What’s interesting about Work’s potential ascension, Eaglen said, is that the buzz got its start on the blogosphere. The defense blogger Springbored, and then others, were among the first to suggest that Work take over after Winter.Springboard is where I read it first, so credit due there. Lets examine a few things about this story for a minute.
“His name has bubbled up from the bottom up, versus from the top down, so then other people who care about Navy policy issues are pushing Bob’s name because he’s so widely respected and has such a good reputation,” Eaglen said.
Webb, the Virginia senator and decorated former Marine, would also be an interesting pick, since the job of Navy secretary is one he already held, and quit. He resigned in 1988 to protest congressionally mandated force structure cuts.
The other name that has been discussed for Obama’s Navy secretary, Sestak, is also a long shot, observers agreed.
First, Webb is an interesting choice, one that is almost certainly being pushed by industry. I know Sestak is an industry choice, they would love to have him, but in all honesty I don't think either is a real candidate for the next Secretary of the Navy. I have a lot of theories regarding what an Obama presidency is going to be like, and every single selection he has made so far for his cabinet positions match my theories. Both Webb and Sestak are the kind of picks that I would expect from a Clinton administration had she won, but Obama? I honestly don't think so, I have a rule when it comes to the Obama administration, if it is the type of thing you could predict from the Bush administration, it is unlikely you will find it in the Obama administration. An industry choice for SECNAV is what you could predict from the Bush folks. Bob Work would not be an industry choice.
If the selection is really down to these three choices, Bob Work is going to get offered the job. I have heard a few new items on this, for example, there are people who are selling Bob Work as a junior league pick because he doesn't have industry experience. What a load of crap, which is exactly the type of thing I would expect to see from a memo sourced from a certain major defense industry company. Bob Work represents significant intellectual weight and a symbol of change, and if you want to find a culture resistant to change and uncomfortable with opinion that carries intellectual clarity, the collectivism mentality inside the Pentagon is a good place to start.
One other thing, I'm hearing from several folks the pick will be announced between now and Christmas, indeed the transition inside the Pentagon is already starting so the picks may have already been made.
Second, I thought it was interesting Phillip Ewing interviewed Mackenzie Eaglen for the article. Why? Because as a very opinionated judge of quality regarding Navy think tank content, I admire her as one of the younger, fresh voices who doesn't hesitate to put an opinion out there in the press on Navy topics, which is ironic in this instance because that is one of things I have long admired about... Bob Work. The question is whether Heritage will be more like CSBA, and allow folks like Mackenzie Eaglen to specialize on a service to establish a reputation. Nothing personal to most of the think tank folks, but each service has become too complicated for a fellow of any of those institutions to be an expert at more than one at a time, and the content of the reports coming out during transition reflect this. To date, only CSBA seems to realize this, although Frank Hoffman's CNAS report is outstanding.
Finally, I think it is interesting how blogging is discussed in context of this news article. It is subtle, so you might of missed it, and I get it that a lot of active duty naval officers have a strong negative opinion of Springboard so that can be distracting in this case, but I think it is interesting how the Navy blogosphere is given some measure of respect.
I'd like to think that the atmosphere created within the Navy blogosphere has elevated the expectations of the medium to that of professional acceptance, and in a way I see both the recognition by Phillip Ewing and Mackenzie Eaglen as a confirmation that as a community, we have elevated expectations. Maybe I am reading something out of nothing, but I got the sense reading the article that collectively there is a level of comfort creeping into the mainstream of the Washington observers that there is something out here worth observing. I think that is a good thing, I'm not sure where it leads, but if Bob Work is SECNAV because of a bunch of strongly opinionated bloggers made a good case in public then that is a damn good thing for the Navy, and the country as a whole.
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