Gates Threatens to Fire Leakers

Good, go get 'em.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates "is normally a mild-mannered man, at least in public, but he unleashed a torrent on his plane on Thursday morning about leaks during the investigation of the Foot Hood shootings and President Obama's deliberations on sending more American troops to Afghanistan," the New York Times reports.

Said Gates: "I have been appalled by the amount of leaking that has been going on in this process... And frankly if I found out with high confidence anybody who was leaking in the Department of Defense, who that was, that would probably be a career-ender."

VIDEO- 60 Minutes Interview With Robert Gates- Plus Bonus Obama Quote Of The Day

Watch CBS Videos Online

How is Obama Different Than Bush? In an interview that aired tonight on 60 Minutes, Defense Secretary Robert Gates -- the only Bush holdover in the Obama cabinet -- was very reluctant to draw comparisons between the two presidents.

Couric: You have said that President Obama is more analytical in your view than than President Bush --

Gates: That's something I wished I hadn't said.

Couric: Why? Why?

Gates: I really have been very disciplined about not drawing those kinds of comparisons.

Couric: What three words would you use to describe President Bush?

Gates: Committed, questioning, eager to make a decision and move on.

Couric: What about President Obama?

Gates: Deliberative, decisive and calm.

Secretary Gates on Defense Cuts

Huge h/t to Taylor Marsh for the nice clip.

Pentagon to phase out unpopular 'stop-loss' program

One of the best bits of news I've heard in a while. It was nothing more than involuntary servitude.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The military will phase out its "stop loss" program, the contentious practice of holding troops beyond the end of their enlistments, for all but extraordinary situations, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Wednesday.

Instead, the military will use incentives programs to encourage personnel to extend their service.

Starting this month, the department will provide "special compensation of $500 per month" to troops whose tour has been extended, Gates said. "This special compensation will be applied retroactively to October 1, 2008, the date when Congress first made it available."

The stop-loss program was put into place to ensure that units remained intact during deployment. Tours of duty could be extended for those whose enlistment was due to end in the middle of their unit's deployment.

VIDEO: Ed Gillespie tries to explain away Gates' appraisal of Obama v. Bush

By GottaLaff

Paddy posted earlier about Secretary Gates Gates saying that President Obama was “somewhat more analytical” than Bush, because, see, Obama actually attempts to hear the views of everyone in the room, on any given issue.

Now we get a response from former Bush counselor/Liddy Dole strategist/George Allen spokesman, Ed Gillespie:

On CNN, former Bush counselor Ed Gillespie responded to Gates' comments, saying "of course" Bush listened to everybody. But he acknowledged Gates' key point and tried to explain why Bush didn't call on others.

Secretary Gates Compares Obama To Bush- Obama 'more analytical'

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Ya think?

Generals have plan to put public pressure on Obama on Iraq withdrawal

By GottaLaff

President Obama is no George Bush... thank goodness. And unless I'm mistaken, I seem to remember that Obama won the election. However, it sounds like there are a few in the military who haven't gotten word of that yet:

CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus, supported by Defence Secretary Robert Gates, tried to convince President Barack Obama that he had to back down from his campaign pledge to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months at an Oval Office meeting Jan. 21.

But Obama informed Gates, Petraeus and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen that he wasn't convinced and that he wanted Gates and the military leaders to come back quickly with a detailed 16-month plan, according to two sources who have talked with participants in the meeting. [...]

There are indications that Petraeus and his allies in the military and the Pentagon, including Gen. Ray Odierno, now the top commander in Iraq, have already begun to try to pressure Obama to change his withdrawal policy.

A network of senior military officers is also reported to be preparing to support Petraeus and Odierno by mobilising public opinion against Obama's decision.

Petraeus was visibly unhappy when he left the Oval Office, according to one of the sources. A White House staffer present at the meeting was quoted by the source as saying, "Petraeus made the mistake of thinking he was still dealing with George Bush instead of with Barack Obama."

Petraeus, Gates and Odierno had hoped to sell Obama on a plan that they formulated in the final months of the Bush administration that aimed at getting around a key provision of the U.S.-Iraqi withdrawal agreement signed envisioned re-categorising large numbers of combat troops as support troops. That subterfuge was by the United States last November while ostensibly allowing Obama to deliver on his campaign promise. [...]

The source says the network, which includes senior active duty officers in the Pentagon, will begin making the argument to journalists covering the Pentagon that Obama's withdrawal policy risks an eventual collapse in Iraq. That would raise the political cost to Obama of sticking to his withdrawal policy. [...]

Obama told Petraeus in Baghdad last July that, if elected, he would regard the overall health of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps and the situation in Afghanistan as more important than Petraeus's obvious interest in maximising U.S. troop strength in Iraq, according to Time magazine's Joe Klein.

