Schmidle Tapped To Help Lead

Strategic Choices Group

The Pentagon has created a team that will rapidly update the document that serves as the foundation of the US military’s strategy and priorities, The Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). Among the members of that team is a Newtown native.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has tapped Marine Corps Lieutenant General Robert Schmidle, the deputy commander of US Cyber Command, to lead the Strategic Choices Working Group. In selecting Lt Gen Schmidle, Gen Dempsey reportedly reached beyond the stable of three-star generals on the Join Staff.

Lt Gen Schmidle is the son of Mae and Robert Schmidle of Echo Valley Road.

The Marine, a deputy commander of US Cyber Command, has been designated the senior military official in charged of the Strategic Choices Working Group, formed at the beginning of October to elevate the role of strategy in deliberations over how the Pentagon will revise future spending plans in accordance with discretionary spending caps set by the White House and Congress in August. Lt Gen Schmidle is co-leading the working group with Kathleen Hicks, deputy undersecretary of defense for strategy, plans and forces in the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s policy shop.

Lt Gen Schmidle assisted this past summer with Gen Dempsey’s transition from Army Chief to the Pentagon’s No. 1 military billet, filling a temporary position with enormous influence over how the Department of Defense will cut $450 billion over the next decade.

“Gen Dempsey chose Lt Gen Schmidle because he was very impressed with his thinking and leadership on his transition team,” said Colonel David Lapan, Gen Dempsey’s spokesman. “This effort is not about institutional boundaries or existing processes. It’s about coalescing good minds on complex problems.”

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta approved in September the formation of the Strategies Choices Group, a body that is tasked with elevating strategy in considering what forces and weapon programs to trim or terminate the $450 billion it has been tasked with. The working group will present its recommendations to the Defense Management Action Group led by Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Admiral James Winnefield, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Lt Gen Schmidle has held a number of senior Pentagon posts that require balancing strategic considerations with resource decisions. During the 2006 QDR, Lt Gen Schmidle — whose call sign is Rooster — worked in the Pentagon’s policy office. He has had other assignments involving complex, strategic matters, including a stint as the deputy director for resources and acquisitions on the Joint Staff.

During the 2010 QDR, Lt Gen Schmidle was the lead Marine Corps representative for the review. After that he became assistant deputy commandant for programs and resources. In June 2010 he was nominated for a third star and the position of deputy commander of Cyber Command. Lt Gen Schmidle will continue his duties as the No. 2 CyberCom official while working on the Strategic Choices Group. His responsibilities at CyberCom, based at Fort Meade, Md., include oversight of forces and daily activities, including computer network attack and computer network defense missions.

Lt Gen Schmidle graduated from Drew University with a bachelor of arts in history and earned a master of arts in philosophy from American University. He is a doctorate student at Georgetown University.

He is a distinguished graduate and prior faculty member of the Marine Corps Command and Staff College as well as a distinguished graduate of the Marine Corps War College. Additionally, he has been published on a range of topics from military history to social psychology and philosophy.