DND DM Comings & Goings (merged)

[Flip]

Good.

There is still fat in NDHQ and throughout DND, including in the CF. Even though I've been retired for years and years I feel 100% certain that I can say that without fear of (informed) contradiction. The waste and institutional ineptitude should be cut before it tarnishes the whole oragnization.

DND needs firm policy direction and resources to implement it. Both depend upon Harper and Lynch believing that DND can do the policy and spend the money well. A firm hand at the management tiller will help.

I don't think anyone can argue with that Edward.

+1

 

[Scoobs]

I agree that there is fat to be cut, but what I meant for "cutting" was that there may be a chance that certain items already purchased or planned to be purchased, will not be bought.  Examples are the C-17's, Chinooks, the rest of the order of Leo II's.  I guess we'll just have to see if we have a fall election and what will come out of that for the CF.  Just thought I'd say, there are tonnes of rumours flying around right know.

 

[Flip]

Scoobs,

I think Edward is referring to the bureaucracy at DND.
DNDs civilian employees for the most part.

DND cannot be just another civil service department...

 

[Old Sweat]

Scoobs,

Purchases that expensive are authorized by Cabinet. There have been no indications that the political leadership is thinking of cancelling them, nor would any DM be so reckless as to defy the central authority by attempting to derail an authorized project. If, on the other hand, the economy was to tank and the government was to put in place a massive austerity program, a DM might mothball or delay the implementation of a program. Most of us have seen that sort of thing happen.

 

[Edward Campbell]

I agree that there is fat to be cut, but what I meant for "cutting" was that there may be a chance that certain items already purchased or planned to be purchased, will not be bought.  Examples are the C-17's, Chinooks, the rest of the order of Leo II's.  I guess we'll just have to see if we have a fall election and what will come out of that for the CF.  Just thought I'd say, there are tonnes of rumours flying around right know.

IF there is a Liberal minority government with Dion as leader which needs NDP/BQ support to govern then I'm sure you're right. Several big ticket items will be cut/cancelled.

I doubt, really doubt, that Harper/Lynch put a squinty eyed economist there to serve BQ/Liberal/NDP interests. My guess remains that Lynch has convinced Harper that DND is, chronically, poorly managed and that it needs shaking up - in part to restore the proper civil-military balance in which the DM is the minister's alter ego and the CDS is responsible for the effective administration and discipline of the CF and for planning and overseeing the military aspects of operations.

 

[The Bread Guy]

That may be, Dataperson, but Mister Elcock had the intelligence and security desk in the PCO and then ran CSIS. I wonder if there is more to this.

Good eye - as of 11 Oct 07, "Ward P.D. Elcock, Senior Advisor to the Privy Council Office, has been named Coordinator for the 2010 Olympics and G8 Security."

 

[dapaterson]

Suffice it to say that the new position was identified (and perhaps created) after Mr Elcock was replaced.

It was a putsch, not an orderly relief in place.

 

[Edward Campbell]

This, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from today’s Globe and Mail is gossip (and, in fairness, the author admits that) but it is gossip that has a bit of factual information about DND’s Deputy Minister so it may be of interest:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/meet-ottawas-new-power-couple/article1238490/

Meet Ottawa's new power couple

Robert Fonberg and Yaprak Baltacioglu have a lot of clout, but prefer to shun the spotlight

Jane Taber

Ottawa — From Saturday's Globe and Mail Last updated on Saturday, Aug. 01, 2009 04:19AM EDT

A friend calls them “Bernie and Sylvia Ostry for the iPod generation.” And in some ways Robert Fonberg and Yaprak Baltacioglu are a lot like the famed economist and her cultural bureaucrat husband, who reigned as Ottawa's power couple for years.

They are smart and glamorous and certainly have the clout. Between them, they run two of Ottawa's most important files for the Harper government.

He is the deputy minister of National Defence, overseeing a war and a multibillion-dollar budget. Last month, she took over as deputy minister of Transport, in charge of the critical task of getting out the door billions of dollars in infrastructure stimulus spending.

But where the Ostrys were high-fliers known for entertaining politicians of all stripes and inviting the bureaucratic elite into their home to debate the burning issues of the day, few Canadians know who Mr. Fonberg and Ms. Baltacioglu are. And the two policy wonks who fell in love over social development and macroeconomic issues appear to prefer it that way.

