In other news, dog bites man

Posted By Daniel W. Drezner Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - 8:40 PM Share

Secretary of Defense Bob Gates has voiced concerns in the past about the underfunding of foreign policy departments not located in the Pentagon. From this Washington Post story by Ann Scott Tyson, it appears he's upping the ante:

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned yesterday against the risk of a "creeping militarization" of U.S. foreign policy, saying the State Department should lead U.S. engagement with other countries, with the military playing a supporting role.
"We cannot kill or capture our way to victory" in the long-term campaign against terrorism, Gates said, arguing that military action should be subordinate to political and economic efforts to undermine extremism.

You expect to hear the phrase "creeping militarization" with regard to U.S. foreign policy from a lot of places -- most of which would be ensconced within the academy. When the Secretary of Defense is saying it, however, it's worth taking notice. More here:

Broadly speaking, when it comes to America’s engagement with the rest of the world, you probably don’t here this often from a Secretary of Defense , it is important that the military is – and is clearly seen to be – in a supporting role to civilian agencies. Our diplomatic leaders – be they in ambassadors’ suites or on the seventh floor of the State Department – must have the resources and political support needed to fully exercise their statutory responsibilities in leading American foreign policy.

From a standard bureaucratic politics perspective, this kind of behavior is damn unusual. Agency heads usually don't go around saying that other agencies need more resources. Of course, Gates himself likely doesn't think much of that perspective:

One of the reasons I have rarely been invited to lecture in political science departments – including at Texas A&M – is because faculty correctly suspect that I would tell the students that what their textbooks say about government does not describe the reality I have experienced in working for seven presidents.

EXPLORE:U.S. FOREIGN POLICY, BOB GATES, BUREAUCRATIC POLITICS, CREEPING MILITARIZATION

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ZATHRAS

3:42 AM ET

July 17, 2008

Militarization of foreign

Militarization of foreign policy, in the sense of the State Department's weakened bureaucratic position relative to the Pentagon, was well under way long before Bob Gates, or Donald Rumsfeld for that matter, showed up at the Pentagon under Bush.

It accelerated under Rumsfeld, partly because the whole administration oriented its foreign policy around the adventure in Iraq but also because Rumsfeld was able at the Pentagon to indulge his lifelong mania for fighting bureaucratic battles. For Rumsfeld, turf was victory. It has occurred to the less single-minded Gates that the Defense Department doesn't really know what to do with all the foreign policy turf it has accumulated in the last fifteen years, and will need to hand some of it off as it attempts to deal with all the issues raised by the long wars in Southwest Asia.

To whom does this turf get handed off? The State Department is the easy (also the traditional) answer, but it isn't clear that State today is a strong enough institution to handle the job. In a new administration, State will need more people, and it will need more money. It will also need a President determined to back up its claim to be first among equals in the Cabinet when it comes to designing and implementing foreign policy.

That's a tall order, and it's essentially what Gates is calling for. If there is anything about it that seems strange to me, it isn't that it is coming from the Secretary of Defense. It's that it is coming from the Secretary of Defense for a President who has failed to give the State Department any of the things it needs to do what Gates would like it to do. That's testimony, at a minimum, to the very peculiar organizational relationships in this administration.

GATES: THE STATE DEPARTMENT SHOULD LEAD U.S. ENGAGEMENT WITH

8:38 PM ET

July 17, 2008

[...] For a detailed post of

[...] For a detailed post of this, see Daniel Drezner’s blog. [...]

QUOTE OF THE DAY (OH, SNAP! EDITION) | TEA BREAK

1:22 AM ET

July 18, 2008

[...] Of The Day (Oh, Snap!

[...] Of The Day (Oh, Snap! Edition) July 18th, 2008 United States Secretary of Defense lets rip on, uh, some people. One of the reasons I have rarely been invited to lecture in political science [...]

KENNETH ALMQUIST

1:34 AM ET

July 18, 2008

Gates has a good shot at

Gates has a good shot at being the one person who will leave the Bush Administration with a better reputation than when he went in. I would speculate that he knew coming in that he would be serving under a president who had been to a large degree discredited, so he doesn't feel a great deal of loyalty to Bush, and because he will be gone soon he doesn't have much reason to worry about the size of his empire.

STEVE

9:13 AM ET

July 19, 2008

Gates has helped turn things

Gates has helped turn things around after Rumsfeld. There would be no Petraeus success without Gates IMO. He is a true professional, respected by those in and out of the DoD. He also supports approached to the ME that are not in line with Bush's standard lines, yet manages to get away with this more than any Secretary. My hope is that he will stay on for at least two years into the next administration.

Steve