Pentagon

Usually at budget time the Pentagon leadership troops up to Capitol Hill with a large spending proposal supported by dire predictions if they don't get it all. They face hostile questioning from legislators trying to free up money for their own pet projects.This year the roles are reversed. President Clinton has submitted a tight budget but key GOP leaders -- pushing deficit worries aside -- want to put more money into the Pentagon, particularly in areas that conflict with administration objectives.

Absent from the discussion about whether former Senator Chuck Hagel would make a good secretary of defense is any focus on lessons learned from personal factors like combat in war, as well as loyalty to the president. As I was grousing about this, my eye caught a name on a rubbing I made from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall: "Edward S. Krukowski. " Many years ago, Ed and I studied Russian and were in the ROTC together. Capt. Edward Krukowski, USAF, was flying a C-123 on a resupply mission in Vietnam when shot down on Oct. 24, 1964, six days short of his 26th birthday, leaving a wife and three small children.

President Clinton's star-crossed search for a secretary of defense might at last have chanced upon a star in William J. Perry, a steady beacon of good sense and military expertise in an administration too much given to gyration. As deputy to the outgoing secretary, Les Aspin, Mr. Perry took care of the maintenance of an effective force structure in a period of post-Soviet downsizing while Mr. Aspin tried with mixed success to handle policy decisions.Now the tough, out-front issues will be Mr. Perry's in one of the most complex jobs in government.

The suspect in the Colorado movie theater shootings is not and has never been a member of the armed forces, the Pentagon said Friday. Authorities say shooting suspect James Holmes carried an assault rifle, a shotgun and a handgun and wore full body armor during the attack that left 12 dead and dozens injured at the theater in Aurora, Colo. Police say his apartment was rigged with explosives. The Pentagon said two airmen and one sailor were injured in the attack. Another sailor who was known to have been at the theater was unaccounted for. Aurora is home to Buckley Air Force Base, and an hour's drive from the Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs.

ON AND OFF, for almost half a century, in one dangerous place or other, Bob Hope's Christmastime visits to entertain U.S. forces have been an American institution. Through television and press coverage, Americans back home could always look forward to sharing his gags and pratfalls with their friends and relatives overseas. But not this year. The Pentagon is barring news organizations from covering the 87-year-old entertainer's current shows, citing security and a potential for exploitation of his jokes by Iraqi propaganda.

Once again a congressional committee hears horror stories about the bookkeeping chaos that passes for financial management at the Pentagon. Once again, we feel safe in predicting, the legislators will trot off after the sound bites have run out. When will someone in authority -- the president, the secretary of defense, Congress -- do something besides wring its hands over the billions of tax dollars poured down a rathole by a military establishment that...

Pentagon critics and their allies in Congress are planning t push for sweeping reforms next year to wipe away the "the old boy network" they say has blocked changes in the way the military handles sex-crime allegations within its ranks."

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney both have weekend retreats on the Chesapeake Bay at St. Michaels. Could that be why the scofflaw Pentagon has agreed to ante up its share for upgrading sewage treatment plants that drain into the bay? Whatever it took was influence well spent. A silly semantic dispute worthy of neither politicians nor lawyers was shelved in favor of a $22 million commitment by the Defense Department to clean up its act at five installations in Maryland over the next four years.

WASHINGTON -- While the State Department has held out hope that the Haitian military would go along with a peace accord to restore President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power, Pentagon officials believed the junta was never serious and has now proved its bad faith.For months, Defense Secretary Les Aspin and the director of central intelligence, R. James Woolsey, have warned of the risks in sending troopsto Haiti, according to Clinton administration officials.And with armed demonstrators in Haiti railing against the United RTC Nations and promising to turn Haiti into another Somalia, Mr. Aspin and Mr. Woolsey have carried the day, at least temporarily.

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has rejected or deferred millions of dollars in military aid requests from Pakistan amid criticism that Islamabad has squandered U.S. funding and allowed al-Qaida to re-create a haven in its western tribal regions. In February, the Defense Department turned down or delayed more than $81 million requested by Pakistan, according to a report issued yesterday by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. The rejection represents a small portion of nearly $1 billion a year that Pakistan has received through a post-Sept.