| Francis J. Harvey | |
|---|---|
| |
| 19th United States Secretary of the Army | |
In office November 19, 2004 – March 9, 2007 | |
| President | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Thomas E. White |
| Succeeded by | Pete Geren |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 8, 1943 Latrobe, Pennsylvania |
| Political party | Republican |
| Alma mater | University of Notre Dame B.S. University of Pennsylvania Ph.D. |
Francis Joseph Harvey (born July 8, 1943) served as the 19th Secretary of the United States Army from November 19, 2004 to March 9, 2007.
Education and family[]
Harvey was born and raised in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He earned his doctorate in Metallurgy and Materials Science from the University of Pennsylvania and his Bachelor of Science at the University of Notre Dame in Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science. As of 2013, he and his wife of 48 years, Mary, have two children and five grandchildren.[citation needed][1]
Career[]
The majority of Harvey's career was spent with corporations that provided products and services to the federal government, particularly the United States Department of Defense, and included a year of government service. He was involved in over 20 major defense programs across the entire spectrum from undersea to outer space, including tanks, missiles, submarines, surface ships, aircraft and satellites. In addition, he was a member of the Army Science Board in the late 1990s, traveling to numerous U.S. Army installations, and participated in early studies that helped define the Future Combat System. Harvey also served for one year as a White House Fellow and assistant in the immediate office of the Secretary of Defense, Harold Brown, in the late 1970s. Harvey held various professional, management and executive positions within the Westinghouse Corporation from 1969 to 1997, including President of the Electronics Systems Group, President of the Government and Environmental Services Company, and Chief Operating Officer of the multi billion dollar Industries and Technology Group. Before his appointment as Army Secretary, he was also a Director and Vice Chairman of Duratek a portfolio company of the Carlyle Group specializing in treating radioactive, hazardous, and other wastes, He was also Director and Vice Chairman of another Carlyle Group portfolio company, The IT Group, which provided environmental services to both commercial and military customers. In addition, he was a member of the boards of several other corporations.
Secretary of the Army[]
Harvey was nominated to be Secretary of the United States Army on September 15, 2004 by President George W. Bush.[2] In this position, Harvey served as the senior civilian official within the Department of the Army. He was responsible for all matters relating to Army manpower, personnel, reserve affairs, installations, environmental issues, weapons systems and equipment acquisition, communications, and financial management, as well as an annual budget of $98.5 billion and over one million soldiers, personnel, and contractors.[3] During his tenure, Dr. Harvey's number one priority was the wellbeing of soldiers and their families. In parallel with this priority, Dr. Harvey applied his private sector experience in leading, managing and changing large organizations to transform the business side of the Army resulting in significant cost reductions as well as to update its leadership development programs. Together with General Pete Schoomaker, the Chief of Staff of the Army, Dr. Harvey led the effort to increase the Army's war fighting capabilities through the implementation of several major initiatives including force transformation based on a modular structure, force modernization, and up armoring the entire fleet of over 16,000 HMMWVs (Humvees), which was followed by the MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicle program that was initiated in the fall of 2006 as a joint Marine/Army Program.
Walter Reed Incident and Resignation[]
In the wake of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center neglect incident, Harvey announced his resignation on March 2, 2007 after being asked to do so by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates,[4] with effect from March 9.[5] There is an alternative explanation of why Dr. Harvey was asked to resign as outlined in the book Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows by Charles P. Garcia (McGraw Hill, 2009). In the preface of the book, it states that he was abruptly forced to resign allegedly for his handling of incidents at Walter Reed, but, in reality it was for standing firm on the Army budget. There was fiscal guidance in the summer of 2006 to cut that budget during a time of war. But Dr. Harvey and General Pete Schoomaker refused to cut the budget and worked hard for an increase because the Army was significantly underfunded both prior to and during the early stages of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Eventually, there was agreement with the Office of the Secretary of Defense on an increase the Army’s five year budget with the proposed budget for 2009 of $141 B. As a result of their stand on the budget, both Harvey and Schoomaker were considered not to be ‘team players.’
General Schoomaker is quoted in the book as saying about Dr. Harvey that ‘He came into a bad situation and ended up making a huge difference. Being a political appointee, they expected him to compromise and take the easy way out and he didn’t. I think he was one of the most effective secretaries we have ever had.’
References[]
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The original article can be found at Francis J. Harvey and the edit history here.