Opposed Systems Design

In response to his “radical” vision, Gates is preparing for the Know Nothings — those same national-security figureheads who have long sung his praises from the Capitol — to put him through the meat grinder. He will be dubbed, with all appropriate indirectness, “naïve” and “reckless.” His opponents, all of whom fear that the loss of home-district defense jobs will ultimately end their congressional careers, will suddenly accuse Gates of disregarding this or that “disturbing trend.” Try not to laugh out loud when you spot these security neophytes on TV, spouting absolute nonsense fed to them by staffers smarted-up by Google searches.

Of course, the organizations that can start getting Congressmen and women to have a stake in the fight because of jobs in their district building the equipment used in all the “little” wars will begin cleaning up in this scenario (as they will be rowing with the tide). In other words, Senator, if you want to assure your reelection, then learn to love the SysAdmin Industrial Complex.