Rather than tackle the real inefficiencies in military spending — most of which are caused by Congressional mandates — Defense Secretary Robert Gates jumped on the feel-good bandwagon whose occupants gaily call for eliminating the “fat” from the Pentagon’s budget.

Last week, Gates signed off on a forty-plus page memorandum trumpeting “savings” to be wrung out of the armed forces. One of the more puzzling cuts was in the Office of Net Assessment, which plans to “[r]educe study and analysis budget by 15% given the demand by the Office of the Secretary of Defense.”