerability. Sen John McCain, R-Ariz, for example, has leaders and the military activities to achieve it.” At He participated in a Pentagon news conference less Uncomfortable space accused Dempsey of being the Obama administra- times his advice is rejected, and Dempsey sees that than 12 hours after the attack, along with Defense Today, as he looks back, Dempsey says he grew tion’s lapdog. Dempsey brushes off such criticism, as reflecting a basic feature of American democra- Secretary Donald H Rumsfeld and key congression- into the role, not fully realizing at the outset just calling it wrong-headed but not surprising. “It has cy: civilian control of the military. In 2013, for exam- al leaders. “The American people at that point how brightly the public spotlight would shine. “In happened to every chairman since I’ve become ple, he acknowledged under questioning by needed to see one of their uniformed (leaders),” those early days that was very uncomfortable space aware that there was a thing called the chairman of McCain that he had supported a proposal by then- Shelton said. “They wanted to be reassured that the for me. I navigated it because it is part of the job,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” he said in the interview. He CIA Director David Petraeus to arm rebels against military felt like they were in good shape and ready he said. By law, the chairman presides over the Joint attributes the jabs partly to a misunderstanding of the Syrian government. President Barack Obama to respond.” —AP