Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 22, 1995 TAG: 9505230063
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Aspin, a Democrat and former Army captain, combined credentials as an intellectual on defense issues with the political skill to win election to the House 12 times from Wisconsin.
Although he seemed a natural choice as President Clinton's first defense secretary, everything seemed to go wrong when he took the job. Pressures for his resignation built, and in December 1993, he left office.
Through his quarter-century career in public service, Aspin, who held a doctorate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was best known for his tenure from 1985 to 1993 as Armed Services Committee chairman. There he brought his intellect to bear on some of the nation's difficult domestic and international problems. He showed an encyclopedic grasp of defense and national security issues, and as one of the most astute students of military budget questions.
While committee chairman, he became one of the first in Washington to realize that the Cold War was largely over. The fact was illustrated by such actions as calling a Soviet Army marshal to testify before his committee. Aspin advocated a re-examination of the entire U.S. military establishment in light of changes in the world
He became an advocate of the ``bottom-up'' evaluation of the U.S. military force structure when he became Clinton's defense secretary, attempting to pull the Pentagon into a new world that would have to get the job done with less money and manpower.
When he was named defense secretary, many in Washington expected great things. Yet others warned cautiously that although Aspin knew the press, the policy analysts and the congressional players, the largest organization he had ever run was the 80-person staff of the Armed Services Committee.
Traits that had helped him stand out on Capitol Hill may have led to problems at the Pentagon and with other Clinton officials. He could awe a listener while ruminating aloud, masterfully examining arcane issues with a kind of brilliant dispassion.
But some in uniform told reporters they would have greater admiration for a secretary who could lead clearly while running meetings that began and ended on time and reached concrete conclusions.
Aspin held office during a time when the world of geopolitics was in turmoil. The Soviet empire was imploding, intense brushfires were burning in the former Yugoslavia and Somalia, and Haiti was in turmoil. U.S. social policies also were troubling the military. The U.S. people, their government and the military itself were struggling to define the roles of women and gays in the military. Almost from the beginning of his tenure, however, Aspin seemed to take some unfortunate missteps. He publicly undercut Clinton's pledge to lift the ban on gays in the military by saying that Congress and the armed forces themselves would resist the change. He later misspoke about Bosnian policy.
His troubles mounted in October 1993 when, after his denial of tanks and armored vehicles to U.S. forces in Somalia, 18 U.S. troops were killed in Mogadishu after they were pinned down by gunfire. Later that month, the U.S. warship Harland County was turned back from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, by a jeering mob. In November, Aspin wrote to Clinton that the Pentagon was woefully underfunded and needed an additional $50 billion to carry out the president's own plan.
In December, Clinton asked for his resignation as defense secretary.
Many politicians and pundits agreed that the president's entire foreign policy and national security team seemed to be foundering and that Aspin was chosen to pay the price alone.
by CNB