When he was defense secretary, Robert Gates would often say there are more people in military bands than in the State Department's Foreign Service. The Pentagon could always get funding, while State was often cut in the budget process.
Now Gates has expanded on that theme in his latest book — Exercise of Power: American Failures, Successes, and a New Path Forward in the Post-Cold War World -- which says presidents too often rely on the military for matters that more often than not call for other elements of American power: diplomacy or foreign aid or clear strategic communications.
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