Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates calls Nov. 6 election most important in history

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

INSIDE OSU with President Hargis: Gates Interview

Robert Gates spent many years of his life protecting the American dream. He served as the 22nd United States Secretary of Defense from 2006 to 2011, and also spent 26 years in the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council.

But the 69-year-old says he doesn’t believe foreign affairs or the defense of the country are the most important issues in the Nov. 6 Presidential election, what he calls one of the most important in the nation’s history. Incumbent President Barack Obama is facing Republican challenger Mitt Romney. 

“Yes, I think it is more important because as a lot of commentators have pointed out we really have two very starkly different approaches to the role of government in the life of the country and in the economy,” Gates said on Tuesday afternoon before speaking to more than 850 people at the Executive Management Briefings at the Cox Business Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City.

The Executive Management Briefings is celebrating its 25th year of bringing business speakers and world leaders to Oklahoma City. The series is made possible by OklahomaState University’s Spears School of Business and its corporate sponsors.

Gates is recognized as one of the world’s most foremost experts on foreign affairs but he said Tuesday that the nation’s economy is the number-one issue when Americans go to the polls.

“I think actually both (Obama and Romney) have framed the issue pretty well. At some point, financial insolvency at home becomes strategic insolvency abroad,” said Gates. “We cannot sustain our leadership position militarily or politically around the world if we don’t have a strong economy here at home. That’s just the reality. We can’t sustain a strong defense budget without having a strong economy. 

“So, I think addressing that domestic issue actually is one of the most significant elements of the national security policy as well. As my comrade in arms, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, put it when we were still in office, the debt really is one of our biggest security problems.

“The other big issue is really what I would call the ark of instability from the Middle East, and the reality that you have Syria, Libya, Egypt, all the way to Pakistan. There is a lot of turmoil and a lot of instability, and I think this is going to get harder before it gets easier. Really, of all the countries in the world, I can’t think of any that have the potential to be as influential as we do.

“A lot of statements that get made in the campaign are about what we will do and what won’t do and what we’ll accomplish and so on, but I think those are more ambitious than reality. But, if anybody has any influence in trying to make these things come out in a positive way, it will be us,” said Gates, who has been Chancellor of the College of William and Mary since February.

Americans from coast to coast were thrilled on May 1, 2011 to hear the news that U.S. Navy Seals had killed Osama bin Laden. Days later photos surfaced of President Obama, VicePresident Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Gates and many others in the war room at the White House as the attack unfolded. 

Gates says the death of the founder of al-Qaeda and the mastermind of the attacks on the United States in 2001 were bittersweet as they brought back some painful memories. 

“For me, I think it was in some ways more meaningful than the rest of them because I’ve been in that situation 30 years before, almost exactly 30 years before when the attempt to rescue our hostages in Tehran failed, and the failure began with a crashed helicopter,” said Gates. “So, I about had an aneurysm when that helicopter went down. But what you saw was 30 years of reform, change, adaptation, training and investment in the skills of the team that went in there.”

Gates will be speaking at the Tulsa Business Forums at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Mabee Center, and at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater.