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U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked Japan last week to export a new type of ship-based missile interceptor under joint development by Tokyo and Washington to third countries, presumably European, sources close to Japan-U.S. relations said. Gates' request could lead to a further relaxation of Japan's decades-long arms embargo and spark a chorus of opposition from pacifist elements in the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and one of its coalition partners, the Social Democratic Party. Gates made the request concerning Standard Missile-3 Block 2A missiles during talks with Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa on Wednesday, the sources said. The SM-3 Block...

With the U.S. defense chief in Seoul for security talks, a group of scholars and retired military officials have called for a redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea to counter North Korea's nuclear drive. They also urged the United States to delay the planned transfer of wartime control of South Korean troops to Seoul beyond 2012, citing lingering threats from the North. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Seoul Wednesday for the annual Security Consultative Meeting, which is focused on steps to deter military threats from North Korea. Gates and South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young were...

National Security: On the eve of a visit by China's No. 2 ranking military officer, the Obama administration loosens export controls on technology that will benefit Chinese missile development. It's deja vu all over again. The Pentagon has announced that Chinese Gen. Xu Caihou will visit the United States and meet with Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Oct. 26. Xu is vice chairman of the People's Liberation Army Central Military Commission. While here, Xu will visit American military installations around the U.S., including the U.S. Pacific Command. Perhaps Xu will bring with him a note of thanks for the administration's...

Why are we pouring lives and money into Afghanistan? Combat deaths passed Iraq’s in May; economic drain is expected to do likewise in 2010, in a landlocked, less than Texas-sized collection of mountains and desert. Over half the people live below the poverty line, 40% are unemployed and 80% percent who work are in agriculture on 6% of the land, of which 12% is farmable. Annual GDP per capita is about $800 per the available data. Yes, there is some oil, gas and minerals- but no roads or security for development. What is the attraction? It gets worse; the people...

Let me say, they sure as h*ll didn't have a problem with wanting to win in Copenhagen did they? I wonder what those mom and dads that have sons in Afghanistan think about what Gates said here....(Video)

THE top US military commander in Afghanistan has been effectively rebuked by President Barack Obama's man in the Pentagon for running a public campaign to back his request for more troops. Defence Secretary Robert Gates yesterday spoke out just days after General Stanley McChrystal declared any scaling back of operations in Afghanistan, such as that favoured by some White House officials, would be short-sighted. In a speech to the Association of the US Army, Dr Gates urged advisers to Mr Obama to keep their views on the deteriorating allied position in Afghanistan behind closed doors. "In this process, it is...

Here is video of Defense Secretary Robert Gates saying in a speech that whatever decision President Obama makes about what to do in Afghanistan, the military will "salute" and fall in line to implement his decision. Gates said Obama's decision will be one of the most important of his Presidency. . . . (VIDEO)

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Sunday denied any rift between the US military and the White House over the war in Afghanistan, and suggested a possible radical shift in strategy was unlikely. Asked if there was tension between military and civilian leaders over the pace of decision-making on the US-led mission, Gates said: "I don't think that's the case at all." Citing "an extensive conversation on the telephone" on Wednesday with the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, Gates said the military leader supported President Barack Obama's preference to take time to review...

Here is video of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates telling CNN's John King today that he does not believe there is a military option that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons! Gates says the military option would "only buy time" in preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons, maybe "one to three years." "The reality is, there is no military option that does anything more than buy time. The estimates are one to three years or so. And the only way you end up not having a nuclear-capable Iran is for the Iranian government to decide that their security is...

Security: An Iranian mullah once said "a world without America and Zionism" was a real possibility. Our sellout of Eastern Europe and missile defense brings that dream closer to reality. It would take only one warhead."Is it possible for us to witness a world without America and Zionism?" Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked at a "World Without Zionism" conference in Tehran in 2005. "But you had best know that this slogan and this goal are attainable, and surely can be achieved." He added that Iran had a strategic "war preparation plan" for what it called "the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization." A...

Security: As Defense Secretary Gates tours our missile defense site at Fort Greely, Alaska, Gov. Sarah Palin calls for restoration of the missile defense cuts. Meanwhile, North Korea points another missile at the U.S.

Alliances: The U.S. has expressed a willingness to barter away missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic. Now the Polish foreign minister says he hopes his country doesn't regret trusting the United States.The Brussels Forum is a privately organized high-level meeting of the most influential North American and European political, corporate and intellectual leaders to address pressing challenges currently facing both sides of the Atlantic. One of the pressing issues discussed at this year's conference was whether the U.S. is serious about bartering away plans for missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic in exchange for...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Somali pirates holding a hijacked ship off the coast of Somalia fired at a U.S. Navy helicopter as it made a surveillance flight over the vessel, the first such attack by pirates on an American military aircraft, the Navy said Thursday.

The state’s adjutant general of the South Dakota National Guard and Gov. Mike Rounds are among state leaders opposed to a Pentagon proposal involving control of how part-time military troops are used in any state. At the heart of the disagreement is who will command troops when they are sent to a particular state to deal with a hurricane, wildfire or other disaster. The military justifies a change in law as a natural extension of its use of federal forces. The governors see the Pentagon move as a strike at state sovereignty. Rounds agrees with the National Governors Association’s opposition...

Defense: The Air Force airborne laser program successfully completes a simulated kill from a plane able to find, track and destroy a live ballistic missile. We can shoot down enemy missiles. Instead, we're shooting down the laser program.The Aug. 10 effort was the third such test — sort of like a sniper sighting the target with the red dot of a laser without actually pulling the trigger. In early June, the airborne laser (ABL) program engaged two un-instrumented missiles. This was the first in-flight test against an instrumented target missile. A modified Boeing 747-400F aircraft took off from Edwards Air...

Defense: Overlooked in the defense budget cuts is the decimation of missile defense systems. As North Korea tested an ICBM, our defense secretary was scrapping a system that could have destroyed it with a single shot.We will miss the F-22 Raptor, perhaps the only plane that could evade the sophisticated S-300 surface-to-air missile defense system Russia is selling to Iran. Russia's S-300 system is "one of the most lethal, if not the most lethal, all-altitude area defense" systems, according to the International Strategy and Assessment Service, a Virginia-based think tank. But the aircraft we and the nation will miss the...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates was in Israel today trying to reassure Israel that the Obama administration was not naive about Iran's intentions, and Washington would press for new, tougher sanctions against the Iranians if they don't cooperate. On the other hand, Defense Minister Barak used a joint news conference with Gates to insist three times that Israel would not rule out any response—an implied warning that it would consider a pre-emptive strike to thwart Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. The public face of this meeting is a friendly talk between allies. But the background chatter is different. There has been...

Defense: By a narrow margin, a House subcommittee has voted to keep open the F-22 Raptor production line. The future of American air dominance and the fate of the world's most capable fighter hang in the balance.On May 30, with North Korea huffing and puffing about nuclear war, the first of 12 high-tech U.S. F-22 Raptor fighter jets landed at Kadena Air Base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. It was just days after North Korea unnerved the region by detonating a nuclear device. There were reasons the F-22 was deployed to Japan. The stealthy, radar-evading fighter jet is...

Without congressional intervention, the Air Force's ability to conduct air superiority missions will be increasingly at risk over the next three decades. President Obama's fiscal year (FY) 2010 defense budget request would stop production of the F-22A Raptor at just 187 aircraft and permanently shut down this production line.In reality, the F-22A program would actually end production at 186 fighters and not 187, because the March 2009 crash of an F-22 at Edwards Air Force Base involved a test aircraft not part of the official program of record. President Obama's decision to cap F-22A production at 186 fighters would in...

Congress is busying itself trying to overturn Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’s decision to stop producing the F-22 fighter. But President Barack Obama has threatened to veto a spending bill for the entire Defense Department if it contains a single F-22 over the 187 now authorized. Gates has said that, without a doubt, Obama should veto a bill that includes additional F-22s. The fact that there are doubts demonstrates the mess our defenses are in. The House committee wants to make a down payment on 12 more F-22s in 2011; the Senate committee wants seven more in 2010. The House...

As Defense Secretary Gates tours our missile defense site at Fort Greely, Alaska, Gov. Sarah Palin calls for restoration of the missile defense cuts. Meanwhile, North Korea points another missile at the U.S. Robert Gates' visit to our missile defense facility at Fort Greely on Monday was a pointed reminder to the North Koreans that while we have been talking softly, we still have a few big sticks in the ground ready to turn the North Korean missile program into so much scrap metal.

Defense: As we prepare to celebrate our independence, North Korea wants to remind us of Pearl Harbor. Fortunately, we can make use of assets dreamed of by Reagan and deployed by Bush to defend our 50th state. Japan's Yomiuri newspaper reported Thursday that North Korea would launch a long-range Taepodong-2 missile at Hawaii on or about July 4. This would be the anniversary of the first Taepodong-2 test on July 4, 2006. It would also mark the 15th anniversary of North Korean President Kim Il Sung's death.Those who know have stopped laughing at North Korea's increasingly credible nuclear and global...

North Korean nuclear program sign of 'dark future,' Pentagon chief says Sat May 30, 6:28 PM North Korea's progress in developing nuclear weapons is a "harbinger of a dark future," U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Saturday. Gates was speaking in Singapore at an annual meeting of defence and security officials. His comments follow North Korea's underground nuclear test last Monday, its short-range missile launches later in the week and its declarations about resuming its nuclear program. Gates said the North's nuclear program does not "at this point" represent a direct military threat to the United States and he does...

President Barack Obama sees his secretary of defense just about every day, but he still flubbed Robert Gates' name on Thursday. Gates was in the crowd for Obama's national security speech. Pointing him out, the president said "William Gates" was on hand.

NECN: Washington, D.C.) - President Barack Obama, preparing to give a speech on Bush administration interrogation techniques and the prospective closure of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, took a moment to share the names of the members of his cabinet that were in attendance. Except he got one wrong. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was in the crowd, but President Obama said that "William Gates" was on hand. Was that William Gates, as in the Microsoft billionaire? On Tuesday, Gates was introduced at a Pentagon ceremony as Ronald Gates. At the time, Gates joked that he had recently been introduced...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama sees his secretary of defense just about every day, but he still flubbed Robert Gates' name on Thursday. Gates was in the crowd for Obama's national security speech. Pointing him out, the president said "William Gates" was on hand. Perhaps Obama was thinking of Bill Gates, the Microsoft billionaire. The defense chief, who goes by Bob, was also misidentified at a Pentagon ceremony on Tuesday. Then, he was introduced as Ronald Gates.

Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, on Wednesday defended cuts to US missile defence programmes, saying Washington would still invest in boosting defences against long-range missile threats, like those posed by North Korea and Iran. Mr Gates told a House of Representatives subcommittee that the United States had made "great technological progress on missile defence" in the last two decades, but it was vital to strike a balance between research and development of new programs and procurement. He said the Pentagon had enough money from its fiscal 2009 budget to start building missile defence facilities in the Czech Republic and...

I think it's time for Gates to step down as Sec. Of Defense, clearly towing the Obama line of America making mistakes and being arrogant, Gates talks to the Obama supporter posing as a journalist Fareed Zakaria on Cnn. I don't think hinting at America's arrogance should come from the lips of a Defense Secretary when thousands of soldiers are away from home defending the lives of complete strangers...burns me up...

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said it could be difficult for the United States to add troops in Afghanistan beyond the 68,000 already approved, despite a top commander's call for a further 10,000 troops next year. President Barack Obama has approved a plan to more than double the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan to 68,000 troops by the end of 2009, up from about 32,000 in late December. There are also 32,000 troops there from other countries under NATO's International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF. The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Army General David McKiernan, has requested an additional...

....[T]here are three major changes [Robert] Gates should add to his agenda, and they deserve President Obama’s support. First, the Air Force should be eliminated, and its personnel and equipment integrated into the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. Second, the archaic “up or out” military promotion system should be scrapped in favor of a plan that treats service members as real assets. Third, the United States needs a national service program for all young men and women, without any deferments, to increase the quality and size of the pool from which troops are drawn. SNIP ....While Army, Marine and Navy...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a holdover from the Bush cabinet, told reporters that changing the US military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) policy is "very difficult", and that doing so could take years, or never happen at all, according to 365gay.com. Speaking at the Army War College, Gates said he and President Barack Obama were discussing the policy and whether to change it. Gates said he was not yet taking a position about whether gay troops should be open about their sexuality, which could lead to their discharge under the current rules. President Obama has made it part of...

