Don't mess with the joint chiefs.

• Author: Book, Elizabeth G.
• Position: Washington Pulse

A Pentagon proposal to reduce the power and independence of the joint II chiefs of staff "will be a major issue ... for us, if it surfaces," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., ranking minority member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The proposal--not yet approved by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld--would reduce the chiefs' terms from four to two years and combine their staffs with those of the secretaries of defense, the Army, Navy and Air Force.

Such a move would undermine the independence of the chiefs "totally," Levin said. It would put the chiefs on a "very, very short leash," he said. With two years, "you don't have enough time to learn your job." The idea "will be hotly contested if it ever gets to Congress, and I hope contested on a bipartisan basis."

Levin said he was "concerned about the way [Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric] Shinseki was kind...