PNAC signatory Richard Cheney was Secretary of Defense in the George HW Bush Administration, from 1989 to 1993.
Cheney is currently Vice President in the George W Bush Administration.
Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Cheney, Frank Carlucci, and Caspar Weinberger - the last four Republican Secretaries of Defense.
This is a tight-knit group of individuals who have, in various combinations under various administrations since the days of Nixon, sought to promote the right-wing conservative agenda that failed to come to fruition when the Nixon administration collapsed under the weight of the Watergate scandal [see Elliot Richardson].
For more on how Cheney longs to bring back the good old days of Nixon by 'strengthening' the presidency under George W. Bush, see Nixon Administration
From 1969-1973, in the Nixon Administration he served in a number of positions: 1969 - Cheney was Special Assistant to the Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, Donald Rumsfeld; 1970 - Cheney followed Rumsfeld to the White House when Nixon selected Rumsfeld as White House counselor; he became Rumsfeld's deputy, White House Staff Assistant; 1971-73 - assistant director of the Cost of Living Council, under Rumsfeld.[1] Cheney served on the transition team to the Ford Administration, again under Rumsfeld. "In August 1974, Gerald Ford assumed the presidency and asked Rumsfeld to be his chief of staff. Rumsfeld immediately sought out Cheney."[2] ... and later as Deputy Assistant to the President.
1974 - 1975: "When Rumsfeld left the White House in November 1974, Cheney moved up...", becoming deputy assistant to President Gerald Ford.
1975- 1977: Cheney becomes White House chief of staff under Ford. [3]
He returned home to Wyoming in 1977, and was elected to Congress, and re-elected five times. He was Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee from 1981 to 1987. Dick Cheney was a member of Congress during the time of the Iran-contra scandal, and was Reagan's principal defender in Congress. [4]
1989 - 93: Cheney becomes Secretary of Defense under George HW Bush.
Cheney directed two military campaigns - the invasion of Panama (Operation 'Just Cause') and Desert Storm.
Cheney generally focused on external matters and delegated most internal Pentagon management details to Deputy Secretary of Defense Donald J. Atwood, Jr. He worked closely with Louis A. (Pete) Williams, assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, and PNAC signatoryPaul Wolfowitz, under secretary of defense for policy. For chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff he selected General Colin L. Powell, who assumed the post on 1 October 1989. Many of Cheney's major decisions resulted from the almost daily meetings he had in the Pentagon with Powell and Atwood. Cheney met regularly with Bush and other top-level members of the administration, including Secretary of State James Baker, national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, White House Chief of Staff John Sununu, and General Powell. ...After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Cheney worried about the dangers of nuclear proliferation and effective control of nuclear weapons...[5]
Cheney met regularly with Bush and other top-level members of the administration, including Secretary of State James Baker, national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, White House Chief of Staff John Sununu, and General Powell.
...After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Cheney worried about the dangers of nuclear proliferation and effective control of nuclear weapons...[5]
January 20, 1993: Clinton takes office and Cheney leaves the Pentagon to join the American Enterprise Institute in Washington as senior fellow.
In 1995, he becomes chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Halliburton Company. What is Halliburton?
Halliburton, Brown and Root's parent company, is a Fortune 500 construction corporation working primarily for the oil industry. From 1962 to 1972 the Pentagon paid the company tens of millions of dollars to work in South Vietnam, where they built roads, landing strips, harbors, and military bases from the demilitarized zone to the Mekong Delta. The company was one of the main contractors hired to construct the Diego Garcia air base in the Indian Ocean, according to Pentagon military histories. In the early 1990s the company was awarded the job to study and then implement the privatization of routine army functions under then-secretary of defense Dick Cheney. [6] [For more on Cheney's privatization see Democracy Now!: [7]
In the early 1990s the company was awarded the job to study and then implement the privatization of routine army functions under then-secretary of defense Dick Cheney. [6] [For more on Cheney's privatization see Democracy Now!: [7]
Some of Cheney's other accomplishments:
Mr. Cheney opposed the Equal Rights Amendment, is an anti-abortion advocate, and supports prayer in school. While serving in Congress, he was one of 21 members opposing the sale ban of armor-piercing bullets; was one of only four to oppose the ban on guns that can get through metal dectors; opposed sanctions against the apartheid-era South Africa in the mid-1980s along with voting against a resolution calling for the release of Nelson Mandela; voted for a constitutional amendment to ban school busing; voted against Head Start; and voted against extending the Clean Water Act in 1987. Mr. Cheney is still drawing a $1,000,000 per year paycheck from Halliburton while serving as the Vice President. [8]
Some describe PNAC signatory Richard Cheney as perhaps the most influential Vice President in history. During the last three years under George Bush, ... Cheney championed PNAC signatory Donald Rumsfeld for Defense Secretary Cheney insisted, over fierce objections by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, on placing PNAC signatory Paul Wolfowitz in the number two position at the Pentagon Cheney insisted, again over Powell's misgivings, on making ultra-unilateralist PNAC signatory John Bolton, then vice-president of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. Cheney reportedly played a key role in the appointment of another controversial neo-conservative, PNAC signatory Elliott Abrams, to head the Middle East office on the National Security Council. Abrams was assistant Secretary of State under Reagan/Bush. He pled guilty to two misdemeanor counts of lying to Congress during the Iran Contra hearings. He is now the the son-in-law of PNAC signatory Norman Podhoretz and his wife, PNAC signatory Midge Decter reportedly visited the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) several times in the run-up to the war in Iraq, in what was seen as pressure on CIA analysts to take a darker view of Saddam Hussein's alleged ties to al-Qaeda and weapons of mass destruction.
Cheney's staff is headed by I. Lewis Scooter Libby, extremest and PNAC signatory For an excellent article on how Nixon's policies informed Cheney's views, see:[9]
