U.S. Must Sustain Military Might, Gates Says
(November 19, 2010) | 
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Defense Secretary
Robert M. Gates, right, answers questions from
Gerald F. Seib, the Wall Street Journal's
executive Washington editor, before a large
audience at the newspaper's CEO Council in
Washington, D.C., Nov. 16, 2010. The interview
focused on upcoming budget cuts within the
department. Seib also is the Wall Street
Journal's assistant managing editor. DOD photo
by R. D. Ward |
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WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2010 – Even in a time of
budgetary constraints, the United States must
maintain its military might to address the
security challenges of today and the future,
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today.
"Given the security challenges that the U.S. is
likely to face around the world -- and the
unfortunate reality that most of our allies are
reducing their militaries -- the burdens on us
and the security challenges are going to remain
unchanged and potentially even increase in the
future -- therefore, the need to sustain force
structure," he said.
Speaking at the Wall Street Journal's CEO
Council here, Gates said he is sympathetic to
the challenges caused by the federal deficit,
but warned against drastic cuts to the military.
"If you cut the defense budget by 10 percent -- |
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which would be catastrophic in terms of force structure -
that's $55 billion out of a $1.4 trillion deficit,” he said.
“We are not the problem." |
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The secretary addressed recommendations from the National Commission on Fiscal
Responsibility and Reform, which has recommended cutting defense procurement by
15 percent and its research and development by 10 percent. The commission also
recommended freezing non-combat military and civilian pay. President Barack
Obama appointed Erskine Bowles and former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson to co-chair the
panel in April. They presented their report last week.
Gates called the commission's recommendation to slash the defense budget "math,
not strategy.”
“Frankly, the idea that Defense would take half of the cut in discretionary
spending, particularly given what we're trying to do in terms of preserving
security, is a problem,” he said.
The secretary has launched his own initiative to cut overhead costs and allow
the services to keep the savings to re-invest in the needs of troops. The
department needs to maintain about 3 percent real growth in capabilities in
order to sustain the present force structure, he said.
"What we are trying to do in the Department of Defense is figure out how you
kill programs that aren't working,” Gates said. “How do we develop the broadest
capabilities for the widest range of scenarios, and sustain the strength this
country needs? That means going in with a scalpel instead of a meat axe and
figure out how we do business."
Gates said he aims to take $100 billion out of overhead – the “tail” -- and
re-invest it in the "tooth side" of the department. He said he's gotten the
cooperation of the services by reassuring them that they can re-invest the
savings. "So what the Navy finds in savings, they can apply to ship building,”
he said. “The same way with the other services."
The secretary also said he hopes to find between $15 billion and $20 billion in
savings outside of the military services that he can then reinvest in the
services. "I think that has incentivized the services to really look very hard
at the way they do business," he said. "This isn't a matter of doing the same
things we're doing with 10 percent less money. It's figuring out new ways to do
business."
Gates also addressed some of the security threats the nation faces today and may
face in the future.
On Afghanistan, the secretary addressed media reports of tension between
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and U.S. and NATO leaders. “President Karzai
is our partner,” he said. “He will be the president of Afghanistan until his
second term is out in 2014. We will continue to partner with him through this
conflict.”
Gates said he believes Karzai's recent comments about increasing Afghan control
of security shows the leader's frustrations with three decades of war. “I think
President Karzai is reflecting the impatience of a country that's been at war
for 30 years,” he said.
“I think what President Karzai was articulating was the desire to see
Afghanistan get to the point where... it was in the 1950s and '60s when the
primary American presence was a development presence. We were building roads; we
were putting in irrigation systems,” he said.
“We share that desire,” he added. “The problem is, we can't get from here to
there tomorrow.”
Gates said he expects NATO to address the issue of transitioning security to the
Afghans at its summit in Lisbon later this week. NATO “probably will embrace
President Karzai's own stated goal of having a transition of responsibility for
security complete by 2014,” he said.
The secretary added that Afghan security forces already are playing a
significant role in their country's security. In one of the most aggressive
operations, in Kandahar, Afghans account for 60-75 percent of the security
forces and are leading the operation, he said.
On Pakistan, Gates said the government has exceeded his expectations in its
decision to focus its military on the Taliban insurgency. “If you had told me
two years ago that Pakistan would have 140,000 troops on its western border
fighting the Taliban and the various other terrorist groups that are in that
area, I would have thought that impossible,” he said.
“If you had told me again two years ago that they would have occupied Swat and
south Waziristan and be going after these people, be working with us, and
partnering with us as we coordinate on both sides of the border, I would have
thought that was a reach,” he said.
Gates said he believes Pakistan changed course against the Taliban because of
strategic discussions with U.S. and NATO leaders that have built a relationship
of trust and a “common understanding of the mutual threats that we face.”
On Yemen, Gates said that country, as well as Somalia and other parts of north
Africa, have become terrorist havens as operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan
have caused the terrorist movement to “metasticize” to other areas. The United
State's best tool in Yemen is forming a partnership with the government so it
can defeat terrorism in its own country.
“We don't need another war,” he said. “The Yemenis have shown a willingness to
go after al Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula. They're working with us, with the
Saudis, and with others.
“One of the big themes over the last couple of years for us has been what we
call building partnership capacity, which is giving them the equipment and the
training so they can do the job themselves,” he added. “This is the theme behind
a lot of our efforts in Africa as well as in the Middle East. That's our best
tool.”
On Iran, Gates said the world must keep political and economic pressure on the
country to keep it from developing a nuclear weapons program. “The only
long-term solution in avoiding an Iranian nuclear weapons capability is for the
Iranians to decide it's not in their interest,” he said. “Everything else is a
short-term solution, is a two-to-three year solution.”
The secretary said he believes the current sanctions have been much harder on
Iran than its leaders anticipated, and that they are “having an impact.”
Gates said he does not believe a “military solution” is the right way to deal
with Iran. “If it's a military solution, as far as I'm concerned, it will bring
together a divided nation,” he said. “It will only make them absolutely
committed to obtaining nuclear weapons and they will just go deeper and more
covert. So I think the political-economic strategy is the one that we have to
continue to pursue and ratchet up and create an exit for them.”
If Iran builds confidence with the United Nations “then there is a way out of
the box they've gotten themselves in,” he said.
Turning to China, Gates noted that from their first meeting, President Barack
Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintau have recognized the need to develop the
military-to-military relationship between the two nations. Gates said he
believes the importance of this relationship is driving the Chinese president's
plans to visit the United States next year, and why he received an invitation to
visit Beijing early next year.
“I'm hopeful that in addition to exercises and joint efforts in humanitarian
assistance, disaster relief ... that we can broaden this relationship to a
strategic dialogue so we get a better understanding of each other's strategic
intentions, the way we see the world and so on,” the secretary said.
(AFPS Writer Jim Garamone contributed to this report | |
By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2010
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