Gates: U.S. Must Maintain Conventional Dominance

WASHINGTON --- As the military institutionalizes new and unconventional warfighting skills, it also must work to maintain its conventional dominance, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates wrote in the January/February issue of Foreign Affairs magazine.>> Gates article, titled A Balanced Strategy: Reprogramming the Pentagon for a New Age, cited the need to ensure the United States is prepared to confront both conventional and unconventional threats as well as warfare that blends the two.>> The categories of warfare are blurring and no longer fit into neat, tidy boxes, Gates wrote. One can expect to see more tools and tactics of destruction -- from the sophisticated to the simple -- being employed simultaneously in hybrid and more complex forms of warfare.>> The secretary pointed to examples of this phenomenon: Russias conventional offensive in Georgia that also included a sophisticated cyber attack and propaganda campaign, and Saddam Husseins use of paramilitary fighters as well as the Republican Guards T-72 tanks.>> Conversely, militias, insurgent groups, other nonstate actors and developing-world militaries are increasingly acquiring more technology, lethality and sophistication, Gates said. The rocket and missile arsenal of Hezbollah a Lebanon-based terrorist organization -- dwarfs those of many nation-states, he noted, and Chinese and Russian arms sales are putting advanced offensive and defensive capabilities into the hands of more countries and groups.>> This sends a signal to the United States about the types of units it fields, the weapons it buys and the training it conducts, Gates said.