Rumsfeld’s Pentagon Staff Plan Advances

The House on Thursday approved sweeping new powers for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to overhaul the Pentagon’s personnel system, advancing his campaign to transform the military.

Rumsfeld also won repeal of a ban on research into certain nuclear weapons.

The Bush administration’s Republican allies pushed the Rumsfeld plan through the House with only modest changes, quashing protests even from pro-military Democratic hawks.

It remains to be seen whether the Senate will go along with the personnel overhaul.

Capitalizing on the Pentagon chief’s heightened clout following the U.S. military action in Iraq, the plan would bolster Rumsfeld’s authority over hiring, firing, pay and transfer of more than 700,000 civilian defense employees, more than a quarter of the entire federal civilian workforce.

Rumsfeld contended the plan would help him move civilians into thousands of desk jobs now handled by uniformed military personnel, freeing up resources for the armed services to respond rapidly to threats around the world.

“In an age -- the information age -- when terrorists move information at the speed of an e-mail, money at the speed of a wire transfer and people at the speed of a commercial jetliner,” Rumsfeld wrote in an opinion page article in Thursday’s Washington Post, “the Defense Department is still bogged down in the bureaucratic processes of the industrial age.”

Lawmakers said Rumsfeld’s plan would amount to one of the most significant personnel reforms in recent times.

The personnel overhaul was part of a $400-billion defense bill that won House approval Thursday on a 361-68 vote. The Senate, meantime, approved its defense bill -- one that omits Rumsfeld’s plan. The Senate has not yet debated the issue.

The Senate vote on the bill was 98 to 1. Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), the lone opponent, cited concerns about waste in the defense budget.

Senior Republicans are expected to iron out differences between the two versions of the defense bill in a House-Senate conference no earlier than June.

Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, chairwoman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, and John W. Warner of Virginia, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, both of whom favor personnel reform, are expected to play a key role in shaping the final language on Rumsfeld’s plan.

Experts said Rumsfeld will have to move quickly to achieve his vision of an efficient, agile Pentagon.

“He’s got to really exploit the glow of victory here if he wants to make these changes,” said Andrew Krepinevich, a defense analyst for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington.

The House and Senate bills give Rumsfeld plenty -- but not all -- of what he wants in weapons procurement, legal reforms and other military affairs for the fiscal year that begins in October.

On nuclear weapons, Rumsfeld won approval from both chambers for repeal of a 10-year ban on research of new “low-yield” weapons with 5 kilotons or less of destructive force. Both chambers also rejected Democratic proposals to restrict funding for research on larger, earth-penetrating nuclear bombs.

On the environment, Rumsfeld won House approval for exemptions to the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act, waivers he had said were needed to help armed forces train on land and sea. But the Senate approved restrictions, over Rumsfeld’s objections, meant to uphold protections for endangered and threatened species.

On military bases, the House bill would set certain conditions on a new round of base closures scheduled in 2005. For example, the House would fence off at least half of all domestic bases from closure. The Senate bill would not -- a position Rumsfeld backs. Bush administration officials have threatened to recommend a veto if a final bill delays or blocks the upcoming review of military bases.

In House debate on the personnel plan, Republicans said Rumsfeld had earned deference from Congress.

“He deserves some degree of respect,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon). The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Hunter said Congress should give Rumsfeld “an opportunity to revamp his shop.”

But Democrats called the plan radical, saying it could gut long-established civil service protections for the largest department in the executive branch and leave many of its career employees at the mercy of political patronage.

Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said the plan would give Rumsfeld “nearly complete power to write rules and regulations, whatever they may be,” for civilian defense employees. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) called it “a sneak attack” on those workers.

Democrats offered an amendment they said would protect the rights of civilian employees -- dozens of whom, they noted, were killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon. But Republicans beat it back on a party-line vote.

The battle recalled a partisan dispute last fall when Congress enacted legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security.

At the time, Republicans supported and Democrats opposed giving President Bush and his aides broad management powers in the new department. Bush got his way after Republicans played up the issue in the fall congressional campaigns and won control of the Senate.

In this year’s legislative debate, many Republicans expect they will prevail. Rep. Thomas M. Davis (R-Va.), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, predicted the defense bill would give Rumsfeld “75% of what he wanted.”

One significant change to Rumsfeld’s plan, Davis said, would give civilian defense employees the right to appeal personnel disputes to an independent board.