Sam Nunn Joins Obama Transition Team

The Obama Transition team has added former Senator Sam Nunn as an advisor on Defense policy. Sam Nunn used to be Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, so he would seem to be a good fit for the position. There are a couple of problems, though.

In 1993, when Sam Nunn was passed over for Bill Clinton's Secretary of Defense, he moved to sabotage then President Clinton's move to allow gays to serve openly in the military. Sam Nunn held hearings on Clinton's gays in the military proposal, siding with Pentagon officials who opposed the idea. Finally Sam Nunn brokered a compromise, called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", that effectively allowed gays to serve in the military so long as they remained in the closet.

Gay activists, nerves still raw at the abolition of same sex marriage in California by Proposition 8, may look askance at the idea of Sam Nunn advising Barack Obama on defense matters. This will especially become true should Barack Obama nominate Sam Nunn for his Secretary of Defense. Sam Nunn has expressed his disinterest in the job, but that might be playing coy in order not to appear too interested.

Sam Nunn, though considered a hawk on defense matters, has also signaled that he wants to go slow on the deployment of missile defense systems in Eastern Europe. "For us to deploy a missile defense system in the Czech Republic and Poland - the system itself is not yet mature, and the Iranian threat is not yet mature. So we've got some time. Russia offered their territory, and it seems to me we ought to be working with Russia on missile defense." The problem, of course, is that a move to slow down or even stop building missile defenses in Eastern Europe, in the face of Russian threats, would be seen as a sign of weakness. Even opening the matter up for diplomacy would cause all sorts of opportunities for deals that would reward Russia for bullying behavior.

Sam Nunn was also against the invasion of Iraq, but is also against "skedaddling" from that country too quickly. Sam Nunn has also blamed the Bush administration for a "perceived lack of diplomacy" in dealing with foreign policy issues. Sam Nunn has called for a renewed emphasis on diplomacy, which many my interpret as a renewed de-emphasis on the use of military power.

Sam Nunn's views may coincide with those of President-Elect Obama. That may be the problem. Barack Obama needs to hear opinions that might run counter to his own, that will challenge and perhaps even alter the course he has decided to set. Sam Nunn probably won't provide that as the Obama Administration takes shape.

Source: Obama team confirms Nunn's role as defense advisor on transition, Atlanta Journal Constitution, November 12th, 2008

Nunn Offers Compromise on Military's Gay Ban, Martin Kasindorf, Newsday, March 30th, 2008