John Lehman

One of these concerned commissioners, Max Cleland, resigned because the commission had been deliberately compromised by the President of the United States.

Commissioner John Lehman, meanwhile, admitted on NBC Nightly News that the commission had to go through Karl Rove and other senior White House members to access key documents in their investigation, and that we purposely put together a staff that had, in a way, conflicts of interest, stressing, lest there be any doubt, that all of the staff had, to a certain extent, some conflict of interest.

Commission members even considered bringing criminal charges against Pentagon officials who had deliberately lied to them about the military's complete lack of response on that day.

But perhaps the most cryptic of all the dissenting commissioners was Bob Carey.

As a young man who served a few years as a surface warfare officer, but beginning in 1966, he really started making his mark as a civilian in the Department of the Navy.

Five years on the staff of Navy Secretary John Lehman, Special Assistant to SECNAB for Intelligence and Historical Matters, a key player in improving naval ship system designs, and finally, Senior Analyst for the Director of Naval Intelligence.

Throughout all that time, he compiled an impressive library of naval photographs, and when the Naval Institute decided to compete with Jane's Fighting Ships by publishing an English translation of the French annual Flotte de Combat, Dave was chosen as the English language editor.

But Dave being Dave, he couldn't stand simply regurgitating the same book.

In 1981, the Reagan administration arrived with an aggressive naval program to increase the Navy to 600 ships.

The architect of the plan was the Secretary of the Navy, John Lehman, 38 years old, aggressive, a naval flight officer in the reserves, and a man in a genuine hurry.

On a side note, Secretary Lehman called me up to ask for a favor when I was skipper of NAS Pensacola, and I thought that was pretty cool.

But now back to the story.

Building a warship takes the better part of a decade.

Do the math on that one.

He was not one to be trifled with.

During INSURV, the discrepancies he found on the Iowa were so egregious and extensive that he recommended the ship be taken out of service immediately, but Secretary Lehman overruled him.

Um, actually, one I always think of is, uh, our second, uh, sea trial.

And, uh, Secretary of Navy John Lehman comes aboard.

And, uh, we're walking him around, and he's, he's meeting with the crew and the mess decks, and one of the sailors says, "Oh, what do you think of the battleship?" He says, "I just flew over, and I peed in my pants when I saw it." And so [laughs] I don't know.

I don't know if that's gonna be edited or whatever, but, um-

Lord, in your mercy Hear our prayer Comfort, O God, with your Holy Spirit, all who are in need.

Strengthen and sustain all those who are sick, undergoing treatment, or in recovery, especially Janice Bira, Bob Shelock, Bruce Guteneck, John Lehman, Jodi Wynn, Robin Rubish, Art Klausmeier, Barbara Gallus, Bob Rothe, Michael Pieper, Michael Gale, Mary O'Flyng, Loretta Lampen, Tracy Espinosa, Ken Hinkle, Diane Bulawa, and Luke Beringer.

Lord, in your mercy Hear our prayer O Lord, you established marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Grant your blessing upon all married couples, especially Bob and Doreen Corso and Barry and Maureen Wurster, who are celebrating winni- wedding anniversaries this week, that their lives together may be blessed with wisdom, purity, self-sacrifice, and love.

What was the longest deployment you were ever on?

Well, you know, when I was in the Navy with John Lehman, who was the Secretary of the Navy, he made it a point, and this was in the early 80s, 1980s, to keep deployments six months or less.

So I think the longest deployment I was on was about six and a half months.

and 20 days without a port-a-call.