Posted on: Tuesday, October 29, 2002

Commanders' title no longer in CINC

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

Their ranks have included the likes of Adms. Chester W. Nimitz and Raymond A. Spruance, and they are the most powerful military commanders in the world.

But henceforth, they are no longer commanders in chief, or "CINCs."

The more than half-century tradition of referring in such a manner to the U.S. military's top commanders — including the heads of Pacific Command and Pacific Fleet in Hawai'i — came to a screeching halt late last week with a terse message from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"Effective immediately, the title 'Commander in Chief' shall be used to connote or indicate the President of the United States of America," wrote Rumsfeld in a memo. "Further, this memorandum discontinues the use of the acronym 'CINC' ... for military officers."

CINC is sunk, it seems.

Rumsfeld, apparently troubled by Gen. Tommy Franks' prominent title of "Commander in Chief, U.S. Central Command" in the war in Afghanistan, decided that the new title for CINCs would be "combatant commander."

The U.S. Constitution sets out just one commander in chief — the president.

Article II, Section 2 states: "The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States."

CINCPACFLT, or the long-hand version, Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet, is on everything from letterhead, business cards, name tags and folders to signage, logos, Web sites and publications. Pacific Command, based at Camp Smith, has to make similar changes.

Rumsfeld's Thursday memo allows for the utilization of materials with "Commander in Chief" until supplies are exhausted or until the next regular maintenance period to replace signage.

Ensign Mike Morley, a Pacific Fleet spokesman at Pearl Harbor, said because the change to the new "Commander, Pacific Fleet" will be made incrementally, it will mean little or no cost to taxpayers.

Colloquially, the change will be harder to make.

"It's going to be one of the hardest things, in day-to-day language, to get away from CINCPACFLT," Morley said. "The CINCs have existed for decades."

Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Walter F. Doran was unavailable for comment yesterday. Lt. Cmdr. Jensin Sommer, a spokeswoman for Adm. Thomas B. Fargo, head of Pacific Command, said the change ordered by Rumsfeld is one in title only.

"It does not affect Admiral Fargo's duties or responsibilities or anything about the theater," Sommer said.

Ralph Cossa, a retired Air Force colonel who worked for at least four CINCs from the 1970s to 1990s, said the change "is well-intentioned, but seems a little silly."

"If I'm fighting al-Qaida in the jungles and preparing to attack Iraq and trying to figure out what the hell to do with North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons — it seems like I wouldn't be really worried about changing these (titles)," said Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies in Honolulu.

"A rose by any other name is still a rose," Cossa said. "A CINC by any other name is still a CINC."