Gates Pledges “Active” Role as Obama Defense Secretary

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Tuesday that he had no intention of being a “caretaker” at the Pentagon and that he agreed with what he termed President-elect Barack Obama’s “responsible drawdown” plan for American combat troops from Iraq.

The defense secretary did not explicitly endorse Mr. Obama’s campaign pledge to withdraw all combat troops within 16 months.

Instead, Mr. Gates said he supported the broad outlines of Mr. Obama’s Iraq strategy and gave indications that he and the president-elect could reach common ground on troop withdrawals over the next year.

Read the full article at NYT

Gates Envisions Quicker Iraq Withdrawal

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Defense Secretary Robert Gates is walking a political tightrope between contradictory policy positions of his current and future bosses. Deviating from the Bush administration position he long upheld, Gates recently suggested he is open to a 16-month withdrawal timetable from Iraq and a speedy closure of the Guantanamo detention center for terrorist suspects.

Read the full Boston Globe article

When Will Obama Reveal National Security Strategy?

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Pentagon observers disagree on how soon President-elect Barack Obama’s team will develop its new national security strategy and whether his administration will have time to conduct a new, sweeping national security review before completing the Pentagon’s 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, reports Inside Defense.

By law, Obama is required to submit a comprehensive national security strategy report within 150 days of taking office. A Defense Department briefing slide reviewed by Inside the Pentagon suggests the new team might develop high-level planning guidance next spring, followed by a new national security strategy next summer. In early 2010, the Obama team’s first QDR report would be issued, along with a National Defense Strategy and National Military Strategy, according to the slide.

Full report at Inside Defense (paid subscription required)

Pentagon Wary of Fast Iraq Withdrawal

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President-elect Barack Obama is facing an early confrontation with the Pentagon over the hot-button issue of how fast to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq, with some senior officers arguing for a slower drawdown.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that the withdrawal should be driven solely by conditions on the ground in Iraq. The statement ran counter to Mr. Obama’s frequent calls for a fixed timetable for a drawdown.

“I do think it’s important that it be conditions-based,” Adm. Mullen said. “I certainly understand there are other options, and it’s something that we look at all the time. But…from the military’s perspective, I think it’s best to be conditions-based.” Adm. Mullen, the nation’s top uniformed military officer, was quick to stress that he would carry out whatever orders he received from the new president next year. Still, the comments suggested that Mr. Obama may face a military establishment that deeply disagrees with one of his core policies.

Brooke Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Obama transition team, said the president-elect remains committed to withdrawing all U.S. combat forces within 16 months of taking office.

The comments from Adm. Mullen came a day after the Iraqi cabinet approved a long-debated security pact that would require U.S. forces to leave all of Iraq’s cities by next summer in preparation for a full military withdrawal by the end of 2011. Read the complete WSJ article

Mullen: Exit dates in Iraq deal not a problem

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The chairman of the Joint Chiefs confirmed Monday that the new U.S. agreement with Iraq calls for all U.S. troops to be completely out of Iraq by the end of 2011 and that he is “comfortable” with the deal.

“It is my understanding that the 2011 date [means] all American forces [must be] out,” said Navy Adm. Mike Mullen.

The specifics of the agreement have not been publicly released, although the Associated Press reports that the SOFA includes a Dec. 31, 2011 pullout date for all the roughly 151,000 U.S. troops in the country and that it is scheduled for a Nov. 24 vote.

The AP has also reported that according to the agreement, U.S. troops must be out of all Iraqi villages and towns by June 30, 2009. Asked at a Pentagon press conference whether that was his understanding, Mullen did not correct the date and, noting that a number of Iraqi provinces have already been turned over to ISF control, said such a shift is “consistent with how we have moved.”

Mullen said he is “delighted” that the Status of Forces Agreement Read the entire Army Times article

Pentagon Proposes $581 Billion FY-10 Budget to Obama Transition Team

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The Office of the Secretary of Defense is recommending to President-elect Barack Obama’s Pentagon transition team a fiscal year 2010 budget of $581 billion, a significant topline increase that does not include any funding for war costs in Iraq and Afghanistan, reports InsideDefense.com.

The FY-10 budget proposal prepared by OSD includes $117 billion for weapon systems modernization. That number encompasses $14 billion proposed this summer to speed Air Force and Navy buys of the Joint Strike Fighter, “stabilize the industrial base” and accelerate purchases of capabilities that are top priorities of commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan — intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance technologies, a senior Pentagon official told InsideDefense.com.
Read the full report  at Inside Defense.com (paid subscription required)

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Retired US Army General Barry McCaffrey is providing professional advice to the Obama transition team. Two vital points he’s made:

The most pressing contribution for the incoming Obama administration is not ending the Iraq war or planning a way ahead for combat in Afghanistan, but creating a military that is “appropriate” for the next two decades. And

The greatest contribution that the Obama administration can make in the defense arena is engaging in open debate about a long-term national defense strategy which should include modernizing a “falling apart” Navy to conduct nuclear deterrence in the Pacific.

Read the details at www.defensenewsstand.com (paid subscription required)

Military Space Portfolio Safe Under Obama Administration?

Space programs should be safe from possible defense spending cuts under an Obama administration, though some high-profile programs that have suffered numerous delays with immature technology could be in jeopardy, military analysts told Inside the Air Force. (paid subscription required)

Obama Could Curtail the Role of USAF’s Nuclear Bomber Fleet

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With President-elect Barack Obama intent on continuing the Bush administration’s plans to shrink the U.S. nuclear stockpile, that drawdown could significantly curtail the role that the Air Force’s nuclear bomber fleet plays in future deterrence strategies, according to Air Force Secretary Michael Donley.

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Boots on the Ground or Weapons in the Sky?

Budget Crunch Forces U.S. Military to Choose Which Form of Defense to Pursue; This-War-Itis vs. Next-War-Itis

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For years, the military has been roiled by a heated internal debate over what kind of wars it should prepare to fight.

One faction, led by a host of senior officers, favors buying state-of-the-art weapons systems that would be useful in a traditional conflict with a nation like Russia or China. The other side, which includes Defense Secretary Robert Gates, believes the military should prepare for grinding insurgencies that closely resemble the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The dispute has long been largely academic, since the soaring defense budgets in the years since the September 2001 terror attacks left plenty of money for each side’s main priorities.

That is beginning to change, a casualty of the widening global financial crisis.

Read the entire article at The Wall Street Journal.