YOULL UNVEIL MORE OF THIS.
THANKS FOR COMING IN AND SHARING
YOUR PERSPECTIVE.
>> THANKS, CHUCK.
>> THE CLEARING OF PROTESTERS
FROM LAFAYETTE SQUARE LED TO
CONDEMN NATION BYCON
CONDEMNATION BY MILITARY LEADERS
AND HE PUBLICLY REGRETTED TAKING
PART IN THE INCIDENT.
>> I SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN THERE.
MY PRESENCE IN THAT MOMENT AND
THAT ENVIRONMENT CREATED --
>> JOINING ME NOW IS ROBERT
GATES WHO SERVED AS SECRETARY OF
DEFENSE FOR PRESIDENT GEORGE W.
BUSH AND BARACK OBAMA.
HE IS ALSO THE AUTHOR OF A NEW
BOOK "EXERCISE OF POWER."
SECRETARY GATE, WELCOME BACK TO
"MEET THE PRESS."
GENERAL MILLIES SPEECH LATE
THIS WEEK AFTER A NUMBER OF
ATTEMPTS TO PUT SOME DISTANCE
BETWEEN WHAT HAPPENED.
YOUR REACTION, WAS IT
APPROPRIATE AND DID HE DO IT
SOON ENOUGH?
>> I THINK HE REALLY WRESTLED,
CHUCK, HOW TO RESPOND WHEN HE
REALIZED HOW THE APPEARANCES OF
HIM BEING PRESENT FOR THAT
PHOTO-OP SEEMED TO THE REST OF
THE COUNTRY.
I THINK -- IVE KNOWN MARK
MILLIE FOR A LONG TIME AND HES
A MAN OF GREAT INTEGRITY AND
TAKES HIS RESPONSIBILITIES AS A
MILITARY OFFICER VERY SERIOUSLY.
I THINK THE IMPORTANT THING WAS
THAT HE MADE THE STATEMENT AND
MADE IT WITH ALL SINCERITY AND
FRANKLY, THAT, PLUS HIS
STATEMENT, THE WRITTEN STATEMENT
TO SENIOR COMMANDERS AROUND THE
WORLD AROUND THE APOLITICAL
NATURE OF THE AMERICAN MILITARY
SENT A POWERFUL SIGNAL AND
RE-EMPHASIZED THE IMPORTANCE OF
THE MILITARY STAYING OUT OF
POLITICS AND FRANKLY, NOT
GETTING USED.
ALL OF THE PRESIDENTS I WORKED
FOR LIKE TO USE THE MILITARY AS
A PROP.
I THINK THIS PRESIDENTS
PROBABLY TAKEN THAT TO A NEW
LEVEL, BUT THE MILITARY HA TO
BE VERY SENSITIVE ABOUT BEING
EXPLOITED IN THAT WAY.
>> YOU KNOW, ANOTHER ASPECT
THATS COME UNDER SCRUTINY WITH
THE MILITARY, AS ONE HAND AS AN
INSTITUTION, ITS PERHAPS MORE
INTEGRATED THAN ANY OTHER MAJOR
INSTITUTION IN THIS COUNTRY AND
LAST WEEK WE HAD THE FIRST-EVER
MILITARY CHIEF TO BE THE HEAD OF
THE MILITARY BRANCHES BE AN
AFRICAN-AMERICAN.
SO HOW FAR BEHIND DO YOU THINK
THE MILITARY HAS BEEN AT LEAST
ON ITS UPPER LEVELS AND WHY IS
THAT?
YOUVE SEEN IT.
WHAT DO YOU THINK THAT IS?
IS THAT A SYSTEMIC RACISM ISSUE?
>> I DONT KNOW IF ITS SYSTEMIC
RACISM IN THE MILITARY.
THE MILITARY FOR A LONG TIME WAS
OUT IN FRONT OF THE COUNTRY WHEN
IT CAME TO INTEGRATION AND
OFFERING OPPORTUNITIES FOR
AFRICAN-AMERICANS AND OTHER
MINORITIES, BUT I THINK ONE OF
THE POINTS THAT GENERAL MILLIE
HAS MADE THIS WEEK IS THAT THE
MILITARY IS GOING HAVE TO PAY
MORE ATTENTION TO HOW IT MOVES
OFFICERS AND MINORITY OFFICERS INTO THE MOST SENIOR POSITIONS.
INTO THE MOST SENIOR POSITIONS.
THERE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN, AND
COLIN POWELL, AND THE COMMANDER
IN IRAQ DURING THE PERIOD WHEN I
WAS SECRETARY SO THERE HAVE BEEN
A NUMBER OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS,
BUT AS YOU POINT OUT THIS WAS
THE FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN
SERVICE CHIEF.
