America can be a superpower or a welfare state, but not both.
Phi Beta Iota Sidenote: BOTH of the above “choices” are corruption incarnate. The correct choice was articulated by Thomas Jefferson: “A Nation's best defense is an educated citizenry.”
EXTRACT:
In a series of farewell speeches, Mr. Gates has warned against cuts to weapon programs and troop levels that would make America vulnerable in “a complex and unpredictable security environment,” as he said Sunday at Notre Dame. On Tuesday at the American Enterprise Institute, Mr. Gates noted that the U.S. went on “a procurement holiday” in the 1990s, when the Clinton Administration decided to cash in the Cold War peace dividend. The past decade showed that history (and war) didn't end in 1989.
Robert Steele Sends. This is personal. In1995, Gates was one of four Americans invited to address the French national conference on “Waging War and Peace in the 21st Century.” He followed me on the schedule, and on hearing my presentation, sashayed up to the stage, sniffed dismissively, and said “I'm not even going to touch that.” As we now know, I nailed it in 1989 for General Al Gray, in 1992 for the Whole Earth Review, again in 1995 for all in France (and separately in USA for COSPO under Joe Markowitz and for US Government as a Whole), and again in 2000 for NATO. And onward to the UN and various multinational audiences who lack a single nation ready to play a leadership role in the M4IS2 arena. Robert Gates was arrogant then, he is ignorant now….and he does “do maintenance,” that is all he has done as a placeholder at Defense. Gate's farewell comments are crap, pure and simple. He has overseen the waste of America's blood, treasure, and spirit with abject amorality that Dick Cheney would be proud of. He has failed to demand what Senator Sam Nunn (D-GA) called for–a strategy, a force structure (the four forces after next) suited to the 21st Century, and an acquisition system with integrity.
He has given lip service to “soft power” but not actually moved $200 billion a year in non-reimbursable dollars to Program 150, nor supported an Open Source Agency and a Multinational Decision Support Centre, etc etc etc. The man is utterly clueless about (or completely uninterested in) what it takes to create a prosperous world at peace. He is a high-end drone. “Modernization” in Bob Gate's world is code for CORPORATE WELFARE and more hand-outs to dysfunctional companies led by Lockheed, Northrup Grumman, Boeing, and of course Booz Allen, SAIC, SRA, CACI, and so on. Nothing these people do is worth what we pay for it, nor is it coherently connected to what our troops actually need, starting with a shoulder weapon that can reach out beyond 300 meters.
Bob Gates has betrayed the Republic–and our military personnel–by placing more importance on getting along with his incestuous peers than on striving to serve the public interest. In my view, articulated since 1988 and with increasing clarity in 1995, 1998, and onwards, the US Government is out of control and defense (as well as entitlements) are part of the problem. The US Government lacks intelligence and it lacks integrity. The FACT that not a single candidate for President is talking about the FACT that the US Government has been borrowing one trillion dollars a year since the early 1990's, ONE THIRD of the annual federal budget, suggests that there will be no change in the near term. The public has not suffered enough to realize that the two-party tyranny–and its Tea Party sock puppets–are all about maintenance of the status quo, and have nothing at all to do with the public interest.
Reference: Frog 6 Guidance 2010-2020
ON INTELLIGENCE: Open Letter to the President
2010 M4IS2 Briefing for South America — 2010 M4IS2 Presentacion por Sur America (ANEPE Chile)
2009 Perhaps We Should Have Shouted: A Twenty-Year Restrospective
2008 DIA NDIC Multinational Intelligence Fellows
2007 United Nations “Class Before One” Infomation-Sharing and Analytics Orientation
2006 Briefing to the Coalition Coordination Center (CCC) Leadership at the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM)–Multinational Intelligence: Can CENTCOM Lead the Way? Reflections on OSINT & the Coalition
2005 Army War College E3i–Making the Revolution
2004: Information Peacekeeping A Nobel Objective
2004 Department of State (March)
2000 ONE WORLD, READY OR NOT: From National Capabilities to Global Coverage Through a Virtual Intelligence Community Coordinated by NATO/PfP
1995 Creating a Smart Nation: Strategy, Policy, Intelligence, & Information
1995 WAGING WAR AND PEACE IN THE 21ST CENTURY
1995 National Information Strategy 101 Presentation to CENDI/COSPO*
1995 GIQ 13/2 Creating a Smart Nation: Strategy, Policy, Intelligence, and Information
1992 E3i: Ethics, Ecology, Evolution, & intelligence (An Alternative Paradigm)
1989 General Al Gray on Global Intelligence Challenges