But judging from Petraeus's shock at Obama's Jan. 21 decision, he had not taken Obama's previous rejection of his arguments seriously. That miscalculation suggests that Petraeus had begun to accept Keane's assertion that a newly-elected Democratic president would not dare to override his policy recommendation on troops in Iraq.

Let's recap: President Obama is the commander-in-chief. He calls the shots. So is it me, or should these military officers defer to their boss rather than try to publicly humiliate and pressure him?

That's what I thought.

Gitmo prisoner's lawyers accuse Defense Secretary Gates of lying about torture

By GottaLaff

Nobody's talking about this. No, the priorities of the news media are Caroline Kennedy and the Rod Blagojevich scandal. Big hair, bad running suits, repeated use of the F-word, and condemning the Dem du Jour are far weightier than whether or not our Secretary of Defense might have falsified an affidavit about some dark-skinned detainee:

Lawyers for a British resident held at Guantánamo Bay have accused Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, of signing a "flagrantly false" affidavit to avoid having to disclose evidence of torture.

In a sworn affidavit to a district court in Washington, Gates says the US authorities have provided Binyam Mohamed's lawyers and the British government with all the information they possess relating to Mohamed's treatment while held in secret prisons. Gates declared his affidavit to be the truth "under penalty of perjury".

Clive Stafford Smith, Mohamed's lawyer and director of Reprieve, the charity that fights miscarriages of justice and human rights abuses, has told the court that Gates's affidavit is "flagrantly false". He has asked the court whether Gates was aware Mohamed was held incommunicado for three years in Pakistan, Morocco, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay. Stafford Smith says there seems to be only one explanation for the affidavit: the defence secretary has been "misadvised".

The claims refer to what US officials knew about Mohamed's treatment and where he was rendered to. They also refer to obligations under international law and US domestic law.

When you stop and think about all the horrendous secrets that shouldn't be kept, all the crimes that shouldn't have been committed, and all the deceitful U.S. officials (former and current) who shouldn't have skated, it's stunning.

We all know these things are happening, but we are reduced to the status of rubberneckers driving by a multi-car pileup.

Gates orders plan drafted for closing Gitmo

By GottaLaff

It's good to see Gates is supporting P.E. Obama's promise:

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered aides to prepare a plan for closing the Guantanamo prison, a declared priority for president-elect Barack Obama, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday.

Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary:

"The request has been made, his team is working on it so he can be prepared to assist the president-elect should he wish to address this very early in his tenure," Morrell said.

In your face, BushCo.

Gates Warns Against ‘Testing’ Obama

Defense Secretary Robert Gates assured a gathering of Persian Gulf leaders in Bahrain that President-elect Barack Obama will continue the U.S. commitment to the Middle East after he takes office.

Hey! Pundits! Bob Gates Is Pretty Much OK With Withdrawing Combat Troops From Iraq on a 16-Month Timeline!

By GottaLaff

Spencer Ackerman is having way too much fun:

Gates is OK with Obama’s timetable for withdrawing combat troops from Iraq in 16 months!

[...] Gates was asked about the timetable, and he said working within Obama’s 16-month-ish timetable, with appropriate adjustments along commanders’ recommendations, is an “agreeable approach.” Gates noted that the Status of Forces Agreement compels a full withdrawal by Dec. 2011 and a withdrawal from Iraqi towns and cities by next summer, and said commanders in Iraq are exploring a “potential acceleration” of any drawdown. “I’m less concerned about a timetable,” he said. [...]

All this really speaks to the political wisdom of keeping Gates. The Republican defense secretary who implemented the surge just endorsed withdrawing combat troops from Iraq according to a deadline — something that John McCain, the pre-July George W. Bush and a raft of conservative commenters have said for years would herald the apocalypse. What are they going to say now that Gates is in favor of it?

Chances are, not a whole lot, since they can’t seem to comprehend the idea. Here’s Max Boot on the implications of Gates’ reappointment:

This all but puts an end to the 16-month timetable for withdrawal from Iraq…

And here’s Mara Liasson, the token liberal commentator on Fox News:

16 months has gone out the window, I think we can say that.

This is how a new progressive-realist consensus on foreign policy gets forged.

I love this transition if for nothing more than articles like this one.

Here's another reason: Obama actually listens. Yes, he has actual conversations with governors, no strings attached (as in, say, dictating the one, single, pre-determined question that a Republican and a Democrat are allowed to ask at such a gathering.*) Imagine that. A president who sees constructive input as a positive. Great idea.

Just ask the governors he listened to earlier today.

*That anectdote came to me via Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer on today's Rachel Maddow radio show. I heard it with my own two very ears.

