Holding the Line by Guy Snodgrass

Author:Guy Snodgrass [Snodgrass, Guy]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2019-10-28T16:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

GREAT POWERS

The reality is, the United States has global interests. Our defense budget is about the same as the defense budgets or military budgets of every other country in the world put together.

—FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ROBERT GATES

The next day I was sitting in the auditorium at Johns Hopkins University for Secretary Mattis’s rollout of the National Defense Strategy when it hit me—the president never actually gave us the thumbs-up to release the strategy.

The briefing had careened so far off track that we just packed up and kept going with the rest of our day. It was a good example of how Mattis “managed up,” taking the absence of a strong “no” from the president as tacit acknowledgment to press forward with a defense strategy that would drive America’s $700 billion–plus in military investments for the next three to four years.

Arriving at the university’s auditorium had been an exercise in comedy. I had helped Ryan Stoddard and the boss collect everything he’d need, provided them both with the latest copies of Mattis’s speech, and compiled a listing of its most quotable quotes. Mattis always ordered his public affairs lead, Dana White, and me to “write the headlines we wanted to see.” I found that the best way to do so was to help the reporters do their job. Who wanted to dig through an entire speech to mine its relatively few real nuggets? Better to offer them up front. To ensure maximum coverage, that morning I’d sent the draft to Colonel Rob Manning, the director of Pentagon press operations. He’d assisted by forwarding an embargoed copy of the remarks to all defense-related reporters.

Ready to roll out the strategy, Mattis, Stoddard, Faller, and I had made our way downstairs for the motorcade to the university. About five minutes later, I received a panicked text from Stoddard, who was riding with the secretary:

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