ROBERT GATES: The Biggest Threat To National Security Is Located In DC

Former Secretary of Defense and former Director of the CIA Robert Gates talked for a bit in the Hearst Tower Sunday about the state of U.S. national security.

Popular Mechanics posted some of his comments, including how the biggest threat to national security is a divisive political system that's too paralyzed to act on any issue:

"I think the biggest threat to our future sits in Washington, D.C., and not someplace else. The rest of the problems of the world wouldn't worry me if we had a functional government. And if we had a Congress that could begin to address some of the long-term problems that the country has. I mean, the reality is our problems are deep enough in every category that none of them can be resolved during the course of one presidency or one Congress. So you need bipartisan solutions that can be sustained through more than one presidency and more than one Congress. And we don't see any evidence of that in Washington."

The sentiment closely mirrors what Gates said during an acceptance speech for the Liberty Medal in 2011. During the speech, he more or less gave Congress a dressing down for rigging districts and exacting needless revenge upon each other for political points.