February 2, 2010 6:40PM # Robert Gates, Meet Robert Gates By [Justin Logan](https://www.cato.org/people/justin-logan) --- SHARE ![Media Name: gatesthen.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/wp-content/uploads/gatesthen.jpg?itok=AiAkDb1N) “If the Department of Defense can’t figure out a way to defend the United States on a budget of more than half a trillion dollars a year, then our problems are much bigger than anything that can be cured by buying a few more ships and planes.” — Defense Secretary Robert Gates, [Speech to Economic Club of Chicago, July 16, 2009](http://www.defense.gov/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1369) “The situation out there in the world doesn’t change and the world is getting more dangerous rather than less so. The Defense Department certainly spends a lot of money but if you look at where the Defense Department is today it certainly is within historical norms.” — Defense Secretary Robert Gates, [responding to suggestions that his new $741 billion budget should be cut, February 2, 2010](http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/02/02/cut-budget-gut-force-structure-gates/) ##### Related Tags [Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).