CRAWFORD, Texas -- In a sign of U.S. commitment to high-tech missile defense, President Bush on Friday named Gen. Richard Myers, an expert in computer and space warfare, to lead the military Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In choosing Myers, a former head of the Air Force's Space Command, as America's top uniformed officer, Bush said he had found someone who would "think differently" in times of ever-changing technology and threats.
Calling him "the right man to preserve the best traditions of our armed forces while challenging them to innovate to meet the threats of the future," Bush described the 59-year-old Myers as "a man of steady resolve and determined leadership."
Myers is now vice-chairman of the joint chiefs under Army Gen. Henry Shelton who is retiring in September. Myers is heading a major study of new strategy and arms for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Myers' nomination reflected the importance the president and Rumsfeld place on a missile defense system, which would have components in space, to guard against possible nuclear attacks from "rogue" nations.
At a news conference in a community center near his central Texas ranch, Bush told reporters he had selected Myers in part because "he's had a lot of experience in space.... a lot of experience on the leading edge of technology."
Myers, flanked by a row of U.S. flags, said he was humbled by the appointment.
"Like the hard-working Americans here in the heartland of Texas, I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and eager to get back to work building the kind of military that President Bush envisions," he said.
As chairman of the joint chiefs, which groups the heads of the military services, Myers will become a major player in U.S. national security planning and be charged with implementing Bush's plan to overhaul the cumbersome military and prepare it for fast-emerging high-tech threats.
"Dick brings the heart of a warrior and vision of a true leader to this position," Shelton said in a statement.
Bush also nominated Marine Gen. Peter Pace, head of the Southern Command, which is responsible for operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, as the vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Bush took the debate over missile defenses a step further on Thursday when he told reporters the United States would withdraw "on our timetable" from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty with Russia that bans such systems.
Declaring that the treaty hampered U.S. ability to keep the peace, Bush said he had made his position clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"We will withdraw from the ABM treaty on our timetable at a time convenient to America," he said. "We don't have a date."
If he is confirmed by the Senate, Myers would be the first non-Army general in more than a decade to hold the military's top job.
Unlike many four-star officers, Myers did not attend one of the elite military service academies, but entered the Air Force in 1965 through the officers training program at Kansas State University. He was a fighter jet pilot during the Vietnam War.
Defense and budget issues dominated the first formal news conference of Bush's month-long working vacation, a relaxed affair during which Rumsfeld, Myers and Pace also spoke.
Urging Congress to approve his funding request for the Pentagon, Bush warned that if lawmakers "go off on a spending spree in other areas, it's going to create competition for defense dollars."
Bush returns to Washington on Aug. 30.
