________________________________________________________________________Richard S. Kem
Q:
Well, I guess both. I was thinking of it as sort of a protective role to the Chief, he didn't have
to do it, or for whatever reason. It doesn't sound like it was frequent.
A:
I don't recall any of that. I do recall at Fort Belvoir it was nice to have a tough deputy so that
I could be the nice guy.
Q:
Yes, I think that's what I was getting at. Yes.
A:
No, I don't think so. I've delivered some folks some bad news, but not because of protecting
the Chief. I mean, I just felt that was my role to do it. I don't think, in particular, I was a
deliverer because I can't recall any instance, as a matter of fact.
Q:
Okay.
A:
Usually when something like that happens, it is that somebody wants to save themselves for
yet another communication. So, if you pull back once, then you can still play. If you're the
deliverer, then there is no opportunity to perhaps work things out, other than be at this final
resting place.
Q:
Right.
A:
So, sometimes you'd want to try to keep it down at a working deliberative level, rather than
at any culminating point. I can't recall any occasions frankly.
Q:
What kind of a feeling, if any, is there in the executive office of a sense of what's going on at
the lower levels, in the directorates? I think General Edgar was saying something the other
day about, you know, a lot is missed, and I think that's probably maybe just what happens
because of the nature of the beast. Do you make a conscious effort to be regularly involved
with the directorate heads and the issues they're working?
A:
Yes, with the directorate heads, but I don't make a conscious effort to get down below them
or talk with their people doing the job. I have to qualify that by saying it's different if it's
something where I require the directorate head to come up. I would probably call the
directorate head or his deputy or maybe his executive director on an issue. If they choose to
solve it by sending up somebody, that's fine. I mean, I'm receptive to whomever they send,
the expert. For example, in the recreation study I had a lot of interaction with Dave Wahus,
even though Dan Mauldin, the Deputy Director of Civil Works, was the principal contact.
So, I'd probably call Dan Mauldin; Dave Wahus would probably come up and tell me where
we are, and that was certainly a good way to work.
In the automation line, I worked with the entire staff on that program that we had going this
year, and so I really got down and got a feeling for that.
By understanding--if the comment by Edgar was we don't really understand what's going on
down there in--
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