By Meagan Wiseley – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

At a press conference Tuesday, delegates from Alabama led by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said they are disappointed with the Pentagon and U.S. Air Force’s Request For Proposal (RFP) for a next-generation aerial refueling tanker, the KC-X, arguing that the RFP is biased towards the manufacturer Boeing.

Also bidding for the KC-X is defense contractor Northrop Grumman, which if chosen by the Pentagon to carry out the project, plans to build a new assembly plant in Mobile, Alabama.

Rep. Jo Bonner, (R-Ala.), whose Congressional district includes Mobile, says the new plant would create nearly 48,000 new jobs in his state.

“We look forward to build the world’s best tanker…but that’s only if the Department of Defense is serious about giving us a fair shot and fair competition,” Bonner said.

Yesterday, every delegate from Alabama signed a letter that was sent to Defense Secretary Robert Gates requesting a new draft of the proposal. The letter argues that the RFP lacks an “assessment of risk associated with either schedule, past performance or price.”

The letter also states that the some of the RFP’s new requirements for the tanker could be satisfied by the KC-135 refueling tanker, which was designed over 50 years ago.

In February 2008, the U.S. Air Force chose Northrop Grumman’s bid for the KC-X project, but later that year the Department of Defense halted the project.

“This new request for proposal has changed…in so many ways. And in just about all those ways, it is tilting the process towards Boeing,” said Shelby.

By Meagan Wiseley – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was honored with the George C. Marshall Foundation Award today, on the 50th anniversary of Marshall’s death. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Gates both delivered remarks at the luncheon remembering Marshall’s legacy.

“He has a humility and an aptitude for quiet but strong leadership, he has a devotion to the men and women of the United States military and he is a public servant with a Marshall view of the world,” Clinton said of Gates.

“Thanks to George Marshall’s leadership … the Marshall plan was as bold and visionary a demonstration of American leadership as any in our history,” said Clinton. “There didn’t seem to be a challenge that he ever faced that he couldn’t determine a way forward,” she added.

During his career, Marshall held both positions currently occupied by Secretaries Gates and Clinton. Marshall also served as U.S. Army Chief from 1939 through WWII.

“Receiving this award is a true honor. The placement of my name anywhere near that of George Marshall is incredibly humbling,” said Gates.

Robert Gates was named Secretary of Defense in December 2006. He was appointed then by President George W. Bush and was renominated earlier this year by current President Barack Obama.

By Candyce Torres, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates discusses his concerns regarding the protection of the CIA officers who were involved in the interrogations.

 

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Secretary of Defense Robert M.Gates, speaking at a summit held at the Pentagon for wounded warriors and their families, said he wanted to reflect on an event a few months ago when Frank Buckles, a 107-year-old veteran, was present at a ceremony when a new exhibit was opened. Upon discharge from the military after World War I, Frank Buckles got “sixty bucks and a free pass to the Y[MCA],” as his severance.

To our wounded warriors, Gates said, I’ve been amazed by your grit and resilience. Part of my duties was to visit Walter Reed and other hospitals and I wasn’t sure I could keep it together and if I could handle it, to see the wounded. But I found instead that they lift me up, he said. Gates became emotional, his voice wavering, and looked solemn as he sniffled a bit and looked out at the audience. I will repeat the pledge I made to myself and everyone, he said, that other than winning the wars we are in, my highest priority is caring for those who are wounded.

Gates said they are now converting the disability rating process so that one service member has one exam, and one rating which will be shared between the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Veterans Administration (VA). Working together, the DOD and VA can cut in half the time required to get to the disability payment process completed through the VA.

Many have returned bearing the scars of war, and some of those wounds are not readily apparent, Gates continued. In Iraq and Afghanistan, improvement in techniques and medical care has made it possible to survive an injury that many used to not be able to live through. This, however, has made evident how much we do not know about Traumatic Brain Injuries. We are poised to learn a lot more. We’ve also gone a long way to deal with the psychological effects of what has turned out to be a very long war.

As we all know, Gates said, not everyone returning from Iraq and Afghanistan is getting the mental health care they need. Too often people have avoided help because they were afraid of it affecting their security clearance or even their jobs. They are trying to remove the stigma by keeping counseling not part of the evaluation process, so that having it not affect their jobs is hopefully going to make it more likely to have men and women in uniform seek help.

Although we’ve made significant progress in the last year there is no doubt we still have a lot of work to do. “I thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Gates concluded, and his remarks were received with a round of applause.

