Gen. Joseph W. Ralston   

Service: Air Force, retired in March; served as NATO's supreme allied commander Europe (2000-2003) and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1996-2000)

Other gigs: distinguished senior adviser for the Center for Strategic and International Studies; vice chair of The Cohen Group, an international strategic business consulting firm

Is paid by: CBS

The skinny: A straight shooter, Ralston doesn't see his job as second-guessing the Pentagon, saying it's too easy to "sit here in an air-conditioned office...and make some pronouncements that Gen. [Tommy] Franks is all screwed up on this and not doing it right."

The Pentagon is "very much on schedule and--and they're very pleased with where they are right now. Some people say, 'Well, how can you say that? There's been POWs, there's been casualties,' and those are regrettable, but those are not unexpected in a large operation."
("The Early Show," CBS, March 25)