If you've read anything about the power of the military-industrial complex, or if you've watched the brilliant documentary Why We Fight, the following summary of Bob Gates' approach to the Defense budget will make you smile:
First, defense contractors and their Capitol Hill allies are alarmed at how Gates has shut them out of the the decision-making process about the Pentagon budget as he has publicly warned, in vague terms, about making “hard choices” that will place defense systems and weapons programs beloved by the armed services and their contractors on the chopping block. And second, Gates has adopted a strategy for his budget that presumes that most of the defense industry is an obstacle at best and an adversary at worst.
Of course it doesn't hurt that Gates' boss is setting the policy.