Michael W. Wynne

Michael W. Wynne, of Florida, was selected August 16, 2005, by President George W. Bush as Secretary of the Air Force. Wynne has served as the Department of Defense's Acting Undersecretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics since 2003.

Wynne would replace Preston M. 'Pete' Geren, who has served as Acting Secretary of the Air Force since July 29, 2005. Geren replaced Secretary of the Air Force James G. Roche, who resigned in January 2005. Wynne's nomination was sent to the Senate on September 6, 2005, and his status is pending.

Nomination Failure Wynne was nominated September 3, 2003, as Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics to replace Edward C. (Pete) Aldridge, Jr. who retired from government May 23, 2003. Wynne had been serving as acting undersecretary since Aldridge retired and, since July 2001, Wynne had been Aldridge’s principal deputy undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics." Following opposition by Senator John McCain (R-AZ), it was anticipated in January 2005 that confirmation of Wynne as full undersecretary was unlikely and that Wynne's name would probably not be sent to the Senate again. "His nomination languished in the Senate for months, after Mr. McCain opposed it, as well as a number of other Pentagon candidates. All pending White House nominations died when Congress adjourned last year," Rowan Scarborough reported in the Washington Times. "Defense industry executives also said they [had] been told by Pentagon officials that Mr. Wynne will not be renominated by the White House." See "Boeing Lease Deal" section below.

Cleared for New Nomination The June 24, 2005, edition of Inside the Ring by Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough reported that the "Pentagon inspector general's recently released report on 'accountability' in the Boeing tanker lease deal is not expected to derail the job prospects of Michael W. Wynne."

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, "who prefers people with CEO experience to run the Army, Air Force and Navy, reached inside Northrop Grumman in the first Bush term to select James G. Roche as his first Air Force secretary. He then nominated Mr. Roche to be Army secretary. But the Senate blocked him over the tanker deal, which Mr. McCain charged was bad for taxpayers and a bailout for Boeing. Mr. Roche then resigned in January." 

Government-Industry Revolving Door "Before his appointment to the Pentagon he was involved in venture capital, and worked for General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin. Unlike the most senior civilian appointees at the Department of Defense such as Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz, Wynne served in uniform in the United States military." 

"Wynne formerly worked as principal deputy undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. Before that, he served as chairman and CEO IXATA and as chairman of Extended Reach Logistics." 

Upon Wynne's early retirement from General Dynamics in September 1999, he was replaced by GD's Executive Vice President Gordon R. England, who served as Secretary, Department of the Navy, from May 21, 2001, until January 30, 2003, when he became the first Deputy Secretary in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 

Boeing Lease Deal
Wynne was one of several people who were blamed by a Pentagon inspector general for a failed 23.5 billion dollar deal with Boeing, which many lawmakers call the most significant case of contract abuse in decades. 

"The trail of e-mails show Air Force Secretary James G. Roche doggedly pursued the Boeing deal and disparaged those in the Pentagon who raised questions, according to documents released by" Senator John McCain. 

"Wynne's role was less clear." Wynne, who then oversaw Air Force procurement as Donald Rumsfeld's "top weapons buyer, agreed with Mr. Roche to rebuke senior Pentagon officials who worked against the deal. But Mr. Wynne also argued that a second contractor was needed to compete with Boeing. For this, he felt the sting of Mr. Roche's criticism in several e-mails." 

"Questions about the deal, which [reamained] the subject of investigations [in January 2005] by the Pentagon and U.S. Justice Department, have scuttled several other nominations." 

Related Links

 * Renae Merle, "Pentagon Widens Procurement Investigation," Washington Post, November 10, 2004.
 * Renae Merle, "Contracts Vulnerable To Abuse, Report Says. Defense Study Followed Druyun's Plea," Washington Post, May 12, 2005.

Profiles
"Michael W. Wynne is the Acting Under Secretary Of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. He was named to this position May 23, 2003.

"In this role, Mr. Wynne is the Principal Staff Assistant and advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense for all matters relating to the DoD Acquisition System, research and development, advanced technology, developmental test and evaluation, production, logistics, installation management, military construction, procurement, environmental security, and nuclear, chemical, and biological matters.

"Mr. Wynne came to the Department of Defense as Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for AT&L. He continues to hold this position to which the Senate confirmed him on July 12, 2001, along with his acting Under Secretary duties.

"Before joining the Bush Administration, Mr. Wynne was involved in venture capital. He nurtured small technology companies through their startup phase as a member of the NextGenFund Executive Committee, and served in executive positions of two of those companies.

"In 1999, Mr. Wynne retired as Senior Vice President from General Dynamics (GD), where his role was in International Development and Strategy. He spent 23 years with General Dynamics in various senior positions with the Aircraft (F-16's), Main Battle Tanks (M1A2), and Space Launch Vehicles (Atlas and Centaur) Divisions.

"In between his assignments at GD, Mr. Wynne spent three years with Lockheed Martin (LMT), selling the Space Systems division to then-Martin Marietta. He successfully integrated the division into the Astronautics Company and became the General Manager of the Space Launch Systems segment, combining the Titan with the Atlas Launch vehicles.

"Prior to joining industry, Mr. Wynne served in the Air Force for seven years, ending as a Captain and Assistant Professor of Astronautics at the US Air Force Academy, where he taught Control Theory and Fire Control Techniques. Mr. Wynne graduated from the United States Military Academy, holds a Masters in Electrical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology, and a Masters in Business from the University of Colorado. He has attended short courses at Northwestern University (Business) and Harvard Business School (PMD-42). He is a Fellow in the National Contracts Management Association, and has been a Past President of the Association of the United States Army, Detroit Chapter and the Michigan Chapter of the American Defense Preparedness Association. He has published numerous professional journal articles relating to engineering, cost estimating and contracting ..."

Source: Michael W. Wynne's DefenseLink Biography.

Also see Michael W. Wynne in the Wikipedia.

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