Q About Rank & Working In The Puzzle Palace [Pentagon]

Factual Questions
1

Are there many, if any, captains who work at the Pentagon.

Is it plausible for a cpt. to be in a position to brief the JCOS?

Or carry the football?

2

I don’t know about the football, but there are captains at the Pentagon. I remember specifically reading in one of the Woodward books about field-grade officers working on a review of Iraq War strategy. I’m sure they participate in all kinds of policy and management work. As for briefing the JCOS, I don’t know but my guess is that, as in every organization, their superiors do that and take credit for their work.

3

Title edited to clarify question. Please use titles that make it clear what you are asking.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

4

I’ve been in the Pentagon on business. It has 23,000 military and civilian Department of Defense employees, plus 3,000 non-DoD support personnel.

I’m sure all ranks from private on up can be found working at the Pentagon.

According to Wiki, the Nuclear Football is carried by commissioned ranks of pay grade 0-4 or up, which is equivalent to a Major in the Army, Marines, or Air Force, or Lieutenant Commander in the Navy or Coast Guard. Therefore it could be carried by a Navy Captain (O-6) but not an Army Captain (O-3).

5

I thought The Puzzle Palace was a term used for The NSA?

6

Right. It’s the title of a book about the NSA.

7

All ranks work in the Pentagon. It just isn’t feasible, or even desirable, to have an organization entirely staffed by Field Grade officers. Also, every General officer is going to have a Captain that follows them around as aide-de-camp.

I’m sure the Joint Chiefs get briefings from many different ranks. I have never dealt with them personally, but I do have some experience with Generals. I met General Daniel Allyn when he was a two-star at First Cav. He would receive briefings from junior enlisted Specialists and PFCs and ask them their opinions on certain subjects, because he genuinely wanted to know what they thought. Nice guy.

8

Read it when it first came out.

9

Many captains (O-3, as in a solder, airman or Marine who has been an officer for a few years, as opposed to a Navy O-6 captain, who has been an officer for roughly 20 years) work in the Pentagon.

Sure, it is possible that a captain would brief the Joint Chiefs of Staff on something, but it is much more likely that a more senior officer would lead any briefing, with the captain being a back-bencher, or subject matter expert (“SME”) to fill in details if the senior officer happens to be only two questions deep on a particular subject.

As mentioned before, no, a captain would not carry the Football.