CRITICAL THINKING ‘AT THE


NUCLEAR BRINK’


William J. Perry, secretary of defense during the Clinton administration, discusses acquisition reform, program managers and his worries about a nuclear catastrophe.


Dr. William J. Perry Professor (emeritus) at Stanford University, senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for Inter- national Studies and the Hoover Institution; director of the Preven- tive Defense Project at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation.


W


hen President Bill Clinton asked William J. Perry to be his secretary of defense, Perry, then deputy secretary of defense, initially turned him down. Clinton’s first pick to succeed Les Aspin, Adm. Bobby Inman, had suddenly taken himself out of consideration.


Perry decided to decline the job after “anguished discussion” with his wife, Lee. Together, they thought that the bright public spotlight would be too much for them, Perry writes in his memoir-cum-call to action, “My Journey at the Nuclear Brink.” At the time, Perry, who turns 89 in October, was deputy secretary and had served as undersecretary of defense for research and engineering from 1977 to 1981. (On July 1, 1986, that title was changed to undersecretary of defense for acquisition. Later the title was expanded to add technology and logistics.) Perry’s concern wasn’t just about the media glare, however. He was also concerned that, while he had been able to serve as deputy under Clinton and undersecretary under President Jimmy Carter in an essentially “apolitical” fashion even though “I was (and am) a Democrat,” it would be difficult to be a nonpar- tisan secretary of defense.


Clinton had called on a Friday to offer him the job. On Saturday, Perry declined. But later that same day, Vice President Al Gore, who was “aghast” at Perry’s decision, invited him to his residence to discuss it. Gore convinced him that he should take the job, Perry wrote, and both the president and the vice president assured him of their support. After another consultation with Lee, Perry accepted, but told the president that he would serve only through Clinton’s first term. Perry became secretary of defense in February 1994 and held the job until January 1997.


ASC.ARMY.MIL


99


CRITICAL THINKING


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