Adm. Fargo to retire as Pacific Command leader
By Frank Oliveri
Advertiser Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — U.S. Pacific Command chief Adm. Thomas Fargo will retire this year, Hawai'i's senior senator said yesterday, which will force President Bush to appoint a new leader.
There has been speculation that the president might appoint an Air Force general to head the command, which is the largest U.S. war-fighting command.
ADM. THOMAS FARGO
But Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i, stressed that Pacific Command is "a water command" and should be led by an admiral. Doing anything else "might send the message that the Navy is being downgraded" in the Pacific, Inouye said.
The appointment is important because the Hawai'i-based Pacific Command encompasses half the globe, including potential military flash points such as North Korea, Taiwan and China. It also maintains relations with several important U.S. allies.
Marine Corps Maj. Guillermo Canedo, Pacific Command spokesman, said: "There haven't been any announcements that have been made. And that announcement would be made by the Pentagon."
Inouye said a change is not imminent. He said that, typically, he would be notified before a change was made.
Fargo has served almost two years, directing 300,000 Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force troops in an area covering more than 100 million square miles.
Fargo, who was born in San Diego in 1948, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1970. He most recently led the Pacific Fleet.
When a war command position opens, each military service is asked to submit a list of applicants to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and to the secretary of defense. The secretary then presents his recommendation to the president.
Under a 1986 law, the military branches are required to work more closely together, which emphasizes leadership skills over service-specific skills. As a result, for example, Army Gen. Wesley Clark led an air campaign against Serbs in Kosovo as NATO commander in 1999.
"If the color of the uniform still matters to you, you probably have cut effectiveness by a third or more," said Anthony Cordesman, a senior military expert for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Cordesman said there are strong arguments to be made for an Air Force officer to oversee military operations in the Pacific. He said conflicts in North Korea or Taiwan would not be won by sea power.
"We demonstrated that 50 years ago," he said. "Joint warfare is not a luxury; it is necessity."
Retired Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and European Command chief, said whomever the president appoints would be qualified to do the job. "It has to do with the individual," he said.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has been planning sweeping revisions to the way military forces are controlled throughout the command.
"It shouldn't be completely shocking," said Ralph Cossa, president of Pacific Forum, a Honolulu think tank.
Cossa is a retired Air Force colonel who spent years on the Pacific Command staff.
"There's nothing sacred about it being Navy, even though tradition has always had it a Navy theater," he added. "The reality today is, of course, the Pacific Command is as much a political command as a war fighting command. What you want to do is put someone in there who has diplomatic skills, and that's not unique to the Navy."
Officers from other service branches have been considered candidates for the Pacific Command's top post before, Cossa said.
Staff Writer Vicki Viotti contributed to this report.
