Gates urges military to focus on needs in Iraq, Afghanistan

In a pointed admonition to Pentagon planners, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today that the U.S. military was afflicted with “next-war-itis” and must concentrate more on winning in Iraq and less on future conflicts that might never happen.

Gates said that since he took office his priority had been to “concentrate the minds” of the defense establishment on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I have noticed too much of a tendency towards what might be called ‘next-war-itis,’ the propensity of much of the defense establishment to be in favor of what might be needed in future conflicts,” Gates said.

While acknowledging hardships on troops and their families, Gates said succeeding in Iraq was vital.

“That is the war we are in,” Gates said. “That is the war we must win.”

The speech, delivered in Colorado Springs to the conservative Heritage Foundation, escalates his recent criticism of weapons systems and aircraft programs.

Gates dismissed the likelihood of a large-scale conventional war in the future and said the U.S. must prepare for the more likely reality of low-intensity conflicts.

“Smaller, irregular forces – insurgents, guerrillas, terrorists – will find ways, as they always have, to frustrate and neutralize the advantages of larger, regular militaries,” Gates said.

Although Gates acknowledged the need to build up the Navy and modernize the Air Force, he said the Pentagon could expect more scrutiny for conventional weapons systems.

Instead of large, complex weapons systems, Gates called for simpler, more numerous and presumably cheaper designs for new equipment. He also said every new weapons system would have to be useful for fighting irregular wars.

Gates specifically cited the Army’s Future Combat System, a $200-billion program of interlinked armored fighting vehicles, unmanned aircraft and cannons.

He did not offer an explicit opinion on the system, widely known as FCS, but the speech appeared intended to put Army leaders on notice that they would need to justify the expense of the program and its battlefield utility.

“A program like FCS … must continue to demonstrate its value for the types of irregular challenges we will face as well as for full-spectrum warfare,” Gates said.

Gates in recent months has criticized Air Force officials for speaking out about the need to prepare for future threats by building high-tech fighter planes. He also has urged the Air Force to increase the number of unmanned aircraft in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gates has criticized Army and Marine Corps officials for their hesitance to purchase mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles, known as MRAPs. Gates pointed to the lifesaving abilities of MRAPs and countered arguments that they would have little usefulness after Iraq. In some ways, Gates shared the concerns voiced by his predecessor, Donald H. Rumsfeld, who complained that the military was too slow to change from its Cold War-era stance.But Gates has cast himself as a different Defense secretary from Rumsfeld and offered a veiled criticism of his predecessor during a question-and-answer session after his speech.

Gates said the next president should be sure to appoint a national security team whose members get along. Gates enjoys a close rapport with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, but Rumsfeld had a poor working relationship with Colin L. Powell, Rice’s predecessor.

“It is relations among people that make government work,” Gates said. “They don’t have to agree all the time, they just have to get along.”

The speech is available at the Pentagon’s website, http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1240

 julian.barnes@latimes.com