At his farewell speech in NATO, outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates criticized the alliance, calling it poorly equipped to deal with challenges and blasting member countries for what he said were shortages in military spending and political will.
Robert Gates criticized NATO's preparedness and member countries' military spending.
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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 think part of the problem is that at the end of the Cold War, we were affected by triumphalism or hubris, whatever you want to call it.
We want everything that's possible, and a lot of things that aren't possible, in a new system.
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