The Doomsday Plane – TIME

Posted by Matt in February 4th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Military, Air Force Crew, Cold War Relic, Doomsday Plane, Fuel Nozzle, Handful, Launch, Midair, Midst, Missile Silos, Nuclear Attack, Nuclear War, Robert Gates, Secretary Of Defense, Secretary Of Defense Robert Gates, Space Creature, Survivor, Tankers, Time Secretary, War Zones, Windshield

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates flies around the world to war zones and allies, to China and Russia and Suriname, on a Cold War relic called the Doomsday Plane. Forged in the 1970s by Boeing, it was designed to stay aloft even in the midst of nuclear war. It’s an airborne Pentagon. The plane is [...]

How a Plugged-In DC Think Tank Published a General’s Brutal Intel Critique | Danger Room | Wired.com

Posted by Matt in January 12th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Military, American Security, Danger Room, Geoff Morrell, Intel, Intelligence Officer, Michael Flynn, Military Circles, Pentagon, Pentagon Officials, Pentagon Spokesman, Press Secretary, Repor, Reuters, Robert Gates, Scathing Critique, Secretary Of Defense, Secretary Of Defense Robert Gates, Spy Agencies, Think Tank, Venue

In military circles, the talk all week has been about how and why the top intelligence officer in Afghanistan wound up publishing a scathing critique through a small-but-influential think tank. Now, we’ve got the answers.
When Maj. Gen. Michael Flynn published his tough assessment of the military’s spy agencies in Afghanistan, it caught Pentagon officials by [...]

We’ve Been Talking to Iran for 30 Years – WSJ.com

Posted by Matt in September 30th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Iran, Geneva, Iranian Leaders, iranians, Misconception, National Defense University, Obama, Place Tomorrow, Robert Gates, Secretary Of Defense, Secretary Of Defense Robert Gates, Talks With Iran, Truth, Wsj

The Obama administration’s talks with Iran—set to take place tomorrow in Geneva—are accompanied by an almost universally accepted misconception: that previous American administrations refused to negotiate with Iranian leaders. The truth, as Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said last October at the National Defense University, is that “every administration since 1979 has reached out to [...]

Preparing the Pentagon for a New Age

Posted by Matt in December 9th, 2008 | no comment

Published in Military, U.S., War, Bad Guys, Capabilities, Contingencies, Current Conflicts, Defense Budgets, Defense Strategy, Department Of Defense, George Bush, Military Assistance, Military Forces, National Security, New Age, Nuclear War, Nuclear Weapons, Opportunity Costs, Pentagon, Principle, Priorities, Radar Screen, Robert Gates, Secretary Of Defense, Secretary Of Defense Robert Gates, Security Risks, Technological Edge, Tradeoffs, United States

I found this article very disturbing. The thought of nuclear war with Russia and/or China is not even on the radar screen of the Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates.
Think about the threats to the United States today. Yes, there are a lot of bad guys out there gunning for us. However, the amount of damage [...]

The Russia Problem

Posted by Matt in October 16th, 2007 | no comment

Published in Russia, Allies In Iraq, American Exodus, American Policymakers, Condoleezza Rice, David Petraeus, Gen David Petraeus, Military Incompetence, Organizational Chaos, President Vladimir Putin, Right Hand Man, Robert Gates, Russia, Russia And The United States, Russian President Vladimir, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Secretary Of Defense Robert Gates, Secretary Of State Condoleezza Rice, Security Paradigms, Sergei Ivanov, State Condoleezza Rice, Vladimir Putin

For the past several days, high-level Russian and American policymakers, including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s right-hand man, Sergei Ivanov, have been meeting in Moscow to discuss the grand scope of U.S.-Russian relations. These talks would be of critical importance to both countries under [...]