Wolfowitz to take No. 2 Pentagon post
Wolfowitz to take No. 2 Pentagon post
By Charles Aldinger
WASHINGTON (Reuters): Paul Wolfowitz, President George W.
Bush's selection for the No. 2 job at the Pentagon, has held
senior posts at the U.S. Defense and State departments and long
been an intellectual conservative voice in U.S. arms and national
security issues.
Wolfowitz is an expert on East Asia and the Middle East who
served as U.S. ambassador to Indonesia and then at the Pentagon
during the 1991 Gulf War in the administration of President
George Bush.
An energetic, quiet New York native and prolific writer on
foreign policy issues, Wolfowitz has since 1994 headed the
private Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at
Johns Hopkins University.
"Paul is a very able and likable man who knows Asia and the
Middle East. He's done work on a wide range of issues in
Washington and is respected by Democrats and Republicans," said a
senior Pentagon official, who asked not to be identified.
But some experts said Wolfowitz, who served as undersecretary
of defense for policy from 1989 to 1993 under Bush, may have
burned some bridges with Bush supporters after leaving that
office.
In subsequent speeches and articles, he questioned the U.S.
decision not to remove Iraq's President Saddam Hussein from power
as the Gulf War ended.
He also advocated supplying U.S. arms to Iraqi dissidents and
setting up a safe haven for them in southern Iraq, perhaps with
protection from the U.S. military.
The Pentagon job under then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney made
Wolfowitz the principal civilian official responsible for
strategy, plans and policy. And Wolfowitz said he made it known
at the time Washington was missing an opportunity to remove
Saddam after a crushing military defeat.
Wolfowitz is admired for a crisp writing style in numerous
articles on policy and strategy, including a notable 1983
publication on preserving peace in the nuclear age.
Wolfowitz was U.S. ambassador to Indonesia from 1986 to 1989
after serving for five years as assistant secretary of state for
East Asian and Pacific affairs.
He served as deputy assistant defense secretary for regional
programs from 1977 to 1980. Before that he held a variety of
senior positions in the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency,
including assistant to the director for strategic arms limitation
talks.
Paul Dundes Wolfowitz was born in New York on Dec. 22, 1943,
and graduated from Cornell University. He received master's and
doctorate degrees in political science and economics from the
University of Chicago.
Before joining government service, he taught at Yale and at
the National War College in Washington.
Wolfowitz is divorced and has two daughters and a son.