A shake-up at defense

To many observers the President’s nomination of Leon Panetta (an archetypal Washington Insider) to replace Robert Gates at DOD, and the shuffling of David Petraeus to the CIA represent business as usual. Or, in the words of Stephen Walt: ‘rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.’ I believe this view vastly understates the significance of the change that has just occurred. Sure, to those critics arguing for a more minimalist foreign policy (Walt becoming something of a standard-bearer for this view of late), anything which doesn’t bluntly hack at what they perceive as Washington’s imperialist foreign policy machine will seem inadequate. But in terms of President Obama’s own ostensible aim of realigning American military commitments to a post-hyperpower environment, this can be viewed as his most proactive step so far.