As the Secretary of Defense for the administration of former President Barack Obama, Robert Gates went off on today’s politician’s methods of handling highly classified information as he spoke in an interview over the weekend where he also chose to take a shot at President Joe Biden’s handling of the war in Ukraine.
Gates issued the remarks as part of an interview with host Chuck Todd on “Meet The Press” by NBC News in which they discussed currently raging political issues.
When questioned about what Biden should be doing when it comes to Ukraine, Gates stated that the things the administration is currently trying to do — which includes the shipping of tanks and other critical military hardware to Ukraine — should’ve happened multiple months ago.
“A lot of this could’ve been done sooner,” stated Gates. “And, you know, they’re talking about it potentially being six months, a year, or more before the Abrams tanks get there. I think the key thing about the Abrams tank decision was that it unlocked Germans being able to provide.”
When this was followed up with questions about the ongoing classified document scandals which have swept over Trump, Biden, and former Vice President Mike Pence, Gates claimed that the real problem is that the people who are dealing with the classified papers are just being negligent.
“You have a legacy, I think, in Washington of sort of being a guy that sort of fixes sort of dumb problems. Meaning Like stuff — you’re like, “Why isn’t this fixed?” explained Todd. “So how would you [fix] this classified document situation that our politics finds itself in, is this something that the bureaucracy should fix? Or is there something more nefarious?”
“Well, I think – I think it’s about people being more responsible,” Gates answered. “I think there’s an element of carelessness. In some cases there may be intent to take the documents. I think maybe we ought to look at the way transitions take place, so that there’s a more orderly process for these classified documents.”
After Todd tried to highlight that the Pentagon was “orderly when it comes to classified documents,” Gates stated that nothing stamped as classified ever actually leaves the building.
Gates has historically been known to throw criticism at the feet of Biden due to his record when it comes to foreign policy, which a large number of critics claimed is disastrous.
Back in 2019, Gates issued a warning that Biden had been “wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”
