Robert Gates makes a bold move

The Boston Globe reports that Defense Secretary Robert Gates is going to do the unthinkable. He is going to end costly, high-tech military programs in an effort to cut Defense Department waste, and to shift focus from gadgets to boots on the ground. This is an extraordinary move, and may be the most potent assault on Eisenhower's "military industrial complex" since Ike left office.

The country is broke. We can't keeps spending like we did. But the Military loves their toys, and nobody wants to appear soft on defense. However, now it's pretty obvious that our current enemy is decidedly low tech. So there is no real use in spending money for new jets and destroyers. But I never expected to see a Secretary of Defense reach that conclusion, and I am very pleased that ours did.

Our Navy has not fought a sea battle since World War II. Our cruisers and destroyers have not fired a shot in anger for decades. Aircraft carriers can at least deliver fighters to a theater, but only if that war zone is near enough to an ocean. But if Iraq is any indication, "air cover" is less of an issue because there is nothing to bomb. Insurgents don't present a united front. They don't charge your fort like Indians in a John Wayne movie. The only aircraft that makes sense are helicopters that can swoop in and get your guys the hell out of there. Everybody in the military knows this. But for the Defense Secretary to actually shut down military projects is extraordinary.

Robert Gates took the world's worst job, at a time when it was guaranteed to get worse. He never grandstanded or engaged in subterfuge. When a new administration from the other party asked him to stay on, he did. He has done the best he could with the awful hand that was dealt him, and he has done it with class. But this latest decision is, I think, his bravest. Defense contractors have armies of lobbyists. The Spam has not yet hit the fan. But I think the time is right for this. And I think that the savings will help soften the blow of this, the worst financial year in many generation.

Thank you, Robert Gates, for doing the hard thing.