Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

By G. Wayne Miller
Journal staff writer

Speaking this morning to more than 600 students and faculty at the Naval War College in Newport, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates said the U.S. military must prepare for a new type of warfare.

The experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan and recently with Somali pirates, Gates said, demonstrate that traditional concepts will not succeed in a rapidly changing world.

"For too long, there was a view or a hope that Iraq and Afghanistan were exotic distractions that would be wrapped up relatively soon -- the regimes toppled, the insurgencies crushed, the troops brought home," Gates said.

"The future," Gates said, "holds the risk of non-state actors -- terrorists -- having weapons of mass destruction or sophisticated missiles."

Gates is recommending a broad overhaul of military spending. His proposals include slashing giant weapons programs, reducing private sector jobs and spending more on tools soldiers can use.

"An underlying the theme in the budget recommendations is the need to think about future conflicts in a different way," he said. "To recognize that the black-and-white distinction between the regular war and conventional war is an outdated model. We must understand that we face a more complex future than that."

The 9 a.m. talk was shown on the Pentagon Channel.

(An earlier version of this story, previewing the speech, was published at 8:03 a.m. )

 Tags  Newport RI

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