People in the news

Louis E. Caldera

Former White House Liaison for Military Affairs (January-April 2009)

(UNM Law School)

Why He Matters

Former White House Liaison for Military Affairs Caldera was four months into his job when he made what would turn out to be a career-ending mistake - he authorized Air Force One to fly over parts of Manhattan for a photo shoot.

The low-flying plane caused panic in New York streets, as witnesses who feared a repeat of Sept. 11 ran for cover.

Read more

Background

At a Glance

Career History: President Obama 's Department of Defense agency review team (Dec. 2008); Law professor, University of New Mexico (since 2003); President, University of New Mexico (2003 to 2006)Birthday: April 1, 1956
Hometown: El Paso, Texas
Alma Mater: U.S. Military Academy at West Point, BS, 1978; Harvard University, MBA and JD, 1987

Spouse: Eva Orlebeke
Web site

Path to Power

Caldera was born on April 1, 1956, in El Paso, Texas, to parents who recently emigrated from Mexico. Caldera, the second-oldest of five children, was tagged as retarded in kindergarten because he knew so little English. His father was determined that his son master English. He not only encouraged his children to watch English-language television, he also required Caldera and his siblings to listen to the time and weather recordings on the telephone.

Caldera's family was poor, often using food stamps to make ends meet. They also faced discrimination. "There was a sort of sense that people looked down at Mexican-Americans," Caldera told the St. Petersburg Times. "Kids like me weren't supposed to go to college, weren't supposed to succeed."

Read more

But Caldera was determined to break that stereotype. He scored a 1,290 on his SAT and devoted himself to school and sports. He received his B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1978 and then began working as an active officer. He chose the school, he told the St. Petersburg Times, because he "wanted to prove I was an American."

Caldera returned to school in the early 1980s at Harvard, where he earned a joint J.D. and M.B.A. in 1987. Soon after graduation, he took a job with the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles. He transferred to Buchalter, Nemer, Fields and Younger, as an attorney in 1990. Soon after, Caldera joined the county's civil litigation department as deputy counsel.

California State Assembly and Americorps

In 1992, Caldera was elected to the California State Assembly. There, he chaired the Banking, Revenue and Taxation, and Budget committees. He is probably best known for a controversial 1994 law that requires young people to wear helmets on bicycles.

After five years in office, Caldera moved to Washington to serve as director for the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal grant-making agency that sponsors the Americorps volunteer service program. In 1998, President Bill Clinton appointed him secretary of the Army, a position he held until 2001. He replaced Togo West.

As Army secretary, Caldera emphasized the need for the military to provide better educational opportunities to its soldiers and officer corps. He argued that this is the only way to create an armed force able to handle the challenges of the 21st century.

Academia

Had Al Gore won the 2000 presidential election, Caldera would likely have been named to an even more important position. But George W. Bush's victory led Caldera out of government and into academia, first serving as a vice chancellor for the California state university system. In 2003, he accepted a job as president of the University of New Mexico. His tenure at the university was rocky, and he stepped down in 2006 because of disputes over admissions standards and bonuses to top administrators. Caldera has continued to serve at the university as a tenured law professor at UNM School of Law.

In December 2008, Caldera was tapped to join Obama's Department of Defense agency review team. In January 2009, Obama named Caldera to serve as director of the White House Military Office, which coordinates military support for presidential operations.

New York Flyover

But his tenure was derailed just a few months later, when Caldera authorized Air Force One to fly over parts of Manhattan for a photo shoot. The incident terrified thousands of New Yorkers, who feared another terrorist attack. President Obama was reportedly "infuriated," and city and state officials demanded an apology.

The White House issued a statement a few days later and launched a formal investigation into the matter. In less than two weeks, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Jim Messina found that structural ambiguities in the Military Affairs office had led to a "breakdown" in communication with New York officials.

Caldera resigned the day the report was released, calling the incident a "distraction" that was preventing him from doing his job.

The Issues

Caldera was an active Army Secretary, running his office like a chief executive. He has promoted policies that nurture young members of the Army, such as improving their educational opportunities, training and treatment by officers. "Ask yourself why you want to be an officer in our Army, why you want to be a leader of soldiers," Caldera said in a 2000 speech. "Make sure it is for the right reasons, that you want to be a caring leader for our soldiers." As Army secretary, he also focused on building a "strong base of support and appreciation for what soldiers do."

Military Readiness

When Caldera was named secretary of the Army, he was tasked with ensuring the service is prepared to go to war. At that time, the Army was facing a precipitous decline in troop enlistment and size even as its peacekeeping missions were expanded. While in office, he helped lead a $20 billion modernization effort. He also advocated for increasing pay and retirement funding.

Read more

Caldera proposed lowering the education requirements for soldiers enlisting in the Army, prompting critics to charge that he was dumbing down standards would hurt the military.

He has advocated for a universal national service requirement where military service is one option among many.

IndyMac

Caldera sat on the board of directors at IndyMac, a California bank seized by the federal government in 2008 in the second largest bank failure in U.S. history.

School of the Americas

While Caldera was Army secretary, he came out strongly and consistently in favor of the School of the Americas, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. The school, which educates Latin Americans on military strategy and combat, has been attacked by human rights organizations for educating soldiers who later go on to torture their own citizens.

In a 1999 op-ed in the Washington Times, Caldera wrote that "instead of focusing on the negative we should examine the role of the vast majority of graduates who have served their nations proudly and professionally." He argued that the school's curriculum included courses on human rights and international law, and that fewer than 1 percent of the school's 60,000 graduates have been linked to human-rights violations. "What these graduates did cannot be condoned but what they did was not a result of their attendance at the School of the Americas," Caldera wrote. "After all, nobody condemns Harvard because the Unabomber was educated there."

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Caldera has not formally stated a position on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' though he enforced the measure while serving as army secretary. In 2000, he instructed the U.S. Army's inspector general to review the policy after a gay soldier was beaten to death. As a result of that incident, Caldera also oversaw the incorporation of a sensitivity training into "all stages of professional military training.

The Draft

Caldera cannot imagine that the U.S. will ever have another draft, and he says that's a good thing. It "isn't a good path to military quality," Caldera wrote in a 2003 Los Angeles Times op-ed. He believes that a high sense of purpose is the reason that soldiers are able to excel at what they do.

The Network

Caldera was secretary of the Army when current Veterans Affairs Head Eric Shinseki was Army chief of staff. The two worked together to study and stem the army's attrition rate. During his time in the Clinton administration, Caldera also worked closely with former Energy Secretary Bill Richardson.

Caldera also has ties to several Latino organizations, including the National Council of La Raza, where White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs head Cecilia Munoz worked.

Additional Resources