The Best Defense mailbag: Hey Tom, are you really boycotting the QDR?

 Query: Reader “Walter Scott” of New York City writes to inquire why I am not all hot to trot to discuss the new Quadrennial Defense Review, in which the office of the secretary of Defense tells they armed forces how they gots to change to adapt to the onrushing future.

Answer: Because why? Because after covering this stuff for years for newspapers, I came to believe that these reviews rarely make much difference. The civilians propose, the services dispose — usually by ignoring it, waiting it out, or saying they can only make the changes if you give them a few billion dollars. In fact sometimes I wonder if the QDR was cleverly invented to keep the civilians busy so they don’t distract the service staffs. (My apologies to civilian friends of my at the Pentagon who have ruined their lives working on this thing for the last year. As my mother would say, “It’s a racket!”)

Bonus gays in the military answer: While I am on it, I think that lifting the ban on being openly gay in the military will actually be easier than people think. Ten years from now we’ll look back and wonder what the fuss was about. We have a very professional military that is at war. They can handle it. (Note to readers: When you read objections to lifting the ban, note the age of the writer. I wouldn’t worry much about anyone who left the military before 1990.)