Robert Gates

Gates: Pentagon Considering Easing Don't Ask Don't Tell

AP | ANNE GEARAN | Posted 07.31.2009 | Politics


WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday he wants to make the law prohibiting gays from serving openly in the armed forces "more...

Pentagon, DHS Divided On Military's Role at Border

washingtonpost.com | Spencer S. Hsu | Posted 07.28.2009 | Politics


A proposal to send National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to counter drug trafficking has triggered a bureaucratic standoff between the Penta...

Will Congress Put Useless Fighter Jets Above America?

Jon Soltz | Posted 07.23.2009 | Politics


Jon Soltz

Congress is about to throw $369 million (on a down-payment of $2 billion) for a dozen F-22 fighter jets that even the Pentagon doesn't want.

Gates: US Putting More Missile Defense Around Hawaii

AP | ANNE GEARAN and PAULINE JELINEK | Posted 07.20.2009 | Politics


WASHINGTON — The U.S. military is tracking a ship from North Korea that may be carrying illicit weapons, the first vessel monitored under toughe...

Kim Jong-Un, 'Brilliant Comrade' Touted In North Korean Media

AP | VIJAY JOSHI | Posted 07.13.2009 | World


SEOUL, South Korea — The youngest son of North Korea's authoritarian leader has been given the title of "Brilliant Comrade," a sign the communis...

National Guard: Gates Weakening Security

The Hill | Posted 07.13.2009 | Politics


National Guard leaders from 48 of the 50 states sent a letter to the House and Senate Armed Services committees on Thursday warning that a budget deci...

Robert Gates To GOP Leaders: You're Putting Our Security At Risk

The Plum Line | Posted 07.12.2009 | Politics


Wow. Robert Gates and Hillary Clinton are now thrusting themselves into the raging fight over the White House's request for Congressional cash for the...

Gates: North Korea Shows No Sign Of Retaliation For Sanctions

AP | Posted 07.12.2009 | World


BRUSSELS, Belgium — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says it does not appear that North Korea has made military preparations to follow throug...

Afghan War: Next 18 Months Is Crucial, Pentagon Says

AP | LARA JAKES | Posted 07.10.2009 | World


WASHINGTON — Steps taken over the next 18 months to defeat the Taliban and other extremists will ultimately decide whether the war in Afghanista...

US Afghanistan Strategy Reviewed For Fifth Time This Year

McClatchy News | Posted 07.10.2009 | World


Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has given the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan 60 days to conduct another review of the American strategy there, t...

Forgotten: The Second Anniversary of a Guantanamo Suicide

Andy Worthington | Posted 06.30.2009 | World


Andy Worthington

Today, unnoticed in the Western media (although I can't vouch for the Arabic world) is the second anniversary of the death at Guantánamo -- apparently by suicide -- of Abdul Rahman al-Amri.

Gates: North Korea "A Harbinger Of A Dark Future"

AP | LARA JAKES and VIJAY JOSHI | Posted 06.30.2009 | World


SINGAPORE — North Korea's progress on nuclear weapons and long-range missiles is "a harbinger of a dark future" and has created an urgent need f...

Gates Warns North Korea That US Will Respond Quickly

AP | LARA JAKES | Posted 06.29.2009 | World


SINGAPORE — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned North Korea on Saturday that the United States would respond quickly if moves by the comm...

Robert Gates Unleashed: "What Are They Going To Do, Fire Me?"

TIME | Joe Klein | Posted 06.28.2009 | Politics


A few weeks ago, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates trooped up to Capitol Hill to answer questions about the new Pentagon budget. This is an unseemly s...

U.S. to Respond to North Korea with 'Strongest Possible Adjectives'

Andy Borowitz | Posted 05.26.2009 | Comedy


Andy Borowitz

Standing at the President's side, Vice President Joseph Biden weighed in with some tough adjectives of his own, branding Kim Jong-Il "totally wack and illin'."

Sec. Gates Hails Soldier Photographed In Pink Boxers

Editor and Publisher | Posted 06.22.2009 | Politics


Fun read with photo here in the new NYT "Lens" blog: The story behind the front page photo on May 12 that showed a few U.S. soldiers fighting the Tal...

Gates: Guantanamo "Taint" On U.S. Reputation

AP | Posted 06.22.2009 | Politics


WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the Obama administration had no choice but to order the shutdown of the prison at Guantanamo be...

Air Force Boots Their 25 Million Dollar Aviator (He's Gay) VIDEO

Aubrey Sarvis | Posted 06.19.2009 | Politics


Aubrey Sarvis

The Air Force is about to discharge this guy, a virtual poster boy for recruiting, because he is gay? Someone has to be kidding. This is sheer madness.

Robert Gates Says It Will Take At Least 2-4 Years For Afghan Army To Take The Lead (VIDEO)

CBS News | Posted 06.14.2009 | World


The job of wartime defense secretary is not a job anybody should like says the man holding it right now, Robert M. Gates, in a candid and wide-ranging...

Judge Gladys Kessler Releases Yemeni Detainee, Slams "Mosaic" Of Guantanamo Intelligence And Unreliable Witnesses

Andy Worthington | Posted 06.14.2009 | World


Andy Worthington

I am surprised that senior Obama officials seem to have been content to let a Bush-era approach to prosecution survive unchanged.

McChrystal Choice Suggests Special Ops Strikes Will Continue

Inter Press Service | Gareth Porter | Posted 06.13.2009 | World


Gareth Porter | Inter Press Service WASHINGTON, May 12 (IPS) - The choice of Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal to become the new U.S. commander in Afghan...

David McKiernan Steps Down From Top Afghanistan Command Post

AP | PAULINE JELINEK and ANNE GEARAN | Posted 06.11.2009 | World


WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama fired the top U.S. general in Afghanistan on Monday, replacing him with a former special forces commander in...

Aboard A C-17 To Turkey

Katie Couric | Posted 06.08.2009 | Media


Katie Couric

Words like sacrifice, dedication and patriotism have become so overused in recent years they've almost become white noise. Coming here and meeting the troops reminds me what those words mean.

After US Strikes, Afghans Describe "Tractor Trailers Full of Pieces of Human Bodies"

Jeremy Scahill | Posted 06.07.2009 | World


Jeremy Scahill

As rage spreads in Afghanistan after US bombing that killed up to 130 people, unnamed Pentagon officials are spinning another cover-up. Defiant Obama moves ahead with troop increase.

US troops Won't Be Sent To Pakistan: Robert Gates

AP | LARA JAKES | Posted 06.07.2009 | World


CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — There are no plans to deploy U.S. ground troops to Pakistan, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday, ...