Robert Gates's Dereliction of 'Duty'
By Bret Stephens from the WSJ. Yes, I had to do a double take but this is juicy:
(snip)
The former defense secretary devoted most of his adult life to climbing the structures of power in Washington, D.C. He was deputy CIA director under Ronald Reagan and CIA director under George H.W. Bush. He then served at the Pentagon for 4½ years under both George W. Bush and Barack Obama —holding the job longer than all but four of his predecessors. He was retired with a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Now he wants you to know he was offended, irritated, enraged, scandalized, "too old for this $%*&," and just plain itching to quit nearly every day he spent at the top.
(snip)
Take this vignette from 2010: That January, Mr. Gates called for "a highly restricted meeting of the principals to discuss the possibility of conflict with Iran with little or no advance notice." Nothing happened for a few months, until a story somehow appeared in the New York Times saying nothing was happening. Three days later, the principals met with the president in the Oval Office. Mr. Gates describes the meeting in detail and then concludes with this nugget:
"I was put off by the way the president closed the meeting. To his very closest advisers, he said, 'For the record, and for those of you writing your memoirs, I am not making any decisions about Israel or Iran. Joe [Biden], you be my witness.' I was offended by his suspicion that any of us would ever write about such sensitive matters."
This is related without irony on page 393.
(snip)
"I did not enjoy being secretary of defense," Mr. Gates writes at one point in the book. Fair enough; he could have retired after serving out the remainder of President Bush's term. He didn't. "People have no idea how much I detest this job," he quotes from an email he wrote in mid-2008, trying to scotch rumors that he would serve under the next administration. Fair enough; he could have turned down Mr. Obama's offer when it was made. He didn't. "If you want me to stay for about a year, I will do so," he told Mr. Obama after the 2008 election. Fair enough; he could have kept the promise to the letter. He didn't; he stayed on for another 29 months.
Those are choices Mr. Gates made for his own reasons. Serving as secretary of defense, after all, isn't really a duty; it's an honor and a privilege. Honors and privileges, however, do have duties. One is: Don't treat them as a burden. Another is: Don't betray the confidence of those who bestow them on you. A third is: Resignation is honorable, but the tell-all memoir against a president still in office is not. When people wonder why Mr. Obama only seems to listen to Valerie Jarrett and other hacks, maybe it's because at least he can count on their loyalty. Deep in the book Mr. Gates writes that "A favorite saying of mine is 'Never miss a good chance to shut up.'" His memoir is one big missed chance.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303595404579318451303062572
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