At a joint briefing with the Minister of Defense- Korea, held at the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says the United States reaffirmed its commitment to Korea, including an extention of its “nuclear umbrella.” He says they urge a swift resolution to the issue in North Korea using the six party talks. (0:52)

 

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The North Korean threat continues to be in our defense posture, said Secretary of Defense Robert Gates at the joint briefing with Republic of Korea Minister of National Defense Lee Song-hee held at the Pentagon. A conducive effort in our defensive posturing to the security of the South Korean’s is alive and well, said Gates, and the six party talk process is binding our two countries together. Gates thanked the Korean people for their effort in helping the United States eradicate militants in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Through an interpreter, Lee said that the 40 year anniversary of the Status of Forces Agreement is still considered a central foundation of their commitment to the defense of the Korean peninsula. The reaffirmation of this agreement sets a tone for the United States’ unwavering commitment to the safety of South Korea, said Lee. According to Lee, the conclusion by high ranking military officers during a meeting with himself and the Secretary of Defense, the Korean Peninsula is very well protected.

The health of Kim Jong-il is still a variable that is being closely watched by the leaders of both countries. Kim Jong-il is believed to still be in control of North Korea even though he has not been seen in public in some time. The unknown element of Jong-il’s health has brought an even greater understanding between the countries: the US and South Korea must coordinate and manage their combined forces in a much more stable manner.

At the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on the Situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says “think about how heavy a military footprint the United States ought to have in Afghanistan, and are we better off channeling resources into building and expanding the size of the Afghan National Army as quickly as possible, as opposed to a much larger Western footprint in a country that has never been notoriously hospitable to foreigners regardless of why they are there.” I think that’s one question that we, and the next president, will have to weigh. In terms of the number of forces we have on the ground, a second consideration is that without changing deployment patterns and length of tours, we do not have the forces to send three additional brigade combat teams to Afghanistan at this point, but that we will probably have the availability to do so in the spring or summer of 2009. The President made a promise to send troops, but that’s obviously going to be up to his successor. (1:43)

 

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At the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on the Situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says during this time of political turmoil in Pakistan it is especially crucial to maintain a strong and positive relationship with the government since any deterioration would be a setback for both Pakistan and Afghanistan. “The war on terror started in this region; it must end there.” (0:19)

 

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At the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on the Situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says as we proceed deeper into the endgame, he says he would urge our nation’s leaders to take into account the advice of senior commanders and military leaders, and that we should expect to be involved in Iraq in the years to come although in changing and increasingly limited ways. (0:26)

 

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“The surge helped achieve a lower level of violence. It has not yet achieved its stated purpose- political accommodation among Iraq’s leaders,” Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich) said in his opening statement at the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on the Situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our “open-ended commitment in Iraq” is an invitation to “continued Iraqi dawdling and dependency,” and it’s carrying the costs of the lives of Americans and billions of dollars.

Senator John Warner (R-Va) expressed his respect for Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and said that he’d had the opportunity to work with every Secretary of Defense since 1969, and that “you never shot from the hip.” Gates, Warner said, understood that they needed bipartisan support and that Gates had it like Warner had never seen before. We thank you, Warner said, but there is much to be done. I commend the concept of the surge, he said, and I commend most heartily the courage of the troops. By any fair and pragmatic judgement, it has been a success.

The withdrawal of approximately 3,400 non-combat forces began this month, Gates began, saying that it will continue through the fall and winter, and finish in January. The drawdown is possible, he said, “because of the success achieved in reducing violence and building Iraqi security capacity.” There has been a fundamental change in the nature of the conflict, and “no matter what you think about the origins of the war in Iraq, we must get the endgame there right.”

In response to a congressional question of the assessment of the new government in Pakistan and their willingness to work with the United States, Gates said they’re already seeing positive signs with Pakistan, because Pakistan has suffered a lot of casualties and they’ve captured terrorists. What’s important in Pakistan, is to forge a new stronger partnership with the civilian government. The recent attacks have made it clear to them that there is an existential threat to Pakistan.

Gates said he is not satisfied with the civil reconstruction and the development of the capacity of the Afghan government. “That war on terror started in this region, and it must end there.” The reality is, Gates continued, is that in the last 18 months, we have added over 20,000 troops to Afghanistan, and there are two considerations about the situation. One, we need to think about how heavy a “military footprint” the United States ought to have in Afghanistan, and are we better off channeling resources instead into “building the Afghan Army” as quickly as possible. Two, (which he says he feels is evident to all), is that without changing deployment patterns, and length of tours, we do not have the forces to send three additional brigade combat teams to Afghanistan at this point, but they will probably become available in the spring/summer of 2009. That’s a decision that will ultimately be up to President Bush’s successor.

Code Pink, an anti-war group, proliferated the audience, wearing “Bail out of Iraq” placards and multitudes of pink buttons, signs, and t-shirts. They mainly sat quietly in the audience, appropriately not holding signs above their heads, but at one point one member started calling out “shame!” during Gates’ speech.