New task force to focus on field resources

[unhappycamper]

New task force to focus on field resources
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, April 22, 2008

WASHINGTON — Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Monday announced a new task force charged with more quickly fielding intelligence and surveillance equipment into combat zones, specifically citing the need for more unmanned aircraft.

The unit is similar to the MRAP Task Force set up last May. In a speech before students at the Air University at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base in Alabama, Gates said the new group is needed to help officials speed up Pentagon bureaucracy.

“My concern is that our services are not moving aggressively in wartime to bring resources needed now on the battlefield,” Gates said. “I’ve been wrestling for months to get more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets in the theater.

“Because people were stuck in old ways of doing business it’s been like pulling teeth. While we’ve doubled this capability in recent months, it is still not good enough.”

The task force will be chaired by Bradley M. Berkson, director for program analysis and evaluation, said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman on Monday.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54226