Pros and cons of Pentagon’s leadership vacuum

The 52 others await nominees, including all civilians who supervise policy, intelligence and finance. Every top civilian jobs at DoD, including deputy defense secretary and the three military services secretaries, are still being done by Obama administration holdovers. Of the three service secretaries nominated, two have dropped out.

Civilian control: It’s a bedrock principle that the military must be controlled by civilians because the military should not set the agenda or decide policy and strategy. Mattis can honcho the big questions but there are thousands of little decisions to be made each day, and for now there are no civilians to provide supervision and guidance.

What’s taking so long: A big job at the Pentagon may sound glamorous, but it’s not. The hours are long, the work thankless, and the pay is paltry. Already two nominees, Vinnie Viola as Army secretary, and Philip Bilden as Navy secretary, withdrew after learning how they’d have to divest themselves of so much property to avoid conflicts of interest.

What’s not getting done: Despite the leadership vacuum, the Pentagon seems to hum along like a finely tuned machine, because every civilian worker has a military counterpart who can do the job until a civilian is hired. Staff vacancies forced the State Department to shut down briefings in February, but the Pentagon never missed a beat. Briefings by Press Office head Capt. Jeff Davis are literally standing room only.

The optics: Hiring delays may look dysfunctional compared to when President Obama took office, but he held on to Republican Defense Secretary Bob Gates and most of his staff. Those at the Pentagon 16 years ago recall months going by with key positions unfilled.

Short-term upside: Walk into the Pentagon’s river entrance any workday morning and there are plenty of empty prime parking spaces. Some officers below the rank of general or admiral are taking advantage while they can — and parking right by the door.