Accompanied Tours OKed at More Korea Sites

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates called for a revamping of the military procurements system to place less emphasis on esoteric and pricey systems at the expense of materiel and weapons that provide immediate and critical help to those who fight on the front lines. Writing in the January-February issue of Foreign Affairs magazine, Gates contended that weapons systems “have grown ever more baroque, have become ever more costly, are taking longer to build, and are being fielded in ever-dwindling quantities.” While acknowledging that expensive, high-tech systems have provided battlefield support during the war on terror, their implementation came at the expense of solving a more immediate need — protecting vehicles from improvised explosive device attacks. “The United States cannot expect to eliminate national security risks through higher defense budgets to do everything and buy everything,” Gates wrote. “The Department of Defense must set priorities and consider inescapable tradeoffs and opportunity costs.” **