Reporting from Carlisle Barracks, Pa. -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday that the Obama administration would move cautiously in shifting policies on gays serving openly in the military, but he signaled that service members should prepare for possible changes. In his most extensive remarks to date about the ongoing ban on gays who serve openly, Gates said he and other military leaders had "begun a dialogue" with President Obama about the issue. Obama promised during last year's presidential campaign to end the ban on gays in the military, and the White House said recently that it was reviewing...

EXCLUSIVE: Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates denied permission for the U.S. Northern Command to use the Pentagon's most powerful sea-based radar to monitor North Korea's recent missile launch, precluding officials from collecting finely detailed launch data or testing the radar in a real-time crisis, current and former defense officials said.

If the Iraqi and Afghan insurgents — and, now, the Somali pirates — have taught us anything, it's that the era of the "big war" is behind us. No one gets that more than our Secretary of Defense, argues a top global-security expert, and that's why his Pentagon overhaul will beat the backlash.When Bob Gates took over as Secretary of Defense at the end of 2006, he stated unequivocally that one of his primary goals would be to improve America's ability to perform in post-war environments — to better fight an insurgency, really. Cognizant that our military might in conventional,...

I haven't commented yet on Bob Gates's new defense agenda because I've been ambivalent about it. I still am, even after having gotten off a conference call between the defense secretary and some writers.He proposed many initiatives that make sense. These include spending an extra $2 billion on intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities including 50 new Predator-class unmanned aerial vehicles; $500 million more for helicopter operations; and $500 million for training and equipping foreign militaries to fight our mutual enemies. Other valuable increases include more Special Operations Forces, more cyberwarfare specialists, and more Littoral Combat Ships that are especially useful...

QUANTICO, Va., April 13, 2009 – The U.S. military’s rescue of a kidnapped American ship captain yesterday was “textbook,” but the issue of piracy is likely to worsen in the absence of a systemic solution, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today. Off the Somali coast yesterday, U.S. special operations snipers on the USS Bainbridge shot and killed three pirates who had held hostage the captain of the Maersk-Alabama cargo ship on a lifeboat for five days. Military officials said Capt. Richard Phillips’ life was in imminent danger at the time of his rescue. “It was textbook,” Gates said of...

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Monday that three Somali pirates who were killed by the Navy's Seals to end a hostage crisis were "untrained" teenagers. Addressing an audience at the Marine Corps War College in Quantico, Virginia, Gates said that the slain pirates, aged at between 17 to 19, were heavily armed but inexperienced. They were shot dead on Sunday at the end of a five-day standoff with the U.S. military after they attacked a U.S.-flagged cargo ship about 400 kilometers away from Somali and held an American captain as hostage. "As long as you've got this incredible...

It took a while for the magnitude of the cuts to sink in, but once it did, the ritualistic wailing from congressional leaders and defense contractors that always accompanies Pentagon budget-slashing began with unprecedented fury. And that’s because the cuts proposed Monday by Defense Secretary Robert Gates — axing six major defense weapons systems, including missile programs, helicopters, fighter jets and a communications satellite — were themselves unprecedented. Or to borrow an Obama term, audacious. “The buck stops with Congress, which has the critical constitutional responsibility to decide whether to support these proposals,” said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The end of a fighter jet built for the Cold War and cancellation of a new fleet of presidential helicopters sparked concerns of job cuts at Lockheed Martin Corp. and its partners -- but did not appear to shake Wall Street's confidence in defense stocks. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday the Pentagon will end the F-22 fighter jet and White House helicopter programs run by Lockheed, but would increase production of the company's Joint Strike Fighter. Job and other budget figures released by Gates sought to assuage fears of deep cuts at the nation's largest defense...

