One public servant...

Defense spending is so over the top out of control it's hard to comprehend the numbers. If Congress cut defense spending in half we would still have a larger defense budget than the next 5 countries combined. I don't see how anyone who calls themselves a fiscal conservative can defend that. Somehow I don't think the "neo-cons" are going to listen to Gates.
 
Can't fault anything you say there...

He certainly deserves his retirement into private life but it would be great if he were around to shepard a transformation of the DoD. I can't think of too many individuals in public service who command as much deserved respect as Gates. Very sorry to see him go. He is an example of a type of conservative who is becoming almost extinct-moderate, hard headed, quietly patriotic. I guess that is out of fashion today.:sigh:
 
Not the only one

Rumsfeld and William Perry before him tried to cut spending in places. The congressional representatives from the districts where the weapons are produced typically won't stand for it (see Crusader artillery). Perry did a good thing with electronics purchases: it used to be that paperwork had to be filled out to NOT buy electronics that weren't made to MIL-spec (typically 10x to 100x the cost), now paperwork has to be filled out TO buy electronics to MIL-spec.
 
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Matthew said:
Defense spending is so over the top out of control it's hard to comprehend the numbers. If Congress cut defense spending in half we would still have a larger defense budget than the next 5 countries combined. I don't see how anyone who calls themselves a fiscal conservative can defend that. Somehow I don't think the "neo-cons" are going to listen to Gates.
Click to expand...

I totally agree. I grew up as a military brat with a career Navy Pilot as a dad, went into the Naval Aviation program after Officer training myself after college yet I'm appalled at the cubic cash our country drops on defense. Tapering it down to something near 1/2 its current amount has to be in the future budget plans.
 
Let's hope so....

Our hammer is too big and everything is starting too look like a nail in foreign policy. Gates did not want us involved in Libya and he was right. Whatever the validity of the rebel cause-it's their country and on Europe's doorstep. We should wish them all well, smuggle some arms in and just stay away-for once, just once, let someone else worry about and pay for it.
 
Well, I think....

Rupert Murdoch hears wht he wants to hear. And, I don't think Gates is saying to gut the Pentagon-he is a old line Republican after all but he has been advocating a more rational threat assessment policy and tailoring our expenditures to that rather than continuing to assume the unlikely battlefield scenarios that driven so much weapons procurement. His value to an administration that was committed to deep cuts in the defense budget would be in balancing money against actual effectiveness. If there is not a credible voice at DoD saying that the cuts will not undermine our security then the cuts won't be made.
 
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