THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 5, 1996 TAG: 9606050360
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 140 lines
President Clinton is expected to give Adm. Jay L. Johnson a challenging birthday present today, nominating the youthful former Vietnam combat pilot to take over as the Navy's top uniformed officer.
Johnson, who turns 50 today, would assume the post of chief of naval operations, vacated when Adm. Jeremy ``Mike'' Boorda committed suicide May 16. Johnson has been acting CNO since Boorda's death.
Navy sources in Hampton Roads refused to confirm reports that Johnson would be named the chief. But Washington sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his nomination was all but assured.
If confirmed by the Senate, Johnson would become the second-youngest officer ever to hold the post, after retired Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., who was 49 when he got the four-year assignment in July 1970.
Pentagon officials said Johnson on Tuesday was handling the accidental shootdown earlier in the day of an A-6 Intruder by a Japanese destroyer in the Pacific.
Johnson spoke Tuesday afternoon by telephone with the head of Japan's maritime self-defense force - which was taking part in monthlong joint exercises with the United States, Australia, Canada, South Korea and Chile - about the incident.
Johnson would take over the Navy at one of the darkest moments in its recent history. He would have to help the service overcome the shock of Boorda's death and recover from the storms that helped drive his predecessor to suicide.
To the grieving Navy family, Johnson would bring vitality and intellect, diplomacy and flexibility, and a reputation as a man on one of the fastest career tracks in the service, observers said.
In March, Johnson was named the vice chief of naval operations, after taking command of the Norfolk-based 2nd Fleet only 19 months before. Earlier, he had been given command of a carrier battle group at the age of 46. He has earned three of his four admiral's stars in the past two years.
``He's been on the fast track all the way,'' said retired Rear Adm. Eugene Carroll, a former carrier task force commander and the deputy director of the Center for Defense Information, a Washington think tank.
``You don't get to be a four-star at that age without having been really out front all the way. You have to be good. You have to be a little lucky. And you have to have some situations in which your performance was critical and was evaluated by your seniors . . . and have come out with high marks.''
But such fast advancement can also present problems.
``You have to overcome a lot of resentment,'' Zumwalt, the youngest CNO, said in a recent interview. ``There are senior people who have more time in, who think they should have gotten a shot at the job.''
Retired Adm. Stanley R. Arthur, who directed the Navy's operations in the Gulf War, said of Johnson:
``You will hear that he does not have much Washington time under his belt, especially Pentagon time. But he's a fast learner. He's got great instincts. And people love to work for him. He just looks so young.''
A native of Great Falls, Mont., Johnson grew up in West Salem, Wis. Outside the Navy, his only child - a daughter, Cullen - is much better known: She was the runner-up in the 1994 Miss America Pageant. His wife, Garland, comes from Colorado Springs, Colo.
Adm. Johnson was graduated in the U.S. Naval Academy's class of 1968, which included former Navy Secretary James Webb - who was indirectly but harshly critical of Boorda before his death - and Iran-Contra figure Oliver North.
Johnson went on to a stint as a combat pilot in Vietnam. In 1981 he was given command of a fighter squadron, and later of an entire air wing. He took command of an aircraft carrier battle group in 1992, and of the Second Fleet in July 1994.
Retired Adm. Stanley R. Arthur, who was Johnson's boss at the Navy's bureau of personnel when Johnson was a young lieutenant and has watched his career since then, called Johnson a good choice for the job.
``He's a good decision-maker,'' Arthur said. ``He doesn't waste a lot of time. He gets right to the issue. He understands when a decision has to be made and he will do that.''
Critics have noted that Johnson has not been in charge of one of the military's top unified commands, leading troops from all military services. They say this experience is crucial for the future of the Navy.
Some naval officers also say he lacks the charisma of Boorda, a ``mustang'' who rose from the ranks to attain the top post in 1994.
But Johnson won high praise as commander of the 2nd Fleet in America's intervention in Haiti, when the Navy worked more closely than ever with the Army. In that post he achieved a military first - using an aircraft carrier to transport Army helicopters and Special Forces troops.
``I thought he did an extraordinarily good job,'' Arthur, the Gulf War commander, said. ``We did not hear the same arguments about jointness that we heard in other operations.''
Vice Adm. Richard C. Allen, who retired in April as commander of the Atlantic fleet's air forces, said that the Haiti operation ``was a very quick `load aboard and deploy,' with a unique force structure, yet the operation went like clockwork - which attests a lot to his organizational capacity.''
Johnson's appointment would be a boost to naval aviation, struck lately by a series of tragic F-14 fighter crashes. After dominating the CNO job in the 1960s and 1970s, an aviator has not held the post for 14 years.
He would also be a boon to fighter aviation, which has lost out in recent years to the growing emphasis on the role of bomber/attack aircraft.
But he would also have a tough job ahead of him - ``a steep, steep hill,'' as one expert said.
He must try to maintain the rapport that Boorda, as a former enlisted sailor, had with the Navy's rank and file, yet move beyond the suicide and the bleak days of the past.
Retired Vice Adm. Jerry Unruh, a former fleet commander and now president of the Association of Naval Aviation, said:
``The Navy needs a strong leader who can rally the organization and put a lot of the incidents and things that have happened - in particular, Tailhook - behind us.'' MEMO: Knight-Ridder News Service and Hearst News Service contributed to
this report. ILLUSTRATION: Adm. Jay L. Johnson
PERSONAL
AGE: Turns 50 years old today.
EDUCATION: U.S. Naval Academy, class of 1968.
CURRENT POSITION: Vice chief of naval operations, and acting CNO
since the death of Adm. Jeremy ``Mike'' Boorda on May 16.
PERSONAL: Married, with one daughter, who was the runner-up in
the 1994 Miss America Pageant.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
Designated a naval aviator in October 1969.
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.
Headed the junior officer assignment branch for aviators in the
Bureau of Naval Personnel in 1984.
Returned to sea in 1985 to command Air Wing 1 aboard the carrier
America.
Served as assistant chief of staff for operations with the 6th
Fleet from July 1986 to June 1987.
In February 1988 again assumed command of Air Wing 1, as a senior
air wing commander.
Assumed command in October 1992 of Carrier Group 8 aboard the
carrier Theodore Roosevelt.
Assumed command from Adm. William J. Flanagan Jr. in 1994 of the
2nd Fleet, just as the operation to restore domocracy in Haiti
kicked off.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE by CNB