Gates, do you hope that General Petraeus will sort of apply his lessons learned from Iraq into Afghanistan?
Do you hope that he will overhaul — help lead an overhaul of the Afghanistan strategy? SEC. GATES: Well, first of all, you have to understand that the part of Afghanistan for which CENTCOM commander has responsibility is OEF, which is basically the U.S. forces operating in RC East. RC East already has been a successful exemplar of a successful counterinsurgency. And so the key there would be also to continue to build on success. The question is, how do we do a better job with our allies in RC South? But that’s not in OEF’s area of responsibility. Q Mr. Secretary, this week key members of Congress are being briefed on what U.S. intelligence knows about North Korea’s providing of nuclear-technical expertise to Syria. When, if ever, will it be appropriate for the American public to be told about what the U.S. believes was going on there? SEC. GATES: Soon. Q And can you say anything about it? SEC. GATES: I think “soon” will do the job. Q Mr. Secretary, do you anticipate any change in the