They shun the spotlight, embracing the traditional role of the bureaucrat who remains in the shadows. It's a fitting place to be in Stephen Harper's Ottawa, known for its secrecy and lack of flash.

They refused to be interviewed for this article and asked their friends not to speak. Those who did asked to remain anonymous.

So how did Mr. Fonberg and Ms. Baltacioglu break into the elite echelons of the federal bureaucracy?

The two met in 2002 at the Langevin Building, a staid old stone block across from Parliament Hill that houses the Prime Minister's Office and the bureaucrats in the Privy Council Office.

Both were working in senior positions in PCO – he was the deputy secretary to cabinet, operations; she was assistant secretary to cabinet for social development policy.

At the time, there was corridor chatter about the two, hardly unexpected in the small community that is Parliament Hill.

Both had been married. She has a son; he has a daughter and a son. He is Jewish; she is Muslim. Both are charming and really smart.

They bought a home in a posh Ottawa suburb and got a cat. And last June, in keeping with their public service personas of discretion and invisibility, they were quietly married. It was a very private, family-only affair.

Mr. Fonberg, 54, is a third-generation Ottawan. With an undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto and a master's degree in economics from Queen's University, he has worked both in the private and public sector.

He's addicted to his BlackBerry and to golf. He has been known to have a little putting green in his office and, in the middle of meetings, will hit a few balls to help focus his mind on the problem at hand.

Ms. Baltacioglu, 49, is Turkish. She came to Canada with her first husband when she was 21. She had a law degree from Istanbul University. Not able to use that degree in Canada, she went to Carleton University and earned a master's degree in the School of Public Administration.

Although a cosmopolitan person who knew nothing about farming issues, Ms. Baltacioglu ended up at the Department of Agriculture. There, she worked as chief of staff to former deputy minister Ray Protti, who spotted her talent and told his senior colleagues to watch her because she was going places.

That was in 1994.

“It was virtually immediately obvious to me that this was a person of extraordinary talent,” recalls Mr. Protti.

“She has tremendous amount of common sense, judgment, a very effective communicator and tremendous interpersonal skills.”

Since then, she has been transferred in and out of the department, always returning in a more senior role. Before her appointment to Transport, Ms. Baltacioglu was deputy minister of agriculture – the first female deputy minister in that department.

“She is able to see three steps ahead,” says one of her friends.

In her spare time, she cooks, whipping up huge gourmet meals. She is also learning to golf.

Being noticed and becoming successful in the public service is a combination of experience, smarts, luck and timing in being given a meaty file, and remaining non-partisan. Mr. Fonberg and Ms. Baltacioglu have managed to do all of these – under Liberal and Conservative governments.

But while Ms. Baltacioglu has steadily risen through the ranks, Mr. Fonberg has had his setbacks, the largest of which was his very public demotion from deputy minister of International Trade to senior associate secretary of the Treasury Board.

Tenacious and demanding, he was promoted to deputy minister in 2004 with instructions to make International Trade a stand-alone department from Foreign Affairs.

According to a former colleague, he didn't succeed – and also managed to alienate many in government with his efforts during the two years he was there.

As well, the colleague says, Mr. Fonberg had a falling-out with Kevin Lynch when the two were both deputy ministers. Mr. Lynch, who declined to comment, was appointed clerk of the Privy Council by Stephen Harper when he became Prime Minister.

Mr. Lynch was not about to give Mr. Fonberg a big job in his first shuffle, says the colleague.

And so he was banished to Treasury Board.

But the colleague says that, to his credit, Mr. Fonberg put down his head and worked, delivering on the Harper government's showpiece accountability legislation.

Mr. Lynch had kept an open mind and rewarded Mr. Fonberg for his work: In October, 2007, Mr. Fonberg was back as a deputy minister – this time in the tricky and demanding Defence portfolio.

“Rob redeemed himself under Kevin,” says the colleague. “After brooding and holding his tail between his legs, he then got up and started to do a job and he redeemed himself.”

Jane Taber is a senior political writer in the Globe's Ottawa bureau.

I know that many people think that the CDS runs the CF; some, less that brilliant, CDSs actually thought that, too. The CDS “administers” the CDS – DND, which includes the CF, is “run” by the DM. It’s important to know about him or her.

