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Comment by nhebb | Hacker News Reader

Out of curiosity, I looked up who was Secretary of the Navy in 2003. It was tumultuous year, with 3 different people holding the office. Only one of them had any military experience (in the Air Force).

Gordon R. England held the office at the beginning of the year and was re-instated at the end of the year. He held the office for about 4 years total. He had no Navy experience. His background was in the defense industry. What a crock.

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So another Bush appointee fuck-up, just this one took much longer to fester. Great. I wonder what kind of lingering effects we'll be seeing from the current rash of unqualified people (like Betsy DeVos) in the decades to come.

What's wrong with civilian control of the armed forces? Why should service secretaries have served?

What's wrong with PMs who can't program?

More like what's wrong with VPEng who can't program? Answer: plenty.

Nothing, if their job is to color code spreadsheets; everything if their job is to actually put the content into those spreadsheets.

Because you end up cutting crucial corners because you think you understand whether the two options are equivalent when they are not. Case in point: the topic we're discussing.

We do have civilian control of the armed forces. The question of past experience in the service, though, is the same as experience in any other leadership position.

Also, in England's case, the big red flag was his close ties to the defense contracting industry.

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