Exit Gates' undersecretaries, enter Obama's people

By GottaLaff

Via Spencer Ackerman, we get a peek into a Gates' Pentagon, which will be staffed with Team Obama sub-cabineters:

Trusted defense adviser Richard Danzig would get the deputy secretary position and probably Michele Flournoy of the Center for a New American Security would get the undersecretaryship for policy. Now The Washington Post reports — via Matt Yglesias and Steve Benen — that not only is the deputy secretary, Gordon England, definitely leaving, all of Gates’ undersecretaries are.

Continuity is likely to come in the form of Gates and military commanders leading the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan, while a new deputy and team of undersecretaries would manage the Pentagon and focus on longer-range issues such as “the budget, the Quadrennial Defense Review, missile defense, relations with allies and preparation for the next crisis,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

(Yes, yes, that O’Hanlon.) An interesting question that I’ll be looking at later this week, is what happens to the undersecretary of defense for intelligence. [...] Will the job change now that there’s a new administration? The Post indicates so:

There is a real issue about how to fully recuperate” that office from the Rumsfeld era, and it would require a “team player” to promote more effective cooperation with the rest of the intelligence community, one source close to the transition said.

Yesterday on the Tee Vee Machine, Washington Note's Steve Clemons mentioned that there will be Obama's very own people (those he's had close ties to for some time) throughout the White House to create a real "balance of power". He went on to say that this should allay the fears of those who were concerned about all the non-liberal types with whom Obama has surrounded himself.

Gates likely to remain at Pentagon

By GottaLaff

Golden Gates bridge:

From NBC's Jim Miklaszewski: One source familiar with the selection process tells NBC News that Defense Secretary Robert Gates will remain on the job at the Pentagon for at least a year.

"That's been a done deal for sometime," according to the sources. "No other name has been seriously floated as a possible candidate."

The deal was sealed for Gates when former Marine Corps Candidate Jim Jones was mentioned as the probable candidate for National Security Adviser, and former Admiral Dennis Blair was named as the likely pick for Director of National Intelligence, according to one source.

"That's a dream team that Gates could clearly work with," the source said. [...]

"It was the formula all along," according to one source, that Gates would stay in the Pentagon, retain a small number of his personal staff while a Democrat, appointed by Obama as Deputy Defense Secretary, would put together the remainder of the top staff.

According to officials close to Gates, to avoid being labeled a "lame duck," he asked that a specific timetable not be attached to his term, but something more loosely defined, such as "under 4 years."

Obama in Talks With Gates

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know- "continuity". Whatev.

President-elect Obama and Robert Gates are negotiating terms under which the defense secretary would remain as Pentagon chief in his administration, the Financial Times has learned.

"Mr Obama, through an intermediary, has approached Mr Gates, who has served as defense secretary under President George W. Bush since 2006, about accepting the position, which would place a respected Republican appointee in his cabinet."

"According to a source familiar with the situation, Mr Gates is seriously weighing the option. The two men are ironing out policy and personnel issues before a final offer could be made."

Two Timely Topical Topics: Pakistan & Paulson

By GottaLaff

This first alliterative timely topical topic sounds like...umm.. darn, who does that sound like? It's on the tip of my tongue... Got it! Barack Obama:

Gates: Biggest threat coming from Pakistan
The greatest threat to the United States comes from tribal lands in Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan, not Iraq, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told lawmakers Tuesday.

And then there's the ever-popular Republicans Eating Their Own timely topical topic:

Gingrich urges vote against 'stupid' Paulson plan
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said Tuesday that any lawmaker who votes for the Bush administration's $700 billion bailout package, which he called a “dead loser,” will face defeat in November.

Just thought I'd share.

Air Force chiefs resigning

By GottaLaff


The Air Force is all shook up:

The military and civilian chiefs of the Air Force are resigning, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley and Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne to step down. [...]

Press secretary Dana Perino said President Bush knew about the resignations but that the White House "has not played any role" in the shake-up. [...]

Wynne is the second civilian chief of a military service to be forced out by Gates.

Let's do an Air Force recap:

The Air Force has endured a number of embarrassing setbacks over the past year. In August, for instance, a B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and flown across the country. The pilot and crew were unaware they had nuclear arms aboard. [...]

Gates also has been trying to learn more about how fuses for Air Force ballistic missiles were mistakenly shipped to Taiwan. Gates was briefed last week on the conclusions of an internal investigation of that matter but the results have not been made public. [...]

In another incident, the Pentagon inspector general found in April that a $50 million contract to promote the Thunderbirds aerial stunt team was tainted by improper influence and preferential treatment. No criminal conduct was found.

Everything runs so smoothly under the War President. Speaking of things running smoothly, and slightly off topic because I feel like having fun, compare and contrast.