 

[Good2Golf]

Both Mr. Fonberg, and the Associate DM, William Pentney, are very savvy individuals.  Running a Department is not easy, particularly Defence, which every other Department seems to always have its sights on for making the case for transfers, reductions to DND, increased to them, etc...  I believe that Mr. Fonberg has done a pretty solid job in his post.

Two more cents,
G2G

 

[Edward Campbell]

Both Mr. Fonberg, and the Associate DM, William Pentney, are very savvy individuals.  Running a Department is not easy, particularly Defence, which every other Department seems to always have its sights on for making the case for transfers, reductions to DND, increased to them, etc...  I believe that Mr. Fonberg has done a pretty solid job in his post.

Two more cents,
G2G

Ditto.

I saw a few DMs "up close" - one or two were probably excellent, a few were OK to good and one or two were probably weak.  More to the point, I think I can correlate "results" - things that happened to DND and the CF - to DMs' tenures. On that basis Mr. Fonberg has done/is doing an excellent job.

 

[dapaterson]

Mr Fonberg has a thankless job.  However, he is perhaps more interested in minutia than is healthy for his position, and is truly a bureaucrat, in both the positive and negative senses of the word.  The military expression of "sense of urgency" is one that today seems to be lacking; the old saw that a poor decision that is timely is better than a perfect decision too late comes to mind...

 

[Good2Golf]

dapaterson, that may be for some things, and may be a left-over from his TB days.  I understand that some things that were quite critical go his undivided attention and no minutiae-hunting at all.  As Mr. Campbell say, it can be an absolutely thankless job.  There is no doubt that the Department overall, not just the CF, has done fairly well compared to its sister Departments in the GoC; I am certain that doesn't happen by accident.

Regards
G2G

 

[Edward Campbell]

Rather than start a new thread ...

This is a small bit, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from the inside pages of today’s Ottawa Citizen, but the subject of the story might have a major impact on Canada’s defence policy:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Harper+names+finance+deputy/1887018/story.html

Harper names new finance deputy

Mark Iype, Canwest News Service
August 13, 2009

Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Wednesday appointed Michael Horgan the new deputy minister of finance, instantly making him a major player in Canada's economic recovery.

Horgan, Canada's representative at the International Monetary Fund and a former deputy minister of the environment, will take over the position on Sept. 8.

The post has been vacant since July 8, when Rob Wright retired after 35 years in the public service.

Deputy ministers are the top un-elected officials in the federal government's hierarchy and answer directly to the ministers in charge of each department.

Horgan will be in charge of nearly 800 employees, and will be responsible for a very challenging portfolio.

"I think the country's finances are in the worst position in some time," said Don Drummond, chief economist with the Toronto Dominion Bank.

"But I think Michael (Horgan) is a fantastic choice for the position."

Drummond spent 23 years with the Finance Department, and has known Horgan since the mid-1980s.

He said he was not surprised Horgan was hired in the midst of the tough economic climate.

According to the Finance Department's numbers for April and May -- the first two months of the 2009-10 fiscal year -- there is a budgetary deficit of $7.5 billion compared to last year's $900-million deficit in the same time period.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen​

His biography (taken from a 2008 conference programme) is:

Michael Horgan
Deputy Minister, Environment Canada

Michael Horgan is Canada's Deputy Minister of the Envionment. He previously served as deputy minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, G-7 deputy for Canada and senior associate deputy minister of finance.

His experience also includes roles as executive vice-president and associate deputy minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), which later named him president. From 1992 to 1996, Horgan was assistant secretary to the Cabinet (Priorities and Planning), Privy Council Office; he was later appointed deputy secretary to the Cabinet (Intergovernmental Policy and Communications), Privy Council Office.

He began his career in public service as an energy economist for the Department of Finance in 1978. Since that time, he has served in a number of government positions.

Horgan studied economics and political science at Concordia University in Montreal; he completed graduate degrees in economics at both Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and Princeton University.

Along with the Clerk of the Privy Council, Mr. Horgan is, arguably, a member of a tiny group of really “powerful” officials – elected or otherwise – in Ottawa. His views on spending priorities, reinforced by experience in planning and priorities in the PCO, will have a real, measurable, direct impact on the size of the defence budget and, albeit to a lesser degree, on how it is spent.

