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Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates frequently makes the point that Congress funds Defense Department personnel far more easily than it does State Department employees. "There are about 6,000 FSOs," or Foreign Service officers, he told an audience in San Francisco this month. He drew laughter when he added that former secretary of state "Condi Rice used to say, 'We have more people in military bands than they have in the Foreign Service.' She was not far wrong." Well, maybe Gates should take a closer look at those military bands during his campaign to trim defense spending. My interest was triggered...

Sec. Gates's exit sparks talk of Hillary Clinton taking over at the Pentagon. Speculation in the nation's capital on who will replace Robert Gates at the Pentagon has centered on an intriguing possibility: Hillary Clinton. Gates told Foreign Policy magazine that he wants to step down as secretary of Defense sometime in 2011. A Republican, Gates was the only member of President George W. Bush’s Cabinet to stay on under Obama. “It would be a mistake to wait until January 2012 [to leave],” Gates said. “This is not the kind of job you want to fill in the spring of...

Virginia officials reacted with bipartisan dismay on Monday to Defense Department budget shifts that will cost the state thousands of jobs in coming years and will dramatically impact the economies of the Norfolk area and Northern Virginia. Most of the immediate reaction revolved around Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates's proposal to close the U.S. Joint Forces Command. It is a major employer in Hampton Roads, including Norfolk and Virginia Beach, whose elimination could translate into the loss of 6,100 military, civilian and contractor jobs in the region. But a proposal to slash the Pentagon's budget for military contractors over the...

WASHINGTON -- Officials briefed on the decision say Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to eliminate a major military command in Norfolk, Va., and try to cut the Pentagon's use of outside contractors by 10 percent next year. The plan was to be announced at a Pentagon press conference on Monday. It is part of a broader effort to trim $100 billion from the military's mammoth budget in the next five years, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan begin to wind down and Congress turns its attention more to domestic priorities.

All that mattered Wednesday was the mission. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal deserved to be fired for the contemptuous remarks that he and members of his staff made to a reporter about President Obama and his national security team. But Obama would have been justified in sticking with McChrystal if, in the president's estimation, firing General Loose Lips would have done significant harm to the mission -- achieving our nation's goals in Afghanistan. Fortunately, Obama struck on a way to do what's best for the United States -- reaffirm the primacy of civilian command over the military -- without compromising the...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates will recommend that Gen. James Amos become the next commandant of the Marine Corps, according to a report in Tuesday's Washington Post. The newspaper quoted an anonymous military source saying that Gates passed over former Camp Pendleton Gen. James Mattis as well as Lt. Gen. Joseph Dunford, head of the base's I Marine Expeditionary Force. The newspaper said that Gates would submit the Amos nomination to President Barack Obama in a few days, and that he also will recommend that Dunford be elevated to assistant commandant. Amos, currently assistant commandant, would be the first commandant to...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has signaled that the long-awaited and seriously over-budget Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) may be the next high-profile project scrapped — the latest in a series of moves meant to streamline the Pentagon’s budget and refocus the military on future challenges. The EFV, an amphibious armored troop transport, was designed to replace the tired AAV-7A1, a 1970s-era vehicle that has had its service life extended several times as the Marine Corps has sought a replacement. Both vehicles occupy a specific niche that few vehicles in the world can (or try) to match. They are purpose-designed to transport...

In his first speech to the Navy League, Defense Secretary Robert Gates laid out a grim portrait of a smaller fleet, one with fewer aircraft carriers, few or no new submarines and a sharply curtailed expeditionary capability for the Marines. Gates told a somber audience today that he did “not foresee any significant top-line increases in the shipbuilding budget beyond current assumptions. At the end of the day, we have to ask whether the nation can really afford a Navy that relies on $3 to $6 billion destroyers, $7 billion submarines, and $11 billion carriers.” On top of that, as...

It was one of the most significant developments in the Obama presidency. We refer to the leak last week of an explosive top secret memo sent in January by the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to President Obama's national security adviser, Gen. James L. Jones, deploring the lack of planning concerning Iranian nuclear aspirations should the administration's much ballyhooed outreach approach fail. In itself, the memo's conclusion is nothing less than stunning - a senior official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, characterized the document as "a wake-up call." Yet the very fact that this highly classified analysis was leaked...

