15 April 2008

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Speech to Association of American Universities

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Speech to Association of American Universities (Washington, D.C.), Monday, 14 April 2008.

“The Chinese government publishes a tremendous amount of information about military and technological developments on an open-source basis. However, it is often inconvenient, if not impossible, for American researchers to get access to this material since it is often available only in China. A real–or virtual–archive of documents acquired by researchers and others abroad would help us track Chinese military and technological developments.”

“Faculty members at the Naval War College have already instituted a smaller version of this idea focusing on the Chinese Navy. If other colleges and universities were to specialize in other areas, then a consortium–with a common ‘card catalogue’ and interlibrary loan–would allow scholars and schools to pool resources. Further, by holding conferences and sponsoring research, such a consortium would make a very real contribution to our understanding of the intentions of an important world power and military power–an understanding that would have real impact on public policy.”