10 Things You Didn’t Know About Robert Gates
President-elect Barack Obama named Gates defense secretary
Reader Comments
Gates......
Just compare Gates to Rumsfeld. No wait, that is not possible.
But it tells you the reason he was retained in the job by a Democrat.
He has (and is) doing a great job. Gates, not the current president.
WB
Mr Gates
I wish he and his staff would tell the truth about what is really wrong with the F-35 program. The flight test program is stalled, he just fired the two star program boss (you don't fire two stars because nothing is wrong) and the Navy is itching to back out of the program and will as soon as Gates leaves. He requires the uniformed chiefs to be silent on anything important - even makes them sign an affidavit. He fires anyone who has the audacity to disagree with him. Absolutely cannot get the acquisition system under control (wonder why a hammer costs $900? Have DoD or one of the services run to Lowes and pick it up for you. Not only will it cost $900, it will take 36 months, the requirements will change 35 times, the intelligence community will have to add their requirements, and all of a sudden you don't have a hammer any more; you have a sledge. Then the process is centralized and a committee of bureaucrats who have never held a hammer decide you really need a jack hammer. Comes time to sign the contract for the hammer but can't do that because the auditors have to take four months to make sure every i is dotted and every t is crossed. Of course they aren't. If they were we wouldn't need an audit agency. so the contract is re-written, time has passed, requirements changed again and off we go again. That $900 hammer has morphed into a $9M hammer and is under review on the Hill by a select committee and the whole project is canceled is a budget reduction exercise. Congress appropriates Defense money in October every year, well, nearly every year. It takes the services at least a year to issue a RFP, write a contract and twist someone in industry's arm to sign it.
Tell me again, why is he so great?
Robert Gates
Gates sounds like a the kind of thoughtful, level headed fiscally responsible individuals we need in government. We could use a president like him.
History
It does help to know your history to keep it from repeating it self. NOW thats alot of qualification.
Gates Career
During his confirmation hearings for Defense Secretary, Gates said that the Presidency of Texas A&M was "...the best job I ever had."
