STATEMENT FROM DEFENSE SECRETARY WILLIAM J. PERRY
The death of former Secretary of Defense Les Aspin is a loss to the nation, a
loss to the men and women of the US military and a loss to me personally.
Secretary Aspin devoted his life to public service. He served as an Army
officer in the Pentagon and as a member of Congress from Wisconsin from 1971
to 1993. He chaired the House Armed Services Committee from 1985 to 1993. As
chairman and as secretary of defense from 1993-1994, he crafted and carried out
plans to restructure the nation's armed forces following the break up of the
Soviet Union.
At the Defense Department he initiated the Bottom Up Review, the visionary
plan for tailoring the armed forces to meet the nation's changing security
needs.
President Clinton named former Secretary Aspin to chair the President's
Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, where he was directing a bottom up review
of the nation's intelligence needs.
The nation has lost a strong strategic thinker, and I have lost a valued
friend.
