Republicans Complain About Rumsfeld's Review.

"The Republican leadership on the House Armed Services Committee has held the line on defense for eight years; we're not going to get shut out now," said a senior congressional aide who spoke on condition of anonymity. He noted that sweeping change in force structure, force management and defense

The Pentagon's new leadership has not been quick to start building relationships with the Armed Services and Appropriations Committee members in the House of Representatives, who will play an important role in the implementation of Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld's review, according to the aide. At a recent two-hour meeting on Capitol Hill with members of the Armed Services Committee, "nothing was resolved," the aide said. "We came to the meeting with two questions: Are you going to get rid of the two-war readiness strategy, and when are we going to see the budget?" he said. Rumsfeld did not address either issue.

"My boss has a great personal level of respect for Rumsfeld, and we all really feel that he has assembled an 'A' team. But he might be squandering relationships in Congress by not talking to us about the review," the aide said.

Rumsfeld's undertaking, an across-the-board strategic defense review, has been clothed in secrecy since his installation as secretary of defense in January. "What should be happening now is that we should start working on a supplemental appropriations bill. Send over the people from the Pentagon to talk to us," the aide suggested.

"That supplemental would go a long way in restoring confidence between Congress and the Defense Department." The aide also pointed out that Rumsfeld should not operate as if he were the chief executive officer of a company, with sole discretionary power and a permissive board of directors. "He's chief operating officer of the Defense Department, but Congress is his board of directors," he said. "Congress needs to be brought into the substantive debate of the review."

Rumsfeld spoke to reporters after the House Armed Services Committee meeting. He imparted that he would send a supplemental appropriation bill to the Hill to address near-term readiness. However, about the larger issue of inclusiveness, he was evasive. "We're living in a world where there are uncertainties, and we need to think about that. We need to arrange our forces and develop those capabilities in a way that will give us the maximum flexibility, given the reality that it is very difficult to know what's going to happen next," Rumsfeld said.