Something About Bob
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is a pro. He is sharp, insightful, and decisive. He has a vision for the U.S. Department of Defense and is not afraid to tackle difficult challenges–or threaten institutional golden-calves–to achieve it.
He is also a strategist, in the purest sense of that word.
In November of last year, Gates gave an important speech at Kansas State University. He noted the institutions that had been created in 1947 to fight and win the Cold War and lamented the lack of similar innovation today. He noted the many things that only the Department of Defense can do today, and he urged greater resources be devoted to other agencies of government to increase their capacity. He said:
. . . my message today is not about the defense budget or military power. My message is that if we are to meet the myriad challenges around the world in the coming decades, this country must strengthen other important elements of national power both institutionally and financially, and create the capability to integrate and apply all of the elements of national power to problems and challenges abroad. In short, based on my experience serving seven presidents, as a former Director of CIA and now as Secretary of Defense, I am here to make the case for strengthening our capacity to use “soft” power and for better integrating it with “hard” power.
One of the most important lessons of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is that military success is not sufficient to win: economic development, institution-building and the rule of law, promoting internal reconciliation, good governance, providing basic services to the people, training and equipping indigenous military and police forces, strategic communications, and more – these, along with security, are essential ingredients for long-term success. Accomplishing all of these tasks will be necessary to meet the diverse challenges I have described.
So, we must urgently devote time, energy, and thought to how we better organize ourselves to meet the international challenges of the present and the future – the world you students will inherit and lead.
We couldn’t have put it much better.
Then Gates did something unexpected. A sitting-Secretary of Defense publicly advocated for increased spending on the non-defense elements of national power:
What is clear to me is that there is a need for a dramatic increase in spending on the civilian instruments of national security – diplomacy, strategic communications, foreign assistance, civic action, and economic reconstruction and development. Secretary Rice addressed this need in a speech at Georgetown University nearly two years ago. We must focus our energies beyond the guns and steel of the military, beyond just our brave soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen. We must also focus our energies on the other elements of national power that will be so crucial in the coming years. [Emphasis added.]
Now, I am well aware that having a sitting Secretary of Defense travel halfway across the country to make a pitch to increase the budget of other agencies might fit into the category of “man bites dog” – or for some back in the Pentagon, “blasphemy.” It is certainly not an easy sell politically. And don’t get me wrong, I’ll be asking for yet more money for Defense next year.
Still, I hear all the time from the senior leadership of our Armed Forces about how important these civilian capabilities are. In fact, when Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen was Chief of Naval Operations, he once said he’d hand a part of his budget to the State Department “in a heartbeat,” assuming it was spent in the right place.
The next president, whoever that may be, will have to grapple with how to re-balance our investment in national security. I’m not suggesting that diplomacy and defense should receive the same funding–defense inherently costs more. But as Secretary of Gates observed, DOD spends more each year on health-care than the entire budget of the State Department.
