THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 1, 1996 TAG: 9606010246
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 41 lines
Though a final decision is still days away, Adm. Jay L. Johnson is considered a front-runner to succeed Adm. Jeremy ``Mike'' Boorda as the Navy's top officer.
Administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Friday that the president planned to take the weekend to mull his options. But they said Johnson, vice chief of naval operations, appeared to be the leading candidate.
Clinton and Defense Secretary William Perry met Wednesday night to discuss possible successors. The Pentagon chief had not forwarded a recommendation to the president Friday.
Other candidates for chief of naval operations included Adm. Leighton W. Smith Jr., who heads the NATO effort in Bosnia, and Adm. Joseph Prueher, who runs the Pacific Command.
Johnson, a 1968 graduate of the Naval Academy, is one of the fastest rising stars in the sea service. Just three months ago he was elevated to his current post as the No. 2 officer at Navy headquarters. He took over after Prueher was tapped to head the U.S. Pacific Command.
Johnson, who turns 50 next Wednesday, is described by colleagues as a smart, innovative officer. He won wide praise as commander of the U.S. 2nd Fleet in the U.S. intervention in Haiti, when the Navy worked more closely than ever with the Army.
Boorda shot himself to death May 16.
In a suicide note left at his residence at the Washington Navy Yard, Boorda expressed distress over what he apparently felt would become a media scandal over questions about the propriety of two combat pins he had worn on his chest.
Aides to Boorda said later that while no one fully understands what drove Boorda to kill himself, Boorda felt wounded by an anonymous attack in the Navy Times, which had no connection to Boorda's combat pins. ILLUSTRATION: Adm. Johnson by CNB