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Couldn't we have let Mark Lippert do his reserve duty in the White House? I know SEALs need good intelligence officers (insert your own joke about SEALs and intelligence in the comments), but is an intelligence officer for a SEAL team as strategically important as the "deputy national security adviser for operations and chief of staff of the National Security Council"? Am I the only one scratching my head here? C'mon, folks, have the dude throw on a uniform and sit back down at the same desk. If you want to, you can just ask Lippert to spend a little more time sleeping, eating and lifting. And he can talk in some outrageous surfer-dude accent if it will make the Navy happy.
Rumor has it that he wasn't quite happy with his position and wanted to get away for a while. And honestly, would his current NSC position allow him to focus on issues rather than being in charge of the NSC's bureaucratic processes? He might have more direct impact as an intel offiicer.
Why do you assume Lippert would rather stay in the WH than deploy?
is an intelligence officer for a SEAL team as strategically important as the "deputy national security adviser for operations and chief of staff of the National Security Council"?
Yeah, he's an O-2 or O-3, too, compared to (conservatively estimating) a one-star equivalent on NSC.
Andrew Exum,
You're mentioned here in the PBS video: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/10/video-on-the-front-lines-with-ec...
The video shows some amazing combat footage.
How is this guy any different than any one of the thousands of reservists that have been lifted from their every day jobs for service in Iraq/Afghanistan? Is he more important because he works at some obscure staff position at the White House?
Come on AM--that's the price of reserve duty.
It would be absolutely politically impossible for him to do duty at the White House, that would be a political nightmare for the administration. Are you crazy? Do you really think that the Republican party would be cool with it if an Obama administration aide, and friend of Obama, go excused from active duty? The fallout would be tremendous. Obama doesn't have any other option.
I had a chance to work with him in Iraq, when he was the N-2 for the NSW det at Al Asad. Overall, a class act but I don't recall too much intel work being done at that time...
The beard looks good Andrew
Why don't we do exactly the opposite -- all national security advisers must serve a deployment in a war zone?
Why don't we do exactly the opposite -- all national security advisers must serve a deployment in a war zone?
Best idea yet...
Why is this a bad thing? When he comes back, the WH will benefit from having a (relatively) senior staffer with first hand experience of the war it is trying to manage.
Why is this a bad thing? When he comes back, the WH will benefit from having a (relatively) senior staffer with first hand experience of the war it is trying to manage.
To IntelTrooper's suggestion that the entire WH rotate through...
Noblesse sans oblige gets old. More importantly people who make decisions about war should seek military service and combat experience. I realize there is no Constitutional mandate that requires this, nor do I think there should be.
It's something that the policy makers should seek on their own as part of developing their character, and as part of a real and practical education in policy implementation.
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