Bobby Ray Inman, nominated Thursday to replace Les Aspin as defense secretary, is so bright he was once called America’s “smartest spy.”
People who have dealt with the retired Navy admiral and intelligence official say he was candid, decisive and savvy enough to resign from the CIA in 1982 just as it was getting sucked into what eventually became the Iran-contra scandal.
But as President Clinton turns to Inman to calm the turmoil at the Pentagon and strengthen what has been seen as a weak foreign policy team, there are two main questions about the 62-year-old Texan.
One is whether the shy and somewhat aloof man can come in from the cold and stand the heat that burned Aspin in a job whose mandate and mission is far from clear in the post-Cold War era.
The other is whether Inman can deliver on a promise to manage the Pentagon’s $239 billion operations better than Aspin, a former member of Congress, given that Inman has had some failures as a corporate executive during the last decade.
Confirmation hearings in the Senate are expected to begin in late January. Aspin’s resignation is effective Jan. 20.
In making the nomination less than 24 hours after pushing Aspin to resign, Clinton clearly was betting that the rare choice of a former general or admiral for the Pentagon’s top civilian job-the first since Army Gen. George C. Marshall in 1950-51-would give Clinton a new start there.
And throughout official Washington, the selection of Inman, who candidly acknowledged Thursday that he voted for former President George Bush last year instead of Clinton, was greeted with praise.
“Inman is a perfect choice,” said Rep. David McCurdy (D-Okla.), who sits on the House Armed Services and Intelligence Committees.
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“He will probably keep the White House out of trouble,” McCurdy added.
Indeed, that could turn out to be Inman’s most critical task.
At an appearance with Clinton in the White House Rose Garden Thursday, Inman said that “the road ahead is pretty well mapped” in terms of how to cut the size of the U.S. military and make it into a more flexible force.
But Inman also described himself as “an operator, hopefully with a strategic view.” And it is in helping to choose when and where the U.S should intervene militarily that the cautious Inman could provide Clinton with his best advice.
Many officials believe Aspin lost the president’s confidence by sometimes contradicting statements by other officials on America’s role in places such as Bosnia, Somalia and Haiti.
Aspin also admitted that he made a mistake in rejecting a request for heavy armored units shortly before 18 U.S. soldiers were killed in Somalia. He disappointed White House officials in the way he handled issues ranging from homosexuals in the military to a recent surprise request for an extra $50 billion in defense funds, which would force Clinton to trim domestic spending if met.
Given Inman’s 31-year career in the military and his one-time command of top intelligence organizations, his supporters say, he should have a better grasp of how to control military spending.
He also brings to the job an ability to charm Congress and disarm the press, which could help Clinton turn around perceptions that his administration has made a mess of foreign and military policy in his first year.
But Inman also has an independent streak, and that could cause trouble for Clinton if disagreements flare.
Besides acknowledging that he had voted for Bush, Inman on Thursday sounded as if he had interviewed the president for the job rather than the other way around. He said he was “persuaded from our lengthy conversations” that he and the president could work together.
Associates say Inman’s intelligence was evident since he was boy in tiny Rhonesboro, Texas, where his father owned a gas station.
Inman graduated from high school at age 15 and college at 19. As a boy, he also was a whiz on radio quiz shows, and long-time friends say he has a photographic memory and an appetite for details similar to Clinton’s.
In a jocular test, Sen. Daniel Moynihan (D-N.Y.) once asked Inman to spell the name of the prime minister of Sri Lanka.
Without pausing, Inman answered, “Mr. P-r-e-m-a-d-a-s-a is the prime minister and Mr. J-a-y-e-w-a-r-d-e-n-e is the president.’
The thin, now-graying Inman has always seemed a little gawky, with a gap-tooth smile and slightly squinting eyes that make him look bookish and unathletic.
And after he joined the Navy during the Korean War, Inman quickly became known as an intense and demanding worker who had few, if any, other interests.
He rose rapidly through the ranks, becoming director of naval intelligence in the mid-1970s and one of the youngest admirals ever.
It was during that period, when intelligence activities were under unprecedented scrutiny, that he developed a reputation as one of the few intelligence officials who would deal candidly with Congress and news reporters.
In the Carter administration, Inman was director of the National Security Agency, a huge Pentagon unit in charge of intercepting communications, and his independent streak was evident there.
For example, when his operators picked up communications from Libya suggesting that President Jimmy Carter’s brother, Billy, was to be paid $200,000 to act as an agent for Libya, Inman immediately brought the information to the Justice Department, triggering an investigation.
And when key senators became concerned about the appointment of President Reagan’s rambunctious campaign manager, William Casey, as director of the CIA, they insisted that Inman be named his deputy in 1981, both to watch over Casey and keep Congress informed about what was going on at the agency.
But after Casey and other Reagan administration officials became involved in secretly trying to aid Nicaragua’s rebels, Inman objected that Casey was going beyond what he was authorized to do and resigned in mid-1982.
After leaving government, Inman returned to Texas to help run a government-assisted consortium of U.S. computer companies.