My OperaCommitting Common Sense
Monday, May 10, 2010 6:11:15 PM
Gates acknowledged that many of his predecessors have tried and failed to do the same thing. But he said the U.S. force structure should be reviewed in "the wider, real-world context" and was probably out of scale to existing threats.
"For example, should we really be up in arms over a temporary projected shortfall of about 100 Navy and Marine strike fighters relative to the number of carrier wings, when America's military possesses more than 3,200 tactical combat aircraft of all kinds?" Gates asked. "Does the number of warships we have and are building really put America at risk when the U.S. battle fleet is larger than the next 13 navies combined, 11 of which belong to allies and partners? Is it a dire threat that by 2020 the United States will have only 20 times more advanced stealth fighters than China?"
Gates said defense spending was roughly twice the share of the U.S. economy in Eisenhower's day -- "but today, we face a very different set of American economic and fiscal realities."
"As a matter of principle and political reality, the Department of Defense cannot go to America's elected representatives and ask for increases each year unless we have done everything possible to make every dollar count," he said.
