WASHINGTON, June 29, 2007 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today he refuses to accept that improvised explosive devices are an uncontrollable challenge, and he urged private industry members today to produce Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, known as MRAPs, quickly and in greater numbers to counter this threat. “We absolutely are not accepting (IED attacks) as a challenge that can’t be defeated,” Gates said during a Pentagon news conference with Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, at his side. The secretary said he was briefed this week on how quickly MRAP vehicles, which...
