New Defense Chief Shows Who The Boss Is
The scandal over the substandard care and poor living conditions for veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center continues to shake the Bush administration and the military establishment.
But, as CBS News correspondent Joie Chen reports, swift, sure reaction by the new defense secretary has signaled new and different leadership at the Pentagon.
If anyone had somehow missed the point, the new Pentagon boss ended the week with a sharp jab at his own team.
"I am disappointed that some in the army have not adequately appreciated the seriousness of the situation," Robert Gates said told reporters Friday.
In an unusually blunt and swift – by Washington standards – reaction Gates ousted army chief Francis Harvey over Harvey's handling of a spiraling scandal at the nation's premier military hospital.
News reports last month exposed filthy conditions facing Iraq war veterans at Walter Reed hospital.
Harvey had fired the general in charge but replaced him with the former commander who many veterans blame for allowing things to deteriorate in the first place.
Fed up Gates forced both men out and signaled his limited patience for the way things used to be.
"He wanted to send a message early that this was a different leadership, and a different kind of accountability," said Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution.
In the short time he has been on the job, Gates' hands-on, no-holds-barred, Texan-style has quickly come into play – jetting off to see the troops in Iraq as soon as he was sworn in.
And, in contrast to the distance reporters had with former Pentagon boss Donald Rumsfeld, he is setting up a new relationship with the press, telling one group of reporters that he would "prefer a more informal setting."
"He has basically said to the press, 'you're right you did me a favor, you did a good story'," O'Hanlon said.
Gates' actions may also be important for George W. Bush as the president tries to sure up the relationship with an important part of his constituency: military families and veterans.