F-35 saga may make picking the new chief of defence staff a complicated task
By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News April 9, 2012
Article Link
As the collateral damage from the F-35 saga begins to pile up, it is perplexing to hear and read demands that Canada's top soldier, Gen. Walt Natynczyk, should resign or be fired.
Viewed from the outside, it may be assumed that as the chief of defence staff (CDS) and the public face of the Canadian Forces, Natynczyk was ultimately responsible for the serious shortcomings that the auditor general found in the Joint Strike Fighter procurement process. But the procurement system does not work that way.
It is the chief of defence staff's job to prepare the Armed Forces to deliver troops to carry out missions assigned by the government. Part of that is defining what the requirements are for equipment and advising the government about them. After that it becomes a procurement issue and that is not the CDS's responsibility.
The person responsible for that at the Department of National Defence is Dan Ross, the assistant deputy minister-materiel. Ross is accountable to the department's deputy minister, Rob Fonberg. He in turn reports to the defence minister, Peter MacKay.
The communications strategy for the F-35 - which has clearly been a colossal failure - was led by Fonberg's longtime assistant deputy minister public affairs, Josee Touchette.
Also mired in the mud because they have important procurement responsibilities are Public Works and Industry Canada.
Natynczyk is probably only a couple of months away from retiring after 37 years in uniform. Given the current frenzy over the F-35, if he leaves soon it may look as if he has been pushed to retire in disgrace.
This is unfair.
As well as having had little to do with the F-35 procurement process, on Natynczyk's watch Canadian combat troops slowly turned the situation around in Kandahar and Canadian warplanes and warships had success against Libya. Before becoming CDS, senior U.S. commanders raved about Natynczyk's work as the deputy commanding general of a multi-national force of more than 30,000 soldiers in Iraq.
The loud demands for change at National Defence could influence who Prime Minister Stephen Harper selects as the next CDS.
Until recently, when the succession plan suddenly became opaque, conventional wisdom had it that after seven years with army officers Rick Hillier and Natynczyk in charge, the next CDS would come from the navy or air force.
The leading candidates, have long been Vice-Admiral Bruce Donaldson, who is Natynczyk's deputy, Vice-Admiral Paul Maddison, the navy commander, Lt.-Gen. Andre Deschamps, the air force commander and, more recently, Lt.-Gen. Tom Lawson, who is No. 2 at NORAD but was Deschamps' assistant until last summer.
However, the chances of all these officers may have been hurt by the F-35 brouhaha and the navy's much delayed, multi-billion dollar submarine project.
With feelings being as raw as they are, Harper may wish to maximize damage control by casting a wider net to replace Natynczyk.
If so, bearing in mind that John de Chastelain was brought out of retirement in the 1990s to serve a second term as CDS, two recently retired flag officers come to mind. Air force Lt.-Gen. Chuck Bouchard, a helicopter pilot who led NATO's war in Libya, has no political baggage, having spent the past few years in Italy. And army Lt. Gen. Andy Leslie, whose last job in uniform was to prepare a report on transformation that was highly critical of the way the military is currently structured and whose recommendations informed many of the cuts that were undertaken in the government's austerity budget a few weeks ago.
The other candidates with little or no connection to the F-35 or to the submarines are from the army.
Three-star generals Peter Devlin, Walt Semaniw, Stu Beare and Marquis Hainse are all of the right rank to be promoted, although it is not clear how many of them want the job.
If the prime minister wanted to hugely shake the brass up, he could reach down to the two-star level where there are two charismatic army officers who would not normally be considered for the top job for several more years. They are Maj.-Gen. Jon Vance, who commanded twice in Kandahar and is director of the Strategic Joint Staff in Ottawa and Maj.-Gen. Mike Day, who ran special forces and now heads NATO's crucial Afghan army and police training program.
