Frank, or army chief as department head? (8,7)
I believe the answer is:
director general
'department head?' is the definition.
'director general' can be an answer for 'head?' (I have seen 'Head of organisation' mean 'director general' so perhaps 'head' could also mean 'director general'). I'm not certain of the 'department' bit.
'frank or army chief' is the wordplay.
'frank' becomes 'direct' (similar in meaning).
'army chief' becomes 'general' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'direct'+'or'+'general'='DIRECTOR-GENERAL'
'as' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for director general that I've seen before include "Head of organisation" , "chief executive" .)