Pentagon & NSC Veteran Tapped For SecArmy: Christine Wormuth

UPDATED with Hill, AUSA endorsements WASHINGTON: The Biden Administration has tapped a veteran bureaucratic infighter to be the first female Secretary of the Army. Christine Wormuth not only headed Biden’s own defense transition team, taking over from DepSecDef nominee Kathleen Hicks. She’s been in and out of the Pentagon since 1996, with stints at the National Security Council and as director of International Security & Defense Policy at RAND, the influential thinktank. That gives her extensive first-hand experience in how the policy sausage gets made – and deep personal knowledge of the players at the Biden Pentagon.

One potential downside, at least for the service she’s tapped to head; Wormuth isn’t particularly an Army person. Her extensive Pentagon experience since ’96 has all been with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, principally in the policy shop. That gives her a savvy in Pentagon internal politics that the Army has often lacked. But it doesn’t imbue her with a particular knowledge of or affection for the Army as an institution.

So Wormuth will have to get some expert help on nitty-gritty Army matters. And she’ll need to convince the notoriously insular service that she’s there to represent their interests, not to serve as OSD’s hatchetwoman in a time of budgetary “bloodletting.”

“To assume Wormuth is coming on as a caretaker or to automatically oversee the Army’s decline is foolish,” said AEI analyst MacKenzie Eaglen. “It doesn’t mean the Army isn’t in for potentially tough times ahead—but whatever the future holds will be brighter with Christine at the top.

“She’s a deep policy expert across the defense enterprise who is widely respected,” Eaglen told me in an email. “She’s also worked with DSD Hicks for years and they know each other well, which is good news for the Army as an organization. Army leaders are celebrating the choice of such a strong and trusted leader right this very moment,” Eaglen said.

Eaglen was optimistic about Wormuth as an advocate for the Army. “She will have strong opinions that sometimes side with current Army thinking and sometimes do not, but leaders will always get a full and fair hearing,” Eaglen told me. “She will be a forceful defender of shared arguments when the civilians and uniforms do agree.”

What about the significance of Wormuth, if confirmed, becoming the first female Army Secretary? Eaglen replied: “I don’t have much to say on the female angle beyond that it is overdue / about time / really great.”

“Nomination of a female as Army secretary is overdue and welcome,” agreed Tom Spoehr, a retired three-star general at the Heritage Foundation. “[But] Christine Wormuth isn’t a token choice based on her gender. She brings a wealth of experience in national security to the position. Ms. Wormuth’s experience navigating the halls of the Office of the Secretary of Defense will help her in the inevitable Pentagon brawls for funding, brought about by downward pressure on the defense budget driven by the White House and the progressive wing of the Democratic party.”

“For her to be successful as Army secretary, [Wormuth must] develop key relationships with the Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle in order to be an effective spokesperson for the Army,” Spoehr told me in an email. “The defense budget outline released by the Biden Administration Friday suggests that the Pentagon has a lot of work to do to convince the White House to adequately fund national security.”

“The question for me is: How effective she will be as an advocate for land power, if the Administration is determined to constrain defense funding and the easy choice becomes to go after the Army?” Spoehr asked. “Will she be willing and able to make a case for the enduring need for US land power directly to Congress and the American people?”

A public rebellion against Administration policy seems profoundly out of character, given Wormuth’s background. But she’s perfectly capable of a sharp-elbowed campaign for Army interests in the Pentagon and the Biden White House.

Congress & AUSA React

Democratic Rep. Anthony Brown, a 30-year Army veteran and member of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that “Wormuth has the experience and knowledge necessary to lead the United States Army through the complex and multifaceted challenges we face today, both internationally and at home,” adding, “I applaud the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to diversity and inclusion with yet another historic first nomination.”

UPDATE The president of the influential Association of the US Army, retired four-star general Carter Ham, also praised Wormuth in a statement to Breaking Defense.

“I’ve had the privilege of knowing Ms. Wormuth for years and I’m very pleased that the President has nominated her to be the next Secretary of the Army,” Carter told us. “She brings a wealth of policy experience and knowledge of how to effectively operate at the top levels of the national security enterprise, but more than that, she knows how to build teams and lead them in tackling tough issues. I’m hoping for a quick confirmation so she can bring her considerable talent and her ethos of selfless service to lead the Army through the challenges ahead.”

That confirmation will be overseen by the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, whose Democratic chairmen were quick to praise Wormuth, with both men calling it “historic” and extolling her credentials.

“Christine Wormuth has dedicated her distinguished career to public service and safeguarding the nation,” declared Sen. Jack Reed. “She brings experience, expertise, and strategic vision to this new role, having served in senior level positions throughout the Department of Defense and the NSC.”

“Christine Wormuth is a steadfast public servant who has dedicated her career to the country and our national security, and I believe she will make an excellent Secretary of the Army,” said Rep. Adam Smith. “At a time when our civil–military relations have grown strained, I am glad that President Biden has chosen a civilian public servant like Christine, who has deep national security experience in the Department of Defense and National Security Council, to lead one of the service branches.” UPDATE ENDS

The news of Wormuth’s impending nomination was broken by our colleagues at Politico.

 

Paul McLeary also contributed to this article.