geoff morrell

More on the question of Gen. Stanley McChrystal testifying to Congress, as the GOP leadership, Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) and now Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) all want, albeit for different reasons. Last month, when Skelton asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to produce McChrystal, Gates spokesman Geoff Morrell replied that “the secretary believes his focus and [...]

As I observed yesterday, one of the ways that the Republicans are going to try to box President Obama in on escalating in Afghanistan is to call for Gen. Stanley McChrystal to testify before Congress in the hopes of getting him on record contradicting Obama. (The Washington Times has a longer piece today on that [...]

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told our own Dave Weigel that “those in the Pentagon who do answer to the commander in chief and have to answer for his policy decisions” aren’t “at a point of liberty where they can speak their minds” on the overhauled missile defense system. That sounded a lot like Huckabee [...]

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) went on “Face The Nation” and balked at the idea of more troops for Afghanistan, following the lead of Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.). His colleague on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), had a memorable rejoinder:
Graham, who also serves on the Armed Services Committee, said, “My message to [...]

I asked Geoff Morrell, spokesman for Defense Secretary Robert Gates, for a reaction to Gates’ victory in the Senate over the F-22 just now. Morrell:
“Secretary Gates appreciates the careful consideration Senators have given to  this matter of national security and he applauds their bipartisan support to  complete the F-22 program at 187 planes. He understands [...]

Yesterday’s Pentagon briefing featured a telling exchange about Iraq between a reporter (whom I think was McClatchy’s Nancy Youssef) and  spokesman Geoff Morrell. If the United States is on pace to withdraw from Iraq, the reporter wanted to know, wasn’t the United States declaring victory? Morrell came up with a couple of unsatisfying evasions — [...]

Defense Secretary Bob Gates’ spokesman Geoff Morrell  tells Ben Smith there’s still a GWOT after all.