Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Sunday Morning

Defense Secretary Rumsfeld Finds Pentagon Reform Challenging

Aired July 22, 2001 - 09:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Back in Washington, the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, is back on the job after a 25-year hiatus, and CNN's military affairs correspondent Jamie McIntyre reports Rumsfeld is finding Pentagon reform just about as challenging as ever this time around.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice-over): In the Pentagon's secretary of defense corridor, tour guides in training are drilled in what to say about the portrait of Donald Rumsfeld, the only person to serve twice as secretary.

In the 1970s, Rumsfeld was President Gerald Ford's chief of staff and then became, at age 43, the youngest ever secretary of defense.

Now 69, Rumsfeld still has a spring in his step as he arrives at the Pentagon at 6:30 a.m. He gave up a lucrative position as a pharmaceutical executive to accept the $161,000 a year post as Pentagon chief and he insists he did not return to, in his words, "preside, make speeches and calibrate modestly."

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I am determined to see if we can't move this institution into the 21st century.

MCINTYRE: That clarion call for reform initially rankled some top generals and admirals, who feared Rumsfeld might act against their advice. But in recent months, Rumsfeld has worked hard to put that perception to rest.

RUMSFELD: I've spent just enormous numbers of hours with the senior military as well as with less senior military. I think, unfortunately, having been secretary of defense before, people assumed I came in with a head full of ideas as to exactly what should be done. And the reality is, I didn't.

MCINTYRE: Rumsfeld's style is as no-nonsense as the old leather briefcase he carries. He eschews the trappings of office, has pared down his security detail, and can even be spotted lunching in the public cafeteria or shopping on the Pentagon concourse.

RUMSFELD: I like people, and I think it's helpful for people to have a chance to demystify a person who they see in the newspaper and recognize, see that he gets into his britches one leg at a time, like everybody else.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUMSFELD: You help to keep the peace and to maintain stability.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: The most awesome responsibility of defense secretary is the welfare of the troops, such as the men and women enforcing the Iraqi no-fly zone from a base in Incerlik, Turkey.

RUMSFELD: You walk into the midst of them, and there they are. They're every size and shape and age and sex and they're smiling and they're interested and they're proud of what they're doing and they feel they're well trained, and you just can't help but feel good about it.

MCINTYRE: Rumsfeld says, truth be told, he'd rather be at his ranch in Taos, New Mexico. And he harbors no illusion that the Pentagon's entrenched bureaucracy can be easily tamed.

RUMSFELD: What the final outcome will be by way of changes will be partly a function of how good we are at our jobs and how persuasive we can be, because there is enormous resistance to any change.

MCINTYRE: Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com