Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

The Stanley purge

I’m hearing that the new Pentagon under secretary of Defense for personnel, Clifford Stanley, is defenestrating people left and right. Latest to get the heave, yesterday, was Noel Koch, the guy who was running the Wounded Warrior program. Anyone wanna shed some light on what is going on? The rest of you, remember Pentagon politics ...

Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images
Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images
Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

I'm hearing that the new Pentagon under secretary of Defense for personnel, Clifford Stanley, is defenestrating people left and right. Latest to get the heave, yesterday, was Noel Koch, the guy who was running the Wounded Warrior program.

I’m hearing that the new Pentagon under secretary of Defense for personnel, Clifford Stanley, is defenestrating people left and right. Latest to get the heave, yesterday, was Noel Koch, the guy who was running the Wounded Warrior program.

Anyone wanna shed some light on what is going on?

The rest of you, remember Pentagon politics rule one: Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics, and people who understand where power resides talk personnel policy. For example, if in the 1980s you wanted to get the services to send better people to joint billets, you’d make "joint time" a prerequisite for promotion to flag rank.

5:30 UPDATE: I asked for more info, so Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell called to offer his explanation. It looks like the purges are going to continue in the Pentagon personnel office. Defense Secretary Gates believes that office is in "desperate need of a wholesale reorganization," Morrell said, and has given Stanley "wide authority to revamp it from top to bottom."

Morrell added, "There probably will be more changes in the offing."

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

More from Foreign Policy

Residents evacuated from Shebekino and other Russian towns near the border with Ukraine are seen in a temporary shelter in Belgorod, Russia, on June 2.
Residents evacuated from Shebekino and other Russian towns near the border with Ukraine are seen in a temporary shelter in Belgorod, Russia, on June 2.

Russians Are Unraveling Before Our Eyes

A wave of fresh humiliations has the Kremlin struggling to control the narrative.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva shake hands in Beijing.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva shake hands in Beijing.

A BRICS Currency Could Shake the Dollar’s Dominance

De-dollarization’s moment might finally be here.

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler in an episode of The Diplomat
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler in an episode of The Diplomat

Is Netflix’s ‘The Diplomat’ Factual or Farcical?

A former U.S. ambassador, an Iran expert, a Libya expert, and a former U.K. Conservative Party advisor weigh in.

An illustration shows the faces of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin interrupted by wavy lines of a fragmented map of Europe and Asia.
An illustration shows the faces of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin interrupted by wavy lines of a fragmented map of Europe and Asia.

The Battle for Eurasia

China, Russia, and their autocratic friends are leading another epic clash over the world’s largest landmass.