Gates Wants Balanced Military

So Defense Secretary Robert Gate gave a talk Monday at the National Defense University where he said we need to do everything, a bunch of stuff, in order to win militarily. Naturally, I exaggerate and simplify, but, the AP story that I refer to, kind of does too. A quote from the first two paragraphs:

Defeating the enemies of tomorrow — from rogue nations to terror networks — will require a balanced and nimble military that can coax or confound an adversary as well as it can crush one. . . Gates said the Pentagon must have a broad range of capabilities, but should not try to buy its way out of every problem.

Among the things that need to be done:

• "Defense Department must learn to move with more speed and agility to field needed weapons and equipment"
• "a broad call for a more realistic defense strategy"
• "still must have the high-tech power to go toe-to-toe with superpowers"
• "must be a mix of high-end bombers, cyber-tactics and missile defense along with lower-end skills to train, communicate and build"
• "the Pentagon must not succumb to what he calls 'next-war-itis.'"

So, yeah, if this wasn't vague before the bullet points, maybe it is now.

-Dippold

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