Whoever succeeds Natynczyk, he will have his hands full making sure the military leadership does not become paralyzed by dramas surrounding the F-35 and the submarines.
end
By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News April 9, 2012
Article Link
As the collateral damage from the F-35 saga begins to pile up, it is perplexing to hear and read demands that Canada's top soldier, Gen. Walt Natynczyk, should resign or be fired.
Viewed from the outside, it may be assumed that as the chief of defence staff (CDS) and the public face of the Canadian Forces, Natynczyk was ultimately responsible for the serious shortcomings that the auditor general found in the Joint Strike Fighter procurement process. But the procurement system does not work that way.
It is the chief of defence staff's job to prepare the Armed Forces to deliver troops to carry out missions assigned by the government. Part of that is defining what the requirements are for equipment and advising the government about them. After that it becomes a procurement issue and that is not the CDS's responsibility.
The person responsible for that at the Department of National Defence is Dan Ross, the assistant deputy minister-materiel. Ross is accountable to the department's deputy minister, Rob Fonberg. He in turn reports to the defence minister, Peter MacKay.
The communications strategy for the F-35 - which has clearly been a colossal failure - was led by Fonberg's longtime assistant deputy minister public affairs, Josee Touchette.
Also mired in the mud because they have important procurement responsibilities are Public Works and Industry Canada.
Natynczyk is probably only a couple of months away from retiring after 37 years in uniform. Given the current frenzy over the F-35, if he leaves soon it may look as if he has been pushed to retire in disgrace.
This is unfair.
As well as having had little to do with the F-35 procurement process, on Natynczyk's watch Canadian combat troops slowly turned the situation around in Kandahar and Canadian warplanes and warships had success against Libya. Before becoming CDS, senior U.S. commanders raved about Natynczyk's work as the deputy commanding general of a multi-national force of more than 30,000 soldiers in Iraq.
The loud demands for change at National Defence could influence who Prime Minister Stephen Harper selects as the next CDS.
Until recently, when the succession plan suddenly became opaque, conventional wisdom had it that after seven years with army officers Rick Hillier and Natynczyk in charge, the next CDS would come from the navy or air force.
The leading candidates, have long been Vice-Admiral Bruce Donaldson, who is Natynczyk's deputy, Vice-Admiral Paul Maddison, the navy commander, Lt.-Gen. Andre Deschamps, the air force commander and, more recently, Lt.-Gen. Tom Lawson, who is No. 2 at NORAD but was Deschamps' assistant until last summer.
However, the chances of all these officers may have been hurt by the F-35 brouhaha and the navy's much delayed, multi-billion dollar submarine project.
With feelings being as raw as they are, Harper may wish to maximize damage control by casting a wider net to replace Natynczyk.
If so, bearing in mind that John de Chastelain was brought out of retirement in the 1990s to serve a second term as CDS, two recently retired flag officers come to mind. Air force Lt.-Gen. Chuck Bouchard, a helicopter pilot who led NATO's war in Libya, has no political baggage, having spent the past few years in Italy. And army Lt. Gen. Andy Leslie, whose last job in uniform was to prepare a report on transformation that was highly critical of the way the military is currently structured and whose recommendations informed many of the cuts that were undertaken in the government's austerity budget a few weeks ago.
The other candidates with little or no connection to the F-35 or to the submarines are from the army.
Three-star generals Peter Devlin, Walt Semaniw, Stu Beare and Marquis Hainse are all of the right rank to be promoted, although it is not clear how many of them want the job.
If the prime minister wanted to hugely shake the brass up, he could reach down to the two-star level where there are two charismatic army officers who would not normally be considered for the top job for several more years. They are Maj.-Gen. Jon Vance, who commanded twice in Kandahar and is director of the Strategic Joint Staff in Ottawa and Maj.-Gen. Mike Day, who ran special forces and now heads NATO's crucial Afghan army and police training program.
Whoever succeeds Natynczyk, he will have his hands full making sure the military leadership does not become paralyzed by dramas surrounding the F-35 and the submarines.
end
