“If the Department of Defense can’t figure out a way to defend the United States on a budget of more than half a trillion dollars a year, then our problems are much bigger than anything that can be cured by buying a few more ships and planes.”
— Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Speech to Economic Club of Chicago, July 16, 2009

“The situation out there in the world doesn’t change and the world is getting more dangerous rather than less so. The Defense Department certainly spends a lot of money but if you look at where the Defense Department is today it certainly is within historical norms.”

— Defense Secretary Robert Gates, responding to suggestions that his new $741 billion budget should be cut, February 2, 2010