Robert Gates: “We must reject the traditional approach of applying across-the-board cuts, the simplest and most politically expedient…”

“We must reject the traditional approach of applying across-the-board cuts, the simplest and most politically expedient approach both inside this building and outside of it. . . . It results in a hollowing-out of the force from a lack of proper training, maintenance, and equipment. We've been there before, in the 1970s and in the 1990s.”