“Mr. Gates Doth Protest Too Much”
“Mr. Gates Doth Protest Too Much”
by Neoptolemus
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Mr. Gates continued his farewell tour with a strong speech at the Air Force Academy last week. Unlike his talk at the US Military Academy he did not talk over the student’s heads or treat them as tethered goats. Nor did he suggest that they’d wasted four years at the wrong Service academy or that their future profession was in doubt—as he unintentionally did at West Point. Instead he talked to them as the future Air Force leaders, the ones that will ultimately be “tackling the challenges of the 21st century head on.” He spoke plainly but passionately about what the Air Force of the 21st century must look like — as well as the challenges and moral issues they would face as leaders.
As at West Point, the Secretary candidly discussed the conservative culture of the Pentagon, noting that when he arrived he still found all the Services — including the Air Force — looking at the world “through the prism of the 20th century,” preparing to win conventional and large scale fights against comparably armed competitors. His efforts, he noted, ran into a stone wall of cultural resistance and bureaucratic sacred cows, especially from the Air Force.
Download the Full Article: “Mr. Gates Doth Protest Too Much”
Neoptolemus, a retired infantry officer, is currently imprisoned as a senior defense official in the Pentagon. Neoptolemus was the son of the warrior Achilles and the princess Deidamia in Greek mythology.
