Robert Gates on Military Spending

A War Within

"Having been Army chief of staff after Marshall, Eisenhower knew the Pentagon and how to tame its appetites, but few presidents since have been so wise or lucky. In conversation with NEWSWEEK, (Robert) Gates was frank about the challenge he faces in forcing what Eisenhower called the “military-industrial complex” to adjust to the new budget realities. Since 9/11, 'what little discipline existed in the Defense Department when it came to spending has gone completely out the window,' he says. He is measured but scathing in his judgment: 'I concluded that our headquarters and support bureaucracies, military and civilian alike, have swelled to cumbersome and top-heavy proportions, grown overreliant on contractors, and grown accustomed to operating with little consideration to cost.'"

Reading these statements about, and by Robert Gates gave me pause.  I was reminded of how many times I have heard the phrase "At any cost," since 9/11.  Some members of the American public have realized for a long time that this "cost" has far exceeded what we expected, or accepted.  Both economically, and in terms of our freedoms, we have paid dearly.

I was also reminded of one of my other posts, Why Do We Need Contractors?  Like Mr. Gates, I questioned our over-reliance on highly paid mercenaries. 

"He would fight the military establishment’s preoccupation with 'next-waritis,' as he calls it, to see that the young people in combat got what they needed." 

Instead of focusing upon the current war, the Pentagon has developed a habit of  obsessively preparing for the future.  Gates tried to rectify this trend, forcing funds away from the newest, coolest gadgets towards tools actually useful to the guys and gal on the ground today.  In 2009, "Gates cut or eliminated 20 high-profile weapons, averting by DOD reckoning some $330 billion in future spending."

He plans to make further cuts to the administrative side of the Pentagon.  "'In 1948, when the Cold War began, the secretary of defense had a deputy and a staff of three supervising 50 employees; today, he has 26 political appointees running a staff of 3,000.'"

Unlike his predecessor, Gates is not afraid to bring out the ax.  "Rumsfeld raged, but, in six years, fired only one senior official. Gates, in less than four years, has fired at least 14 senior officers or officials, including a chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; two service secretaries; an Air Force chief of staff; and the commander of allied forces in Afghanistan."

Yet, even with all of these cuts, "[h]is deepest fear is that budget politics will gut the military."  His message doesn't seem to be don't spend, but rather spend wiser.  "Whatever the forces save in cuts from their 'tail,' they can keep to spend on their 'teeth'—the soldiers, sailors, and airmen who are on the front lines, in the air wings, and in the fleet."