THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 4, 1996 TAG: 9606040288
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 180 lines
Unless he reaches deep into the three-star admiral list, President Clinton is believed to be considering five, possibly six, candidates for his next chief of naval operations.
Defense Secretary William J. Perry said Monday that he met with Clinton last week to recommend a replacement for Adm. Jeremy ``Mike'' Boorda, giving the president the names of ``a few that I think are viable, that could be successful, effective'' CNOs.
He also singled out one candidate whom he considered to be the ``best choice'' for the job, though he did not name his choice.
But the list of men regarded as prospects to replace Boorda, who committed suicide May 16, is a short one:
Adm. Jay L. Johnson, 48, vice chief of naval operations and acting CNO since Boorda's death.
Adm. William J. Flanagan Jr., 53, commander-in-chief of the Atlantic Fleet, headquartered in Norfolk.
Adm. Joseph Prueher, 53, commander-in-chief of the Pacific Command, headquartered in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Adm. Leighton W. Smith Jr., 56, commander-in-chief of U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Allied Forces Southern Europe.
Adm. Ronald J. Zlatoper, 54, commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet.
The list may also include Vice Adm. J. Paul Reason, 55, deputy chief of naval operations for plans, policy and operations, who was nominated in May for promotion to four-star admiral and to be reassigned to command the Atlantic Fleet.
Two active-duty four-star admirals - Adm. Bruce DeMars, director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion, and Adm. Charles R. Larson, superintendent of the Naval Academy - are not thought to be contenders.
``I gave him a very full discussion as to what the alternatives were,'' Perry said of his talks with Clinton last Wednesday. ``I mentioned more than one name, gave him several names, gave him pros and cons.''
Perry said previously that the qualities he would look for in a new CNO are the same he looked for when he selected Boorda in April 1994: ``a person who could, first of all, be a leader in the Navy - someone who can bring the Navy together, represent the best in the Navy and have the Navy people rally around.''
Johnson, identified by some White House sources as a front-runner for CNO, would be the first aviator chosen Navy chief since Adm. Thomas Hayward in 1982.
Johnson is a 1968 Naval Academy graduate. His selection to the vice chief's post was in keeping with the Navy's tradition of naming a flier to the No. 2 position when the CNO is orientated toward surface ships or submarines. Boorda was a surface ship officer.
Johnson took command of the 2nd Fleet from Flanagan in July 1994, just as the operation to restore democracy in Haiti kicked off, and was nominated in February for promotion from vice admiral to admiral.
He flew F-8J Crusaders during two combat tours in Vietnam, switched to flying F-14s, and eventually commanded the Jolly Rogers of Fighter Squadron 84 at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach.
Ashore, he was head of the junior officer assignment branch for aviators in the Bureau of Naval Personnel. He returned to sea in 1985 to command Air Wing 1 aboard the carrier America, then was assistant chief of staff for operations with the 6th Fleet until June 1987.
In February 1988 he again commanded Air Wing 1 as a senior air wing commander. Following tours at the Naval War College and as assistant chief at the Bureau of Naval Personnel, he commanded Carrier Group 8 aboard the carrier Theodore Roosevelt.
Tailhook, the Navy's worst scandal in recent years, apparently did not damage Johnson's career, although he was at the notorious 1991 Tailhook convention in Las Vegas. Johnson was one of 35 officers interviewed afterward, but investigators found nothing to warrant action against him.
Flanagan, a former merchant marine officer, is a 1964 graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and received his Navy commission in 1967. He has commanded the frigate Bronstein and was the first skipper of the guided-missile destroyer Kidd.
In 1986 he returned to sea to command Destroyer Squadron 5 in San Diego. Selected for flag rank, he returned to Washington for a three-year stint as director of the Surface Warfare Division.
From there he moved to the Pentagon, where he worked with the Bureau of Naval Personnel, and the Capitol, where he was chief of legislative affairs. He gained command of the U.S. 2nd Fleet in June 1992, and was appointed commander of the Atlantic Fleet in 1994.
Prueher was confirmed earlier this year by the Senate as head of the U.S. Pacific Command, putting aside concerns about his handling of a 1989 sex harassment investigation at the Naval Academy.
In a voice vote, the Senate confirmed Clinton's nomination of the four-star admiral to the Honolulu post.
A decorated combat pilot, Prueher succeeded Adm. Richard Macke, whom Clinton asked to resign last fall after Macke made a remark about a rape case involving American servicemen on Okinawa.