IN ALL HONESTY, THE FIRST
FOUR-STAR WOMAN WAS APPOINTED
WHILE I WAS SECRETARY AND THAT
WAS PRETTY FAR INTO THE PROCESS,
AS WELL. SO I THINK THE MILITARY IS
SO I THINK THE MILITARY IS
REALLY FOCUSED NOW ON HOW
REGULARLY MINORITIES AND
PARTICULARLY AFRICAN-AMERICANS
ARE MOVED INTO THE MOST SENIOR
POSITIONS IN THE MILITARY.
>> IM CURIOUS ON YOU CHANGING
THE NAMES OF THE SOUTHERN
INSTITUTIONS AND THE BANNING OF
CONFEDERATE PARAPHERNALIA IN THE
MARINES.
ARE ALL OF THESE THINGS WHOSE
TIME HAS COME?
>> I THINK THAT THE
OPPORTUNITIES ARE PRESENTED BY
EVENTS, AND I THINK WE NOW HAVE
THE OPPORTUNITY, PARTICULARLY TO
CHANGE THE NAMES OF OUR MILITARY
FACILITIES AND IVE ALWAYS
PUZZLED OVER THE FACT THAT WE
DONT HAVE A FORT GEORGE
WASHINGTON OR A FORT ULYSSES S.
GRANT, SO I THINK THE TIME HAS
COME, AND I THINK THERE IS THE
OPPORTUNITY NOT ONLY TO NAME
SOME OF THESE PLACES FOR SMFROME
OUR GREAT GENERALS OF THE 20th
CENTURY AND ALSO INDIVIDUALS
SUCH AS AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND
OTHER MINORITY MEDAL OF HONOR
RECIPIENTS AND SO ON.
WEVE DONE THAT IN NAMING SHIPS.
WE JUST HAVENT DONE IT WITH OUR
FACILITIES.
>> YOUVE HAD SOME TOUGH WORDS
ON BOTH OF THE TWO POTENTIAL MEN
WHO ARE MEETING IN THE NEXT
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.
HERES WHAT YOU WROTE ABOUT JOE
BIDEN IN 2014.
JOE IS A MAN OF INTEGRITY AND
INCAPABLE OF HIDING WHAT HE
THINKS AND ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE
YOU CAN TURN TO IN CRISIS,
STILL, I THINK HE IS WRONG IN
POLICY. DOES THAT MAKE IT HARD FOR YOU
DOES THAT MAKE IT HARD FOR YOU
TO SUPPORT HIM FOR PRESIDENT?
>> WELL, I THINK THE IMPORTANT
THING IS THE QUALITY OF HIS
CHARACTER AND I HAVE A LOT OF
POLICY DISAGREEMENTS WITH THE
FORMER VICE PRESIDENT, BUT I
THINK ONE OF THE THINGS THAT
PEOPLE WILL BE WEIGHING THIS
FALL IS PROBABLY THE CHARACTER
OF THE TWO CONTESTANTS.
>> WELL, LET ME PUT UP WHAT YOU
SAID ABOUT PRESIDENT TRUMP IN
2016.
YOU WERE PRETTY TOUGH ON HIM, AS
WELL.
LET ME READ THIS QUOTE.
HE IS STUBBORNLY ABOUT THE WAY
HE VIEWS THE WORLD AND TEMPERAMENTALLY UNSUITED TO LEAD
TEMPERAMENTALLY UNSUITED TO LEAD
THE MEN AND WOMEN IN UNIFORM AND
IN
BEING COMMANDER IN CHIEF.
>> WRITE ABOUT THIS IN THE BOOK,
AT LEAST HE HASNT STARTED ANY
NEW WARS, AND HE HAS ROBUSTLY
FUNDED THE MILITARY.
I SUPPORTED HIS OUTREACH TO
NORTH KOREA.
IT HASNT COME TO ANYTHING, BUT
I THOUGHT THAT WAS A BOLD MOVE
AND EVERYTHING ELSE HAD FAILED
IN THE PREVIOUS 25 YEARS.
I THOUGHT HIS CHALLENGING CHINA
WAS ABOUT TIME, BUT THERES THE
OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN.
SOME OF THE THINGS HE SAYS, HIS
TREATMENT AND WORDS ABOUT
MILITARY PEOPLE AND MILITARY
HEROES LIKE JOHN McCAIN THAT I
ADMIRE A LOT AND THEYRE
TROUBLESOME.
>> IS THIS THE CASE WHERE
CHARACTER TRUMPS POLICY FOR YOU?
>> I THINK THAT WILL BE UP TO
THE VOTERS OF THE COUNTRY.
>> SECRETARY GATES, IM GOING TO
LEAVE IT THERE.
IM GLAD YOU BROUGHT UP NORTH
KOREA, IF I HAD MORE TIME I
WOULD ASK YOU ABOUT AN
INTERESTING COMMENT FROM YOUR
BOOK ABOUT NORTH KOREA AND ABOUT
WHETHER ITS TIME FOR US TO
ACCEPT THEM AS A NUCLEAR POWER