Dick Myers

Was nominated
by President Bush as
Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff
(8/24/01)

(The following article is from the KC Star, 8/23/01)

Potential chairman could be bridge between Bush, Pentagon

By SCOTT CANON - The Kansas City Star
Date: 08/22/01 22:15

The promotion of a man from Merriam to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff could signal the Bush administration's attempt to handle a sometimes stubborn Pentagon as it moves America's defenses to the heavens.

Congressional backing of President Bush's reported selection of Gen. Richard B. Myers would mark the first time an Air Force officer has risen to the job since the chairmanship took on significant political muscle in the mid-1980s.

It would elevate to the Pentagon's top command a man intimately familiar with ideas about taking more of America's military airborne -- from technology-heavy fighters and bombers, to national missile defense, to space-based weaponry.

On more earthly issues, as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff the 59-year-old Myers bridged the gap between Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon establishment.

"He's got all the right experience for where the administration wants to take the military," said Andrew Krepinevich, executive director of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. "And he's worked closely with the current civilian leadership."

Unnamed White House officials were reported saying Bush had settled on Myers for the job and might announce the choice, with the general at his side, from his Texas ranch on Friday.

Army Lt. Col. Thomas Rheinlander, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs, said, "there's no confirmation and no announcement from the White House. And they're the only ones who could make that announcement."

He did confirm that Myers would accompany Rumsfeld to Texas as the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs because the current chairman, Hugh Shelton, will be in Mexico. While meeting with Bush, the spokesman said, Myers would discuss the 2002 defense budget, the Quadrennial Defense Review of military priorities and other long-range strategies.

"But that," Rheinlander said, "is something he would be doing anyway."

If chosen for the job and confirmed for the position by the Senate, Myers would be Bush's chief military adviser. It would be his counsel, for instance, on broad policy for the armed forces and when to put troops into harm's way.

About 40 years ago, Myers left Merriam upon graduating from Shawnee Mission North High School and headed to Kansas State University, where a room in the school's Military Science Building would later be named for him. He left Manhattan in 1965 with a degree in mechanical engineering and began a career as an Air Force officer that never seemed to leave the fast track.

A Phantom F-4 fighter pilot, he flew missions over Vietnam. He went on to command first squadrons, then fighter wings as he rose through the ranks, at one point leading all American air forces in the Pacific.

His experience and training eventually took him to the head of the Colorado-based Space Command, giving him a hands-on understanding of the military's use of satellites and its plans for deploying weapons in orbit.

As vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff since March 2000, Myers has worked closely with the civilians in the Clinton and Bush administrations.

Stories have leaked that Rumsfeld tends to upset many in the Pentagon -- with his direct personality and his aim to reform the Defense Department. Myers' genial and sometimes professorial manner reportedly blends well with Rumsfeld.

"He seems to be one of the generals that Rumsfeld and his team can get along with," said Lawrence Korb, an assistant secretary of defense during the Reagan years now working for the Council on Foreign Relations.

What's more, Korb said, Myers' Air Force and space defense background dovetails with Bush's interest in a high-tech military that might sacrifice old-style programs to pay for such innovations as the controversial national missile defense.

Another factor in picking an Air Force general, analysts speculated, could be that that branch of the military has so often been overlooked for the job of top uniformed adviser to the president.

In 1986, Congress beefed up the job by adding significant staff to its immediate command -- including the job of vice chairman that Myers has held for a year and a half.

The first chairman after that change was Navy Adm. William Crowe, followed by Army generals Colin Powell, John Shalikashvili and Hugh Shelton. Shelton is due to retire Sept. 30.

Because the Navy, Air Force and Army are considered roughly equal branches -- the Marine Corps lacks the troops and budget of the others -- choosing someone other than an Air Force general might be read as a snub.

"If the idea is to maintain a rotation, it's been the Air Force's turn for a while," said Owen Cote, associate director of the security studies program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In 1997, Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston was considered briefly for the job until he admitted an adulterous relationship.

Myers' career lacks such controversy. His fighter-pilot beginnings are typical of Air Force generals who rise highest in the service. His work has been marked by a broad range of assignments around the globe -- the sort of generalist's background typical of Pentagon elite.

In a speech at Kansas State University in April 2000, Myers spoke largely about the nobility of military service, peppering his talk with anecdotes about the courage of World War II veterans and today's peacekeepers in Kosovo.

"We serve so we may share the blessing of liberty with other parts of the world and pass on to the next generation, and not just our children, the gifts of freedom that were passed on to us," he said.

His speech also breezed over points commonly made by Pentagon brass -- that troops deserve better pay and benefits, that the military needs more money to modernize and that American defense strategy is becoming more complicated in the post-Cold War world.

His relatives said the general tries to return to the Kansas City area regularly. Often he times his trips to attend a Royals or Chiefs game or a Kansas State football game.

"He comes back as much as he can," said his brother, Chuck Myers of Mission. "He has always considered Kansas City home."

He lives with his wife, the former Mary Jo Rupp, in Washington two doors down from the current Joint Chiefs chairman. They have three children. The youngest, a son, is a college student, and two older daughters live in Atlanta and San Francisco.

Myers golfs and typically shoots in the low 80s. He drives and tinkers with an old Triumph sports car and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. He also boats and has two English sheepdogs.

Myers was born in Kansas City and, family members say, was terrified of planes for much of his boyhood because a plane crashed within blocks of his house in the mid-1940s.

"He heard the noise, saw the crash, or whatever, and it bothered him for quite a long time," said his younger brother and only sibling, Chuck Myers. "Because of that, our parents used to take us to watch planes take off or land whenever they could so he could get over that."

It wasn't until near the end of his years at Kansas State, on an ROTC trip, that his fear of planes transformed to a love of flying.

"People in the family still sort of laugh about it," said Janet Ballard, a sister-in-law of Myers who lives in Kansas City. "And here he ends up with this career in the Air Force."

To reach Scott Canon, national correspondent, call (816) 234-4754 or send e-mail to scanon@kcstar.com.