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Obama changes SecDef line of succession

WASHINGTON — Who would act as defense secretary if the 66-year-old Robert Gates died or resigned and his deputy, Bill Lynn, couldn’t do it?

President Barack Obama has decided the Army secretary — a position now held by former Republican Rep. John McHugh of New York — should get the job.

Obama’s little-noticed March 1 executive order reverses President George W. Bush’s doomsday plan, which bumped the service secretaries and elevated the most loyal advisers to the defense secretary at the time, Donald Rumsfeld.

Under the December 2005 order, the Pentagon’s intelligence chief was third in line to be defense secretary. At the time, the position was held by Rumsfeld insider Stephen Cambone.

At the time, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the Bush changes were made because defense undersecretaries, such as Cambone, had a “broad knowledge and perspective of overall Defense Department operations,” whereas the service leaders focused on training and equipping troops in their particular service.

But Whitman did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment on why Bush’s order was reversed.

Bush had moved the Army secretary to No. 6 in the line of succession. Now, if Gates and Lynn were unable to fulfill their duties, next in line would be the Army secretary, followed by the Navy and Air Force secretaries. The undersecretary of defense for intelligence was dropped to No. 9.