And again, see also here.

 

[observor 69]

 
PRIME MINISTER ANNOUNCES CHANGES IN THE SENIOR RANKS OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE

Matthew King, currently Associate Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, becomes Associate Deputy Minister of National Defence, effective October 12.   


Complete article at LINK

 

[ARMY_101]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04/22/powerful-bureaucrat-leaves-job-in-massive-defence-department-shakeup/

Longtime deputy defence minister leaves job in massive department shakeup

OTTAWA — The senior levels of National Defence were the focus of a massive upheaval Monday as the Conservative government announced longtime deputy minister Robert Fonberg was leaving the job.

One of the most powerful and controversial bureaucrats in Ottawa, Fonberg has quietly — and not so quietly — influenced everything from the war in Afghanistan to the military’s multi-billion-dollar procurement system. He was appointed in 2007.

Regarded as extremely arrogant by some, tough by others, Fonberg famously butted heads with opposition MPs last year after Auditor General Michael Ferguson blasted National Defence’s handling of the $45 billion F-35 stealth fighter jets’ project.

Many had expected Fonberg to be replaced then, but instead he has spent the past year implementing billions of dollars in Defence Department spending cuts — much of which is being done behind closed doors with little explanation or outside input.

That responsibility will now fall to Richard Fadden, who has served for the past four years as director of Canada’s spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Monday that Fonberg will become special adviser to Privy Council Clerk Wayne Wouters effective May 13, with Fadden coming over as deputy minister of National Defence.

The Conservative government had only recently appointed Canada’s former ambassador for climate change, Michael Martin, to serve alongside Fonberg, and most had expected him to take over as deputy minister.

Instead, they will get Fadden, who made headlines in June 2010 when he said in an interview that foreign countries were actively engaged in industrial and political spying in Canada, and that they held sway over several unnamed Canadian politicians.

The comments, broadcast days before Canada was to host that year’s G8 and G20 summits, angered Chinese officials, and Fadden wasn’t expected to last the year.

Instead, the government stood by him, and Fadden has remained Canada’s spymaster ever since, warning recently that Canada faces severe cyber-threats, and admitting that dozens of Canadians are believed to be involved in terrorism-related activities overseas.

Fadden’s appointment will be welcome by some within the military given National Defence’s close working relationship with Canada’s spy agency, and Fadden’s own knowledge and understanding of global security issues.

He also comes as the military is seeing its role shift from active combat operations in Afghanistan to supporting the security situation and forces in such regions as Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the Middle East.

A key question, however, will be whether Fadden will be able to implement billions of dollars in cuts to the Defence Department budget ordered by Harper.

Michael Coulombe, currently a deputy director at CSIS, will fill in as the spy agency’s interim director until a permanent spymaster is appointed.

 

[The Bread Guy]

.... as of 19 Jan 2015 according to the PM's Info-machine:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced today the following changes in the senior ranks of the Public Service:

Richard Fadden, currently Deputy Minister of National Defence, becomes National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, effective January 19,  2015 ....

Since I can't see any indication in the statement of a name being picked to take Fadden's place as DND DM, does that mean he's double-hatted as of 19 Jan, or "more to follow"?  Either of the posts sounds busy enough for one person, so I'm guessing the latter.

 

[George Wallace]

.... as of 19 Jan 2015 according to the PM's Info-machine:
Since I can't see any indication in the statement of a name being picked to take Fadden's place as DND DM, does that mean he's double-hatted as of 19 Jan, or "more to follow"?  Either of the posts sounds busy enough for one person, so I'm guessing the latter.

Ummmmm?


Mr Fantino of Veteran's Affairs fame is now the Associate Minister of Defence and will support the Minister of National Defence in the areas of arctic sovereignty, information technology security and foreign intelligence, thus continuing the Government’s efforts to defend our values and interests at home and around the world .....

 

[dapaterson]

World of difference between Fantino's new/old gig and being a DM or senior advisor.

 

[McG]

The DM has more influence.

 

[Edward Campbell]

The DM has more influence.

A lot more ... DM has a direct line to the Clerk and, therefore, the PM, at all times. Most ministers (not Baird and Kenny and one or two others) must go through the PM's Chief of Staff; Clerk does not.