WASHINGTON—Two former U.S. military leaders lashed out at Congress Monday, declaring the failure of lawmakers to reach agreement on solving the U.S. debt crisis the greatest threat to U.S. national security.
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates and retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen did not hold back when addressing a forum on America’s debt at foreign policy think tank, the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, D.C.
“The inability of so many political leaders today to step outside their ideological cocoons or offend their most partisan supporters has become a real threat to America’s future,” Gates said via video hook-up from Texas.
He accused members of Congress of “managerial cowardice” in choosing sequestration, the “mindless” cuts to defense and nondefense spending, rather than reaching bipartisan agreement to address U.S. debt levels.
“This is no way to run a country,” he said.