In 1989, Prueher was commandant of midshipmen at the Naval Academy when a group of male students chained a female classmate to a urinal and taunted her.
Prueher headed the investigation, which led to written reprimands, demerits and lost leave time against the assailants. At his confirmation hearing, Prueher said he could have handled the investigation better, particularly by showing greater sensitivity to the victim, who left the academy in disgust.
A 1964 graduate of the academy, Prueher also earned a master's degree in international affairs from George Washington University and a degree from the Naval War College in 1973. He was a combat pilot in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for one particularly dangerous mission.
Smith, a native of Mobile, Ala., is a 1962 Naval Academy graduate who flew A-4 Skyhawks and Corsairs during three combat deployments and 280 combat missions to Vietnam. He was awarded 25 strike flight and four individual award Air Medals during that time.
Nicknamed ``Snuffy,'' his call sign while flying, he commanded Attack Squadron 86, Carrier Air Wing 15, Light Attack Wing 1, the oiler Kalamazoo and the carrier America.
Following his tour on the America, he spent a year with the Strategic Studies Group in Newport, R.I., as a CNO Fellow. Subsequent to his selection to flag rank in 1986, he served as director, tactical readiness division on the CBO's staff, followed by command of Carrier Group 6 when he deployed on the carriers Forrestal and America.
His next tour was as director of operations, U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany, from 1989-91. During that time he was involved in support of Desert Shield/Desert Storm operations, including operations that initiated from Turkey and Iraq.
Promoted to vice admiral in 1991, he served for 2 1/2 years as deputy chief of operations for plans, policy and operations. He was a major contributor to Navy staff reorganization and the development of ``From the Sea,'' the naval strategy for the 21st century.
He was selected for his fourth star in April 1994 and became commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe and commander-in-chief of allied forces Southern Europe. He now commands the NATO mission in Bosnia.
He has indicated to President Clinton that he wanted to retire to take care of his ailing wife. But he also has said more recently that if needed, he would be willing to stay.
Zlatoper, a native of Cleveland, was commissioned in 1963 through the Naval ROTC program after graduating from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.
Qualifying as a naval aviator, he was assigned to one of the first squadrons to fly A-6 Intruders and flew combat missions over Vietnam from the carriers Constellation and Forrestal. He later commanded Attack Squadron 85, operating from the carrier Forrestal.
He commanded Carrier Air Wing 1 aboard the America, served as senior air wing commander aboard the carrier Carl Vinson, was chief of staff for the 7th Fleet and commanded Carrier Group 7 out of San Diego.
He became chief of naval personnel, taking over from Boorda, in 1991, and was assigned to command the Pacific Fleet in 1994.
Reason is a native of Washington and a 1965 graduate of the Naval Academy. His early naval experience was in nuclear-power training.
Although currently a three-star admiral, his nomination for promotion to admiral, if confirmed by the Senate, would make him the highest-ranking African American ever in the Navy.
He has served as a naval aide to former President Jimmy Carter, as executive officer of the nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser Mississippi in Norfolk, commanding officer of the guided-missile destroyer Coontz and skipper of the nuclear guided-missile cruiser Bainbridge.
He commanded the Atlantic Fleet Surface Force, headquartered in Norfolk, where he was in charge of 165 ships - nearly every type of combat vessel but carriers and submarines.
It was while he was in that post that Reason was given the added task of overseeing the investigation of officers suspected of misconduct at the rowdy 1991 Tailhook aviators convention.
Reason was dismissed from that responsibility by a military judge in Norfolk, who claimed his appointment by former CNO Adm. Frank Kelso was unlawful because of Kelso's own involvement in Tailhook.
As a result, Reason was disqualified as the convening authority. The Tailhook prosecutions ended with no one convicted by courts-martial of misconduct. MEMO: The Associated Press also contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Adm. William J. Flanagan Jr.
commander-in-chief, Atlantic Fleet
Adm. Jay L. Johnson
vice chief of naval operations
Adm. Joseph Prueher
commander-in-chief, Pacific Command
Vice Adm. J. Paul Reason
deputy chief of naval operations
Adm. Leighton W. Smith Jr.
commander-in-chief, U.S. Naval Forces Europe
Adm. Ronald J. Zlatoper
commander-in-chief, Pacific Fleet
KEYWORDS: CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS U.S. NAVY by CNB