Is Lobbyist Bill Lynn "Uniquely Qualified" For The Pentagon?

You know, you could post his bio. It may be the case that experience in "general business management" is all that is needed. But IME, there are sui generis elements to government program management. Lynn's experience with managing Pentagon budgets seems pretty close to unique to me.
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Now, this may not be a good thing. If the goal is to continue to perpetuate a bloated, corrupt military, then that's a problem. He certainly could work to facilitate that. But if the goal is to make the military leaner and less corrupt, his experience seems pretty hard to match.
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In short, this isn't about Lynn. It's about Obama. Time will tell.

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And Mark Thompson's opinion should impress us -- how?
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Is that kind of like Cokie Roberts and Sam Donaldson arguing with Paul Krugman about macroeconomics? Or does Mark Thomson have some kind of special expertise in determining who is qualified and who isn't for staff positions? It would seem that is the purview of the Senate to determine that, and not some opinionated journalist, no?
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Well said, James.

the only thing most folks will remember is that Obama made an exception to that rule for one of his top officials
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Gee, why do you suppose that is? It wouldn't have anything to do with folks like Scherer harping on it, would it?
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I'll finish the article now...more to come.

This is about as nonsensical of an article as I have ever seen in a "reputable" magazine. That the author never even delves into the man's background except to say he cut over 1 trillion dollars in Defense spending, which in and of itself could probably make the case that he is INDEED uniquely qualified as I would bet you would be hard pressed to find anyone else who has done that, could only be described as negligent journalism. I looked up the man's bio in less than 30 seconds and here is what I came up with.
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After this he was employed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where he was the executive director of the Defense Organization Project from 1982 to 1985.[1] That last year he published the book Toward a More Effective Defense.[2] At some point in time he was a senior fellow studying strategic nuclear forces and arms control at the National Defense University's Strategic Concepts Development Center, and went on to be the legislative counsel for defense and arms control matters for Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy between 1987 and 1993.[1] During this time he also worked as Kennedy's staff representative on the Committee on Armed Services.[1]
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Lynn later worked as an assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Budget, and in April 1993 joined the office of the Secretary of Defense (then Les Aspin) to be director for program analysis and evaluation.[1] On October 21, 1997, President Bill Clinton nominated Lynn to be Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), and after a Senate confirmation on November 13, he was officially sworn in on November 19

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Now if someone else has the same kind of resume I propose that Mark Thompson name them. Otherwise the only thing that is bogus here is him being employed as a journalist by Time magazine.

Your tough as nails semantic argument "uniquely qualified" "very limited number" is "impressive"
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What did you sing this weekend MS?
"Reporters who covered the McCain campaign reconvened over the weekend for a happy hour that soon turned into a karaoke jam session.
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At the happy hour: Jill Zuckman, Laura Meckler, Scott Horsely, Tucker Bounds, Juliet Eilperin, Scott Conroy.
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Those who hit up karaoke later: Sasha Issenberg, Lizzie O'Leary, Mark Salter (who reprised his Dylan performance from Nashville), Ana Marie Cox, Adam Aigner-Treworgy, Holly Bailey, Michael Scherer."
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http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/news_notes/mccain_reporters_reunite_106866.asp?c=rss

This is a first for me, and I hope not too many times in the future:
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Obama, tear down that loophole!
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Actually, yeah, maybe a Reagan-ism really isn't all that appropriate, but he should do what he says and say what he does. Close those loopholes and move those people elsewhere.
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They'll survive, and so will Obama...

J,LA:

Mark Thompson won a Pulitzer Prize for public service for his investigative reporting of the Pentagon:
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http://tinyurl.com/adbnxv
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I'm impressed.

It ought to be possible to publish a run down of Mr Lynn's work to date. I don't know what Mark Thompson's particular qualifications are, but, as a general rule one can say: there are exceptions to all rules.

James' point is well taken, The Donaldson/Roberts pretence to be know alls on ABC this past Sunday should warn us about how glib the chattering class is on most topics.

The key is to make a cogent case for the exception. Second: it ought to possible to circumscribe Mr Lynn's contact with Raytheon and work on their file. But hey, we are asking the Republicans to be rational.

J,LA:

Mark Thompson has also covered the Pentagon for a very long time, and with great distinction.
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You might want to turn down your shrill meter just a bit. Or perhaps read some of his award-winning work. Some of it is referenced at the end of that wikipedia entry.

K Tizzle
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Then as they say in the financial services world "Past performance is not an indicator of future success"

Oh and K Teezie, I guess that not being a media critic thing only works when it comes to CRITICIZING other journos huh?
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Im just sayin.

I'll ditto jay's "Well said, James."
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After watching the Krugman segment on ABC last weekend, and after processing the challenge from Open Left: 'imagine what this segment would have looked like without Krugman' I realized that Rachel Maddow has nearly the only news discussion show on teevee where the guests are consistently qualified to comment factually on the segment's topic.
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On a related topic, here's a gasbag spewing RW CW: Chris Matthews: Government Support for Family Planning "Sounds Like China".

KT: I am glad you are impressed. Winning a Pulitzer Prize is great.That prize is important to journalists, but it does not confer sainthood. There are always exceptions to rules.

OK done.
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The article predictably fails to address the question that matters. What is it about Lynn that make him 'uniquely qualified' to implement Obama's agenda? It's easy to quote good-government types to find someone who disagrees with the assessment but NONE of the reporting I've encountered has included any detail about what Obama sees in the guy.
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That's the sort of reporting that would actually add value to the debate.
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I've also said that I'm afraid that this pick represents an 'enomoured with technology' viewpoint on Obama's part that was one of our weaknesses before 9-11. Relying on cruise missles to enforce policy may keep American casualties down but it guarantees that Anti-American resentment will continue to grow breediing fresh enemies.

Why is the "Not Media Critic" critiquing other comments in someone else's blog post no less? If you going to defend them than you should be able to say so when they are wrong.

sgw #13 had a direct hit.

bitter:

No, but it shows that Mark Thompson is an excellent reporter who is not afraid to take on the establishment, and I think that commenters who dismiss his qualifications to write about a branch of government that he has covered for decades with great distinction and courage and accuracy and fairness might reconsider whether their own biases are at work here. What really bothers me is that people immediately start insulting Mark if they don't like what he writes. He knows a lot about the Pentagon and how it works, which he has proven time and again for decades.

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KT,
please tell me how that qualifies him to offer opinions on Adinistration staffing issues.
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I have no opinion, myself, on Lynn's qualifications, I'm commenting on the bad journalism here. Your colleagues seem to have lost any pretense of journalism standards -- see the prior two posts as another example. It appears that Time Mag is out for blood.
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gunny:

I'm not playing media critic. I am answering a very snarky (and clearly ignorant) question as to whether Mark Thompson is qualified to write about the Pentagon.
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If you wish to attack what is in the story, go right ahead.

J,LA: He is qualified, because he has a great and deep understanding of the Pentagon. Perhaps even more than you and I do.

"his qualifications to write about a branch of government that he has covered for decades with great distinction and courage and accuracy and fairness".
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That sounds like it came right the off plaque in his honor.

This is the specific comment that I am addressing:
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And Mark Thompson's opinion should impress us -- how?
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Karen, I'm getting tired of you calling me shrill. I am not shrill at all, and you are using that epithet to dismiss and diminish my opinions. I am a media critic, and you don't like to be criticized, I get that, but name-calling isn't very constructive.
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