Change in Command for the Commander in Chief

The incoming administration doesn’t just have a war to win in Afghanistan, and another one to end responsibly in Iraq. The new president and his advisors are going to have to settle the civil war inside the Pentagon – and decide what kind of military we’re going to have in the decades to come.

Since 9/11, two competing camps have been jockeying for supremacy within the military establishment. Put (over) simply, one group wants lots of stealth fighters and hulking destroyers, to deter a potential cataclysmic showdown with Russia or China tomorrow. The other is looking for more troops and more spy drones, to fight the cancerous little wars of stability and occupation, like the ones we’re in today. At stake is more than just hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of gear and salaries. The winner of this intra-Pentagon struggle decides how America trains its troops, cooperates with allies, and positions itself in the world.

Since he took over the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has made it clear that he thinks that America is going to be fighting guerrilla wars for decades to come. But he hasn’t done much to change the Rumsfeld-era budgets, which invested heavily in the fights against a Moscow or a Beijing. Instead, most of those decisions were “punted” to the next administration.

Well, now that administration is here. Gates is part of it. Which means we may see the end of this Pentagon civil war soon. “Now he is going to be the recipient of those punts, and he won’t be calling a fair catch,” said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell. “He is prepared to deal with them head-on.”

Noah Shachtman is the editor of Wired.com’s Danger Room blog. He also writes about technology, national security, politics and geek culture for The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and others. Since 1998, he’s been reporting for Wired.com and Wired magazine on a variety of subjects: defusing roadside explosives with a Baghdad bomb squad, sneaking into the Los Alamos nuclear lab, chasing down suspects on Chicago’s West Side, investigating a triple homicide in Tacoma, Washington, and undergoing experiments by Pentagon-funded scientists at Stanford. In the past, Schachtman has written articles for Esquire, Popular Science, the New York Post and The New York Times Magazine. He’s been interviewed by the Associated Press, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS radio, NPR and BBC radio, among many others. Before turning to journalism, Schachtman worked as a professional bass player, book editor and campaign staffer on Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign. He lives in New York City and Venice Beach, California, with his wife, Elizabeth.