Arthur Herman: The Re-Hollowing of the Military
It comes as little surprise that Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the last Cabinet holdover from the George W. Bush administration, is planning to step down next year. Most expected him to stick it out only through the year-end review of the Afghanistan-surge strategy.
What’s noteworthy is his announcing this just days after ordering the closing of the Pentagon’s Joint Forces Command and the dismissal of thousands of employees at its Norfolk, Virginia, headquarters, as well as hundreds of uniformed officers who are being forced out to pasture.
That’s not going to engender good feelings inside the ring. In light of Gates’s announcement, we are offering readers a preview from our yet-to-be-released September issue: Arthur Herman’s “The Re-Hollowing of the Military.” In it, Herman takes a close look at what may prove to be the most notable and dangerous aspect of Gates’s legacy.