Secretary Gates at National Defense University

[MSG Proctor]

Mr. Tom:
In WWII there was very little resistance for the mobilization of the entire US economy in support of the war effort. It was do-or-die. Today there is significant political resistance to our war efforts and an entrenched Cold War defense bureaucracy that had no corresponding model in the 1939 War Department.

While we agree on the pace of change (please review my post - I said the pace is still too slow), the depth of change required now seems more severe than in WWII. Our nation also fielded 12 million military uniformed servicemembers for WWII out of a population of 160 million while now our total defense build is 2 million out of a population of 320 million. As far as defense spending as a % of the GDP, during World War II, it was 38 percent of GDP; during Korea, 14 percent; Vietnam, 9.5 percent; during the Reagan buildup, 6.2 percent. The % being spent on the GWoT is about 4.4% of the GDP (2007 numbers).

In my estimation, the WWII War Department had to become bigger and better in a hurry, but it didn't have to become radically different from what it was in WWI aside from expanding the US Army Air Corps.

There is a culture of entrenched resistance in the Pentagon itself as Secretary Gates cites in his speech:

For example, this year's base budget request contains more than $180 billion in procurement, research and development, the overwhelming preponderance of which is for conventional systems. However, apart from the Special Forces community and some dissident colonels, for decades there has been no strong, deeply rooted constituency inside the Pentagon or elsewhere for institutionalizing our capabilities to wage asymmetric or irregular conflict - and to quickly meet the ever-changing needs of our forces engaged in these conflicts...