Robert Gates: “I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you to discuss the President's budget request for fiscal year 2012.”

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

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.

I'm kind of pessimistic for the near term.

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.