Clinton's Warrior Woes
Can a man who avoided the draft ever prove himself as America's commander in chief?
Almost overnight, Bill Clinton has become a born-again commander in chief. After key aides pointed out he was alienating many military personnel and veterans with his half-hearted fingertip flutters, he has learned to snap off crisp salutes when he greets members of the armed forces. Now, when the national anthem is played at public events, he rests his right hand solemnly over his heart to show his respect, abandoning his old habit of letting his arms dangle at his sides. Clinton's newfound sensitivity to matters military extends to policy deliberations, too. After his meeting with congressional Republicans last week, Clinton pulled aside Sen. John McCain for a heart-to-heart. Clinton told the Arizona Republican and Vietnam War hero that he had no intention of letting America's defenses slip, despite his proposed cuts in the military budget.
In recent weeks, sources told U.S. News, national security adviser Anthony Lake and his deputy, Sandy Berger, warned Clinton that some military officers were beginning to suspect that he and his administration were uninterested in, and possibly hostile to, the military culture. Fueling the suspicions of often clannish professional soldiers were the president's opposition to the Vietnam War, his draft record, his now-famous letter to his ROTC unit describing his empathy for those who came to "loathe" the military during that era, and his early decision to lift the ban on homosexuals in the military. The need to cut the military budget, close more bases and slash procurement programs only encouraged the hostility.
Less than a month after Clinton took office, the Pentagon rumor mill was overheating with scuttlebutt that Clintonites had insulted military personnel at the White House. Making matters worse, many career soldiers consider Defense Secretary Les Aspin more an intellectual than a warrior. Some were offended by Aspin's March 1 directive that the number of military personnel in his office "be kept to the minimum necessary."
Clinton's aides say that while his deficient salutes reflect his lack of military experience, he is anything but hostile to the armed services. "If there's a problem, it's a misperception," argues White House Chief of Staff Mack McLarty. "I know it's not a legitimate reflection of his feelings." And many career soldiers are willing to give the president the benefit of the doubt. "I don't think it's Bill Clinton," says one officer. "But he's got some younger, less experienced people working for him who leave the impression the administration is antimilitary."
Wanted: respect. Whatever some underlings may think, Clinton understands that the military cannot be taken for granted. First, although it is shrinking, the armed forces will be called on to carry out some of Clinton's foreign policy, as it already has been doing in Bosnia. Second, the Pentagon remains a powerful political institution with allies in Congress, industry, veterans' groups and local communities. Finally, despite its flaws, today's military can teach the administration some lessons about how to achieve its own goals--in equal opportunity, in education and training and in encouraging individual responsibility.
The president plans a charm offensive soon to try to repair some of the damage. In coming weeks, he will visit the Pentagon for a get-acquainted session and is expected to tour at least one military base outside Washington to show how much he values the armed forces. In the spring, following tradition, he will deliver at least one commencement address to a military academy. He will also personally greet troops coming home from Somalia.
Still, winning the military's confidence will not be easy. Senate hearings on lifting the ban on homosexuals are expected to begin within a month and will surely highlight military leaders' opposition. Such leaders say lifting the ban would harm order, discipline and esprit de corps. A Los Angeles Times poll found that 74 percent of enlisted personnel oppose Clinton's plan, while only 18 percent support the change. But for Clinton, the issue is one of fairness and equality, and it's unlikely he will change course.
Other career soldiers are more upset about Clinton's proposal to cut $88 billion from the defense budget by the end of 1997--the deepest cuts he has proposed for any government department. Many fear that if Clinton needs to find more revenue to finance Hillary Rodham Clinton's health-care reforms, even more money will come out of the Pentagon budget, crippling readiness.
Just as important, some military strategists and their congressional allies think Clinton has been too cavalier in advocating the increased use of U.S. force abroad. They see his decision to airdrop supplies to Bosnia as a case in point: a well-intentioned humanitarian effort doomed to failure, with the military assigned a mission it cannot achieve.
Poisoned rumors. At the Pentagon, the stories about White House insensitivity are numerous, and, some Clinton defenders say, approach paranoia. Perhaps the most virulent is the story that Chelsea Clinton refused to enter a government car destined to drive her to school because she didn't want to ride with a uniformed officer. Knowledgeable sources say Chelsea has always ridden with Secret Service agents and the occasion has never arisen where a military escort was asked to fill in for her regular agents. Among other poisonous rumors is the tale that the Clintonites are preparing to order military personnel to wear civilian clothes, not their uniforms, whenever they enter the White House. Another rumor is that Clinton advisers have forbidden the military aide who carries "the football"--a suitcase containing nuclear launch codes--to dress in uniform. The White House denies both allegations.
U.S. News has learned, however, that another tale being spread around the Pentagon is true. Not long after Clinton took office, sources say, Lt. Gen. Barry McCaffrey was visiting the White House and tried to exchange pleasantries with a woman in the West Wing. She angrily replied that she didn't speak to people in uniform. Administration insiders say that if the woman is ever identified, she will be fired.
White House officials, even while dismissing the stories, are taking them seriously. Some senior advisers say the very intensity of the rumors shows that tension in the Pentagon has been growing and morale is low. And the commander in chief, by all accounts, is eager to improve relations. Friends note that even though Clinton avoided the Vietnam War and is the first president in nearly 50 years never to have worn a uniform, he grew up in a Southern culture that valued the military and its traditions. He has always been proud of his father for serving in World War II, friends say, and still treasures his dad's medals.
Yet critics argue that Clinton has a long way to go in building bridges to the armed forces. "If I were he, I would have one person around me who has ties to the military," says Senator McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam. "As far as I know, he has none." Actually, several key Clinton advisers do have limited military experience, including Vice President Al Gore. But, unlike Ronald Reagan and George Bush, the president has no career soldiers or retired officers in his inner circle. McCain suggests that Clinton make more visible use of Adm. William Crowe, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or other former officers who endorsed Clinton during the campaign, perhaps by naming one as special military adviser. "That would give a lot of comfort to the military," McCain says. "Right now there is the perception that no one is speaking to them."
Cutting back. Clinton defenders say the military may be exaggerating its concerns because it fears for its future. After 12 years when Reagan and Bush treated the Pentagon as a favored child and the military ascended to a position of great honor in society, times are changing. This week, the Defense Department is scheduled to announce the names of bases it is being forced to close because of previously announced cutbacks. Among the likely targets: the Army's Fort McClellan in Alabama and the Presidio in Monterey, Calif.; naval facilities in Alameda, Calif., and Charleston, S.C., and Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota.
Clinton advisers admit that the basic problem may be his party'slack of experience with all things military after being out ofpower for 12 years. "The culture of the Democrats is notdisrespectful, it's unknowing," says a senior defense official."This is not a case of defense Democrats vs. liberal Democrats,but of Democrats without experience in this profession who arelearning about it."
WHO KNOWS THE MILITARY? Many of Clinton's national security advisers have limitedmilitary experience--or none:
Military Experience (top rank) Les Aspin, Army captain, systems analyst, 1966-68 defense secretary
Warren Christopher, Navy lieutenant, World War II, 1943-46 secretary of state
Anthony Lake, No experience in uniform national security adviser
Sandy Berger, No experience in uniform deputy national security adviser
James Woolsey, Army captain, Pentagon planner, 1968-70 director of central intelligence
Madeleine Albright, No experience in uniform United Nations ambassador
Leon Panetta, Army captain, legal counsel, 1964-66 budget director
This story appears in the March 15, 1993 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.