Robert Gates: “[b]usiness as usual [in terms of the Department's budget decisions] is no longer an option.”

the only way I could get significant new or additional equipment to commanders in the field in weeks or months--not years--was to take control of the problem myself through special task forces and ad hoc processes.

This is a Department that principally plans for war. It is not organized to wage war, and that is what I am trying to fix.

I think appearances do matter.

I'm kind of pessimistic for the near term.