Inside Defense
Dec. 15, 2009 -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked the Pentagon's top civilian and military officials to provide their "personal" assessments of a draft of the Quadrennial Defense Review, which DOD officials say may be one of the final steps in finalizing the Obama administration's new 20-year blueprint for the military.
Gates, who sources say made the request yesterday during a meeting with the Pentagon's most senior leaders, is expected to soon circulate a QDR draft that incorporates a critique of the report he made during his trip last week to Afghanistan and Iraq.
More than a dozen of the Pentagon's top civilian and uniformed officials -- including the service secretaries and service chiefs -- who collectively make up the so-called “Large Group” that Gates regularly convenes to discuss issues that require high-level deliberation will have a few days to weigh in on the draft QDR report, sources said.
“He wants their personal assessment, not a staff assessment,” said one Pentagon official.
Sources who have read late November drafts say the report does not call for any radical restructuring of the military and that it makes no explicit calls for drastic force-structure changes.
Moreover, Pentagon sources say it appears the White House Office of Management and Budget's move to increase the size of the Defense Department budget by at least $60 billion between fiscal years 2011 and 2015 provides funds to pay for many capabilities recommended by the QDR, which Gates directed the services to fund in July, sources said. -- Jason Sherman
12152009_dec15c