Here's some unpublished Democratic insider info, so take it for what its worth (dubious at best, but perhaps true anyways). Regardless of whether Obama or Hillary was going to win (that is moot now), a cadre of DNC insiders have already been getting a number of high-level VIPs through the clearance process so that if selected they can be quickly inserted to key positions in the DoD, State Department and Homeland Security.
One name that apparently has garnered significant interest is John Hamre. Hamre was the DEPSECDEF in the second term of the Clinton administration, and was the Comptroller for the DoD from 1993 to 1997. There are even indications that he might be having informal meetings with the current DoD leadership to aid in transition issues.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_HamreThe interesting thing about this pick from my standpoint is Hamre's focus on the acquisition process. If Hamre is indeed selected, we can expect an approach to DoD very similar to what Rumsfeld was originally purported to do: to re-engineer the department of defense in significant ways. Meaning Hamre's specialty is going to be more on the business processes than the warfare. This also implies that the DEPSECDEF will probably be more warfare focused, which is the reverse of current DEPSECDEF, Gordon England, who is the business manager to Gates' warfare focus.
And considering Hamre's focus is not operations, this would send a message that our time in Iraq is truly limited, and that now we need to conduct a real revamping of the way DoD is organized. And while this isn't a high-profile fantasy football type pick like a Chuck Hagel might be, I think it indicates that competence may be returning to our government.
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