Robert Gates: “I'm firmly committed to a competitive process.”

we always discover . . . that we [go] too far in cutting

I'm always hesitant to get Congress involved in a problem, because you usually end up with a solution you don't like. But the problem that the conferences, the athletic conferences, are facing now, they're all multi-state conferences. And…

He would be candid and honest, willing to tell the President straight from the shoulder what he needs to hear.

This is basically the responsibility of the president to educate people about why this is necessary.