subliminal message in this speech that he really wants to get out of afghanistan, and all that psychobabble is utter nonsense. remember, we re talking about a secretary that is on the record as supporting both these conflicts, a secretary who was the architect of the 30,000 troop surge in afghanistan which is working to great effect, and we re talking about someone who s been very outspoken in his belief that whatever happens in july when it comes to the transition in afghanistan, it has to be measured and carefully done and conditions-based. so he is not looking for the exits in afghanistanment so what was afghanistan. so what was he trying to communicate to the army? anyone that has followed secretary gates knows he s been in a wrestling match with the pentagon bureaucracy, getting it to remember we have to institutionalize everything we ve learned in iraq and afghanistan on asymmetrical warfare. we can t go back to our comfort zone which in the army is heavy,
to actually get settled. correct? reporter: you re absolutely right, kyra. there s a good deal of work that needs to be done. they have to go through all of the pentagon bureaucracy and rules about all of this. they have already determined there will not be separate housing, separate bar racks, if you will. separate shower facilities. this country long ago moved beyond any concept of separate but equal. in the u.s. military, everyone will be treated alike. so, that is the one thing that seems clear. what remains to a large extent to be sorted out are some of the very technical questions, i think, about benefits and dependents. there is the defensive marriage act in this country which defines marriage as between a man and a woman so the question of same-sex partners, health care benefits, health care benefits for dependents, who is a dependent, some of these are the very technical questions that still will be worked on in
from a personnel standpoint there are some things we can cut. the g.i. bill, i have been a long and strong supporter. about it doesn t provide benefits for the military service members to go to college, also the spouses. i think we ought to look at that as well. shannon: we know the debt commission, whatever comes from the commission would be official december 1. any other advice for them? $100 billion sounds like a lot. it s a huge chunk. i hope this new congress one of the great things about this new congress, we have members who actually have on the battlefield experience in places like iraq and afghanistan. and know thes in and out of the pentagon bureaucracy.
the pentagon, bill lynn, and democrats especially on capitol hill. earlier today, some congressional leaders were even over here at the pentagon to discuss all of this. this is a real indication to detect what a tough time bill gates may have in his administration in the pentagon of convincing democrats and republicans that they must cut defense spending even in this time of war. the virginia senator is sensitive to the enormous number of jobs that are going to be lost in virginia if the recommendations go forward, is that right? oh, absolutely. it could number in the thousands. and this could be just one part of the job cuts that may be coming both in the pentagon bureaucracy and in defense contracting if secretary gates gets in the way. that s the members of congress want to be seen as consulting unneeded, unwanted defense
defense secretary robert gates wants to get some wants to see, rather, belt tightening at the pentagon. the center diagram piece of his budget plan getting rid of the u.s. joint forces command. a move that could cut 3,000 jobs. barbara starr joins us live from the pentagon with this morning s security watch. obviously this morning the question involved here is will that jeopardize our nation s security? well, probably not, to be honest. the joint forces command is one of these pieces of pentagon bureaucracy that a few years after it was created people say why do we really need that. it is part of the military that tries to get all of the services to work together. so gates is proposing cutting it is part of this big budget cutting plan, but in fact a lot of what it does will simply be taken over by another part of the defense bureaucracy. defense secretaries for decades keep talking about let s cut the budget, let s cut the budget. this is something that they all talk about. gate