Cohen nominates Money for ASD(C3I)
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In a turnabout, Defense Department Secretary William Cohen has decided to leave the role of chief information officer in the hands of the assistant secretary of Defense for command, control, communications and intelligence. As part of the decision, Cohen has recommended Arthur Money, the Air Force's CIO and acquisition executive, as the next ASD(C3I).
In a turnabout, Defense Department Secretary William Cohen has decided to leave the
role of chief information officer in the hands of the assistant secretary of Defense for
command, control, communications and intelligence.
As part of the decision, Cohen has recommended Arthur Money, the Air Force's CIO and
acquisition executive, as the next ASD(C3I).
The White House is expected to approve the choice and send Money's nomination to
Capitol Hill. If confirmed by the Senate, Money would be the first permanent ASD(C3I)
since Emmett Paige Jr. retired last May.
As part of the Defense Reform Initiative, Cohen in November had recommended splitting
the Office of ASD(C3I) into separate C3 and intelligence organizations. He also planned to
shift the CIO mantle to Jacques Gansler, undersecretary of Defense for acquisition and
technology [GCN, Nov. 24, 1997, Page 3].
But Cohen has decided that DOD should keep its top systems shop whole. Anthony
Valletta, acting ASD(C3I), said senior Pentagon officials decided this month that the
office should maintain its C3, intelligence and systems oversight authority.
Valletta will leave the post at the end of March, after taking an early buyout. His
decision to opt for the buyout came just months after the proposed reorganization of his
office.
"God takes care of his children," said Paige, now president of OAO Corp. of
Greenbelt, Md. "I'm sure that deputy Defense secretary John Hamre got a call from
heaven that said, 'This is a lousy decision you're making. Listen to Duane Andrews and
everybody that's telling you it's a bad decision.'"
Andrews, executive vice president at Science Applications International Corp. of San
Diego and an ASD(C3I) during the Bush administration, headed a DOD effort to implement the
Defense Reform Initiative recommendations. But after reviewing the decision to divide the
Office of ASD(C3I), he recommended against it.
"This was going to take a long time, with a period of uncertainty to get
congressional approval for the change in the statute to allow for two offices,"
Andrews said. "It would have taken a full legislative cycle running until late this
year to have a new law from the Senate Armed Services Committee."
Congress in 1985 created the ASD(C3I) position at DOD's request. Section 136 of Title
10 in the U.S. Code established the position. The law said DOD could have separate offices
for C3 and intelligence but that each must be run by an assistant secretary of Defense.
"There was some discussion of making an ASD for C3. But it's hard to find two
ASDs," Andrews said.
So the Defense Reform Initiative called for the creation of an ASD for intelligence and
a deputy undersecretary of Defense for command, control, communications, computers,
intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance (C4IRS). Because the change would deviate
from the code, it would require congressional approval.
A handful of lawmakers had objected to proposed split. Four senators sent a letter to
Cohen late last year questioning the restructuring.
"But the reason that DOD changed direction is not because of opposition from the
Hill," Andrews said. "It was the practicality of not being able to implement
without legislative approval. And there was no way to get that any time soon."
As the department's CIO, the ASD(C3I) oversees systems acquisition, program structure,
interoperability requirements, architectures and infrastructure for all DOD systems.
Money has experience running systems organizations, and his skills are a perfect fit
for the job, Paige said.
Money spent more than 33 years in industry managing and developing defense electronics
and intelligence systems. He has been the Air Force's CIO for two years.
Before becoming the Air Force's assistant secretary for acquisition in January 1996,
Money was president of ESL Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif. When ESL merged with TRW Inc., Money
became vice president and general manager of TRW's avionics and surveillance group.
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