lily
04-21-2008, 11:02 PM
Gates speaks out (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/21/AR2008042100950.html?nav=hcmodule)
Gates Criticizes Air Force for Insufficient Intel in Iraq
By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 21, 2008; 2:44 PM
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates chided the U.S. armed forces today for not
providing enough intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance help to
troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying it has been "like pulling
teeth" to get the services to change old habits.
Addressing student officers from the U.S. and foreign air forces at
Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base in Alabama, Gates expressed frustration with
conventional military thinking that he said has been slow to adapt to
current threats. He suggested that the U.S. Air Force has not moved fast
enough to meet a need for unmanned aircraft, which often can hunt and target
enemies more efficiently than piloted planes.
The speech, delivered at Air University on the base, before an audience that
included more than 100 students from the air forces of allied nations,
appeared aimed at challenging young officers to become more innovative
thinkers.
"The challenge that I pose to you today is to become a forward-thinking
officer who helps the Air Force adapt to a constantly changing strategic
environment characterized by persistent conflict," he said.
Although he praised the U.S. Air Force's contributions to the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan, the defense chief made it clear that more needs to be done.
A case in point, he said, is the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs,
as the pilotless drones are known. When he was director of the CIA in 1992,
Gates recalled, "the Air Force would not co-fund with CIA a vehicle without
a pilot," even though it was a "far less risky and far more versatile means
of gathering data."
Saying that drones cost much less and can spend more time in the air than
piloted planes, Gates called UAVs "ideal for many of today's tasks" and
noted that the United States now has more than 5,000 of them, a 25-fold
increase since 2001.
"But in my view, we can do and we should do more to meet the needs of men
and women fighting in the current conflicts while their outcome may still be
in doubt," Gates said. "My concern is that our services are still not moving
aggressively in wartime to provide resources needed now on the battlefield.
I've been wrestling for months to get more intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance assets into the theater. Because people were stuck in old
ways of doing business, it's been like pulling teeth."
The Pentagon chief, himself a former Air Force officer in the late 1960s,
added: "While we've doubled this capability in recent months, it is still
not good enough. And so last week I established a Department of Defense-wide
task force . . . to work this problem in the weeks to come, to find more
innovative and bold ways to help those whose lives are on the line."
He said the task force is working on a "very short" deadline and is similar
to one he created last year to promote the rapid production and deployment
of mine-resistant armored vehicles, which have proven effective against
roadside bombs.
Gates wants ground forces in Iraq and Afghanistan to better informed about
the location of enemy fighters and the threat they pose -- information that
sometimes can be provided by aerial surveillance. He also indicated that he
wants the Air Force to come up with ways it can contribute to
political-military operations.
The service needs to be able to operate in "that gray zone between war and
peace," Gates said.
"An unconventional era of warfare requires unconventional thinkers," he told
the student officers. "That is because this era's range of security
challenges -- from global terrorism to ethnic conflicts, from rogue nations
to rising powers -- cannot be overcome by traditional military means alone.
Conflict will be fundamentally political in nature and will require the
integration of all elements of national power."
Gates Criticizes Air Force for Insufficient Intel in Iraq
By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 21, 2008; 2:44 PM
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates chided the U.S. armed forces today for not
providing enough intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance help to
troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying it has been "like pulling
teeth" to get the services to change old habits.
Addressing student officers from the U.S. and foreign air forces at
Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base in Alabama, Gates expressed frustration with
conventional military thinking that he said has been slow to adapt to
current threats. He suggested that the U.S. Air Force has not moved fast
enough to meet a need for unmanned aircraft, which often can hunt and target
enemies more efficiently than piloted planes.
The speech, delivered at Air University on the base, before an audience that
included more than 100 students from the air forces of allied nations,
appeared aimed at challenging young officers to become more innovative
thinkers.
"The challenge that I pose to you today is to become a forward-thinking
officer who helps the Air Force adapt to a constantly changing strategic
environment characterized by persistent conflict," he said.
Although he praised the U.S. Air Force's contributions to the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan, the defense chief made it clear that more needs to be done.
A case in point, he said, is the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs,
as the pilotless drones are known. When he was director of the CIA in 1992,
Gates recalled, "the Air Force would not co-fund with CIA a vehicle without
a pilot," even though it was a "far less risky and far more versatile means
of gathering data."
Saying that drones cost much less and can spend more time in the air than
piloted planes, Gates called UAVs "ideal for many of today's tasks" and
noted that the United States now has more than 5,000 of them, a 25-fold
increase since 2001.
"But in my view, we can do and we should do more to meet the needs of men
and women fighting in the current conflicts while their outcome may still be
in doubt," Gates said. "My concern is that our services are still not moving
aggressively in wartime to provide resources needed now on the battlefield.
I've been wrestling for months to get more intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance assets into the theater. Because people were stuck in old
ways of doing business, it's been like pulling teeth."
The Pentagon chief, himself a former Air Force officer in the late 1960s,
added: "While we've doubled this capability in recent months, it is still
not good enough. And so last week I established a Department of Defense-wide
task force . . . to work this problem in the weeks to come, to find more
innovative and bold ways to help those whose lives are on the line."
He said the task force is working on a "very short" deadline and is similar
to one he created last year to promote the rapid production and deployment
of mine-resistant armored vehicles, which have proven effective against
roadside bombs.
Gates wants ground forces in Iraq and Afghanistan to better informed about
the location of enemy fighters and the threat they pose -- information that
sometimes can be provided by aerial surveillance. He also indicated that he
wants the Air Force to come up with ways it can contribute to
political-military operations.
The service needs to be able to operate in "that gray zone between war and
peace," Gates said.
"An unconventional era of warfare requires unconventional thinkers," he told
the student officers. "That is because this era's range of security
challenges -- from global terrorism to ethnic conflicts, from rogue nations
to rising powers -- cannot be overcome by traditional military means alone.
Conflict will be fundamentally political in nature and will require the
integration of all elements of national power."