The decisions have three principal objectives: First, to reaffirm our commitment to take care of the all-volunteer force, which, in my view represents America's greatest strategic asset; Second, we must rebalance this department's programs in order to institutionalize and enhance our capabilities to fight the wars we are in today and the scenarios we are most likely to face in the years ahead, while at the same time providing a hedge against other risks and contingencies. Third, in order to do this, we must reform how and what we buy, meaning a fundamental overhaul of our approach to procurement, acquisition,...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday will unveil his latest initiatives to reshape the U.S. military into a force better suited to today's unconventional wars. Mr. Gates has warned for months that the Defense Department would face "hard choices," and he is expected to announce that several major weapons programs need to be cut or curtailed. His 2010 budget proposal is expected to be Mr. Gates's boldest move yet in reshaping the priorities and capabilities of the U.S. military. He has argued that the military is still too oriented toward fighting a peer nation like China and hasn't devoted enough...

America 'to slash military spending' By Alex Spillius in Washington Last Updated: 8:35PM BST 05 Apr 2009 Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, will on Monday offer proposals to slash spending on major military projects in what aides called a "fundamental shift in direction". Mr Gates, who spent the weekend finalising his budget plans for 2010, is expected to take aim at several major weapons conventional warfare programmes, in favour of spending on technologies more useful to the "asymmetrical" wars that US forces are embroiled in. The proposals are however subject to approval by Congress and will face opposition from...

Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, will on Monday offer proposals to slash spending on major military projects in what aides called a "fundamental shift in direction". Mr Gates, who spent the weekend finalising his budget plans for 2010, is expected to take aim at several major weapons conventional warfare programmes, in favour of spending on technologies more useful to the "asymmetrical" wars that US forces are embroiled in. After eight years in which the defence budget doubled, and with the economy in deep recession, Mr Gates is targeting systems that have gone way over both budget and schedule. The...

The United States has no plans for military action to pre-empt the launching of a long-range missile by North Korea and would act only if the missile or its parts appeared to be headed toward American territory, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Sunday. The description by Mr. Gates of a calibrated military response was the most definitive to date as the international community, led by the United States, Japan and South Korea, pursues diplomatic action to press North Korea not to proceed with the launching of a Taepodong-2 intercontinental ballistic missile. Mr. Gates’s comments came as senior administration officials,...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53277 Secretary Addresses Pakistan, Afghanistan, Other Key Issues By Donna Miles American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, March 1, 2009 – As the United States reviews its strategy in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said he’s gratified by Pakistan’s growing recognition of the importance of eliminating extremist safe havens along its border. Speaking on CNBC’s “Meet the Press,” Gates called the situation on the Pakistani side of the volatile border region “worrisome.” He noted that the region has become a haven for Taliban, al-Qaida and other extremist groups that work together to support...

WASHINGTON – Tell us, Robert Gates, what's the difference between working under Barack Obama and working under George W. Bush? "That sounds like the subject of a good book," Gates said with a smile. "It's really hard to say," he continued during an interview aired Sunday on "Meet the Press" on NBC.

Gates accuses Iran of subversion in Latin America 1 hour ago WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Defense Secretary Robert Gates accused Iran Tuesday of engaging in "subversive activity" in Latin America, saying it concerned him more than Russia's recent naval forays in the region. "I'm concerned about the level of frankly subversive activity that the Iranians are carrying on in a number of places in Latin America particularly South America and Central America," Gates told lawmakers. "They're opening a lot of offices and a lot of fronts behind which they interfere in what is going on in some of these countries,"...

President Barack Obama is at odds with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and others in the military over America’s need for a new generation of nuclear warheads. While serving as President George W. Bush’s defense secretary, Gates repeatedly spoke in favor of the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program because the country’s weapons, mostly produced in the 1970s and 1980s, are aging and their effectiveness may be in the question, Time magazine reports. “Even though the days of hair-trigger superpower confrontation are over, as long as other nations possess the bomb and the means to deliver it, the United States must maintain...

The US Army is currently on track to increase 65,000 people to a total of 547,000 active-duty soldiers next year, up from 482,000 before the current conflicts. There is a corresponding increase in the US Marine Corps, from 194,000 to 221,000, for a total increase of 92,000 to 768,000 ground troops. A larger US military was first proposed by the presumptive Secretary of State, Senator Clinton along with Senator Graham in May, 2004 and has subsequently been endorsed by Senator Obama. In 2004 Clinton said, "I don't think we have any alternatives." In July 2005 Clinton co-introduced with Graham legislation...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2008 – While Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates will stay in office in President-elect Barack Obama’s administration, other Bush administration political appointees will move on, a Pentagon spokesman said today.