Can Robert Gates Tame the Pentagon?

In his two years as Defense Secretary, Robert Gates has earned high marks for candor and common sense. But curbing the Pentagon's appetite for expensive new weapons could be his biggest challenge yet

Lewis Whyld / PA Photos / Landov

If you are a firm believer in the war in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates' grim assessment last month of what lies in store for the U.S. might have made you shudder. "If we set ourselves the objective of creating some sort of Central Asian Valhalla over there, we will lose, because nobody in the world has that kind of time, patience and money, to be honest," he said.

But if you are a defense contractor who has enjoyed a decade of bottomless Pentagon funding, it was Gates' comments about a struggle much closer to home that are keeping you up...

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