The former head of U.S. Pacific Command was likely dropped from consideration to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs over his proximity to the Fat Leonard bribery scandal, according to an email from a member of the National Security Council posted by WikiLeaks.
A March 2015 email says that former Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman Adm. James Winnefeld, then-Marine Commandant Gen. Joe Dunford, former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh and U.S. Pacific Commander Adm. Samuel Locklear were on the Oval Office’s short list to serve be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
Locklear, however, was questionable and may have been dropped from the list because of his involvement in the Fat Leonard Navy scandal.
“Locklear, meanwhile, may drop from the slate absent Ash’s [Carter] extraordinary intervention because as soon as the Fat Leonard IG report pops, Locklear will be forced to retire,” says the email from Christopher Kirchhoff of the National Security Council to Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. “Eric Fanning is doubtful they could keep Locklear in play.” Fanning, who is now Army secretary, was undersecretary of the Air Force at the time.
Locklear was later cleared of involvement in the scandal in which Leonard Glenn Francis, the CEO of Glenn Defense Marine Asia, bribed government officials and military members with prostitutes or trips to help him get away with overcharging the Navy.
The email also provides some insight into how senior defense officials viewed the four men under consideration to be the next chairman. Winnefeld, for example, was seen as the “clearest thinker and most reliable performer,” but could be “too abrasive.” Welsh and Dunford were seen as “great leaders but weak on strategic thinking.”
Dunford ended up being tapped as the new chairman, despite the email saying that he asked to stay in his job as commandant of the Marine Corps “because of his view, shared by the secretary’s office, that there is not a strong enough successor to replace him.”
He was succeeded by Gen. Robert Neller as commandant.