CSPAN video featuring Defense Secretary Gates on revamping the US Export Control System in a very big way. The video may be viewed Here

WASHINGTON, March 2, 2010 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today released the guidelines and parameters of a Defense Department review of the so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law in preparation for its potential repeal. The 10-month review should include input from service chiefs and all levels of the force and their families, Gates said in a memo to Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, commander of U.S. Army Europe, who was chosen to head the effort along with Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon’s top lawyer. Gates established the review Feb. 2, saying it would be critical to ensuring a smooth transition...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2010 – Female sailors will begin serving on submarines by the end of next year, with Naval Academy graduates leading the way, Navy leaders told a Senate committee yesterday. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Navy is in a good position to move forward with integrating women onto submarines. “We think we learned a lot about integrating women in the services years ago, and those lessons are relevant today,” Mabus said. Those lessons, he said, include having a “critical mass” of female candidates, having senior women to serve as mentors, and...

Women to Serve on Subs, Gates Tells Congress By Donna Miles American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Feb. 23, 2010 - The Navy plans to repeal its ban on women serving on submarines, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has informed Congress. Gates signed a letter Feb. 19 informing Congress of the Navy's plan to lift the policy, which it intends to do through the phased-in assignment of women to submarines, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell confirmed today. The secretary endorsed the plan, the brainchild of Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, Morrell said. No change can take effect until Congress has been in...

Obama's Outreach to Iran Unprecedented, Gates Says The Obama White House has gone further than any administration to reach out to Iran, and is disappointed with the response, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday. The Islamic Republic announced Tuesday that it began enriching uranium to 20 percent purity level in defiance of world powers but under the supervision of inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Iranian state media reported. Gates on Tuesday called the move "disappointing" and said Tehran is violating a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and is refusing to sign off on an IAEA-brokered deal that would allow Tehran to...

As the Military begins to move from “Don’t ask, don’t tell” to take your Christian White Anglo-Saxon American values and go to hell. One thing that becomes quite apparent, and that is president Soetoro is right; we are no longer a Christian nation. (see 17sec. video) President Soetoro has pressed the reset button on a classic cultural war in America. Sensing that his domestic policies are in serious jeopardy Soetoro fell back to a stock Liberal ideology which is meant to stir up his base—homosexuality. It is absolutely fascinating to see the big lumbering politically correct ...

Related Story: Mention of gay troops in State of the Union offers little clarity to path ahead WASHINGTON — Military commanders will look for ways to stop enforcing the controversial “don’t ask, don’t tell” law but could still take years to fully get rid of it, according to a plan outlined by Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gates said he will establish a panel to examine how to repeal the military’s ban on openly gay troops, with a goal of creating an implementation plan by the end of the year. The...

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen will testify next week on the repeal of a controversial law preventing openly gay people from serving in the military. The Senate Armed Services Committee announced Thursday that Gates and Mullen will testify Tuesday on repealing the 1993 law, commonly known “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” President Barack Obama on Wednesday renewed his commitment to repeal the law, but supporters say the real test will come this spring with the Pentagon budget.

Pentagon to detail new "don't ask, don't tell" steps 6:33pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon will unveil initial steps next week to lay the ground for an eventual repeal of its "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which permits gays to serve in uniform as long they hide their sexual orientation, officials said on Thursday. President Barack Obama has called for action this year, increasing pressure on a reluctant U.S. military to begin taking steps in advance of any repeal that could include sensitivity training for troops to reduce resistance to gays serving openly in the future. But Pentagon officials...

Pentagon Whitewash [Bill Bennett] There are devastating and important things happening in the news. Lest we forget, though: We are still in a war against Islamic Terrorism. And it still happens in America. November is not so far away that it deserves forgetting or whitewashing: An Arab terrorist named Nidal Hasan went to a health-care center, in a fort — at an Army base — in Texas, and opened fire killing 14 people while he shouted "Allahu Akbar." But you would not know this if you read the Pentagon Report on the massacre released Friday. Titled, "Protecting the Force: Lessons...

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently indicated the U.S. Air Force is likely going to receive funding set aside for a new long-range bomber, according to media reports. In April, Gates cut several high-profile projects, which led to Air Force officials being disappointed that funding for the bomber could have vanished. However, the bomber program is expected to receive at least $1 billion, with the number expected to significantly increase in the years to come. "We are probably going to proceed with a long-range strike initiative coming out of the Quadrennial Defense Review and various other reviews going on," Gates...