Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, frequent critic of the Air Force’s desire to gain more than 183 F-22 Raptors, on Dec. 2 announced his plan to leave his post at the Pentagon rather than remain on with Defense Secretary Robert Gates under the new Administration. England said he had expected to serve only two to four years, but he wound up still on the job “after almost eight years.” He plans to stay past the Jan. 20 inauguration of President Obama to aid in the transition but gave no firm date.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…