Gates Speaks on Modernizing the Military

Robert Gates speaks at the National Defense University, September 29 2008. DoD photo by Cherie Cullen. Secretary Gates delivered an important speech at the National Defense University yesterday, laying out a vision for the future of the military emphasizing a greater balance between conventional and unconventional priorities. Ann Scott Tyson summarizes one of the Secretary's key arguments, which seems to echo Thomas Barnett:

While having a military skilled in fighting major conventional ground wars is essential, Gates said, such a war is unlikely in the near future. Yet the Pentagon has placed comparatively too much emphasis on developing high-technology weapon systems aimed at potential state adversaries such as China or Russia that take years to develop, he said, noting that the 2009 budget contains more than $180 billion for such conventional systems. ... Gates predicted that in coming years the main threat faced by the U.S. military overseas will be a complex hybrid of conventional and unconverntional conflicts, waged by "militias, insurgent groups, other non-state actors and Third World militaries." "However," he said, "apart from the Special Forces community and some dissident colonels, for decades there has been no strong, deeply rooted constituency inside the Pentagon . . . for institutionalizing our capabilities to wage . . . irregular conflict." 

The speech was wide-ranging and touched on a number of other interesting issues, including Russia's motives ("what’s driving Russia is a desire to exorcise past humiliation and dominate their near abroad – not an ideologically driven campaign to dominate the globe") and the declining quantities of many types of military hardware ("Given that resources are not unlimited, the dynamic of exchanging numbers for capability is perhaps reaching a point of diminishing returns.").