By Emelie Rutherford
Pentagon watchdog Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) said yesterday he will not run for reelection to a second term in 2012.
Webb, a former Navy secretary and combat Marine in Vietnam, has kept a close eye on naval issues while serving on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC).
He has spoken out on debates regarding the Pentagon’s moves to shutter U.S. Joint Forces Command in Suffolk, Va., and relocate a nuclear aircraft carrier from a homeport of Norfolk, Va., to Mayport, Fla. And he often has defended the roles of the Navy and Marine Corps.
Webb, for example, criticized Defense Secretary Robert Gates last spring after he gave a speech questioning the need for naval capabilities including 11 carrier strike groups and the Marine Corps’ Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle.
“When someone says that there is a massive over-match between our Navy and other navies around the world, I think that’s a misstatement of why we have navies, or how different countries field military forces,” Webb said May 6, 2010. “You don’t field a navy to fight another navy. You field military forces to protect your essential national interests.”
Webb currently chairs the SASC’s Personnel Subcommittee.
In addition to Webb, Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I/D-Conn.), Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) have said recently they won’t run for reelection.