Gates: Less Is More

Perhaps bowing to current economic realities, the technological sophistication of current and imagined foes or a little of both, Defense Secretary Robert Gates outlined a new defense mantra in the Era of Obama: less is more.

The plan doesn’t necessarily represent a cut in defense spending per se; but rather, a shift on how these funds are currently spent. Gone are the days of laser beams on friggin’ sharks, replaced by lower-level insurgent targeting and surveillance systems.

Admittedly, national defense is not my bailiwick. You want a treatise on SpongeBob or some other piece of pop fluff, I’m your guy. But even based on a cursory review of Gates’ remarks, I would be inclined to agree with him. I just hope that the Administration (and by extension, the Pentagon) retains some sort of R&D budget large enough to continue the research into 22nd Century weapons systems. I’m not sure the US would have been able to strike with such surgical precision as it has in the last few conflicts had it not been for decades of research and development. The same goes for our mastery of the seas – part of our Navy’s success can be directly attributed to the technology and equipment that have enabled it to mobilize and deploy on literally a moment’s notice.

And besides, laser beams on sharks would be kind of cool.