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Bill Gertz

Bill Gertz

bgertz@washingtontimes.com

Bill Gertz is a national security correspondent for The Washington Times. He has been with The Times since 1985.
He is the author of eight books, four of them national best-sellers. His latest book, "Deceiving the Sky: Inside Communist China's Drive for Global Supremacy," reveals details about the growing threat posed by the People's Republic of China. He is also the author of the ebook "How China's Communist Party Made the World Sick."
Mr. Gertz also writes Inside the Ring, a weekly column that chronicles the U.S. national security bureaucracy.
Mr. Gertz has been a guest lecturer at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va.; the Central Intelligence Agency in Virginia; the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington; and the Brookings Institution in Washington. He has participated in the National Security Studies Program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and Syracuse University Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
He studied English literature at Washington College in Chestertown, Md., and journalism at George Washington University. He is married and has two daughters.
He can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Bill Gertz

Inside the Ring: Ideological war on terror needed

The U.S. military made impressive gains on the battlefield and covertly in countering Islamist terrorists since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But the military and government at large so far have failed to strike the religiously motivated ideology behind al Qaeda and other Islamic extremists.

November 14, 2012
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, who has held that position since June 2011, is said to want to resume private life, but officially, he is he’s fully focused on his department’s missions. (Associated Press)

Inside the Ring: Panetta’s future

Tuesday's re-election of President Obama triggered immediate speculation about the future of Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, who will turn 75 in June. Mr. Panetta, defense secretary since June 2011, has had a long career in government and is said by associates to be ready to return to private life in Northern California, where he frequently visits and owns land.

November 7, 2012

Inside the Ring: Obama, Romney on China

Last week's presidential debate on foreign policy has sharpened attention on the candidates' views on China and whether its large-scale military buildup is a threat to U.S. security.

October 31, 2012

Inside the Ring: Former CNO on Sequester

Retired Navy Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations until a year ago, said the coming defense budget sequester will be tantamount to shooting the military in the head.

October 24, 2012
President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speak during the second presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Inside the Ring: Benghazigate debate heats up

The presidential debate Tuesday between President Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney added new life to the fierce debate over the Obama administration's mishandling of the terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

October 17, 2012
Book cover for "Renegades Write the Rules: How the Digital Royalty use Social Media to Innovate" by Amy Jo Martin.

Inside the Ring: New WMD threats

A Pentagon-sponsored report warns that the United States faces new threats from mass destruction weapons in the form of cyber, electronic and financial attacks, in addition to more well-known dangers from nuclear, chemical and biological WMD arms.

October 10, 2012
**FILE** Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld delivers his speech to the crowd during a "Symposium on Values and Consequences" as part of the 30th anniversary celebration of The Washington Times at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington on Oct. 2, 2012. (The Washington Times)

Inside the Ring: Rumsfeld hits Obama

Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld blamed President Obama's apologies and policies of blaming America for the ills of the world as the root cause behind the anti-U.S. violence that erupted recently in the Muslim world.

October 3, 2012
The newly commissioned Liaoning is China’s first aircraft carrier. It was put into service on Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012, underscoring the country’s ambitions to be a leading Asian naval power, although no warplanes have been seen taking off from or landing on the ship — making its current utility as a strategic power projection tool questionable. (Associated Press)

Inside the Ring: China’s aircraft-less carrier

China celebrated the commissioning this week of its first aircraft carrier with blustering statements and warnings to neighbors in Asia that the warship will help China settle its numerous maritime disputes.

September 26, 2012
Rohrabacher

Inside the Ring: Invitation to China

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta's unusual offer to China's military to join a major U.S.-led naval exercise in the Pacific prompted several U.S. security officials to express fears privately that China will gain valuable war-fighting intelligence from the Rimpac, or Rim of the Pacific, exercise.

September 19, 2012

Inside the Ring: China rejects zero option

President Obama and other disarmament advocates continue to call for the total elimination of nuclear arms. This week, China's government signaled its intention to move in the opposite direction and expand and speed up its large-scale nuclear buildup.

September 12, 2012
Rep. Michael R. Turner

Inside the Ring: Romney’s policy liberals

Several conservatives who sat in on closed-door meetings at last week's Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., came away worried by GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's foreign and defense policies.

September 5, 2012
Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is seen during an interview with The Associated Press in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010. Iraq's Prime Minister is defending a decision to ban hundreds of candidates from the upcoming election, saying that it would not hurt Sunni turnout for next Sunday's vote. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)

Inside the Ring: Iraq backing Iran

Iraq's Shiite-dominated government, led by President Nouri al-Maliki, continues to align itself more closely with neighboring Iran.

August 29, 2012
Jeh Johnson

Inside the Ring: Pentagon plumber

Pentagon general counsel Jeh Johnson is leading a major effort to plug news leaks and recently sent a memorandum to all Defense Department employees requesting that they all search their computers for information about contacts with reporters, according to defense officials familiar with the memo.

August 15, 2012
The Chinese frigate Dongguan, “the bully that ran aground” in the words of one Philippines official, was temporarily grounded near disputed Half Moon Shoal. (Philippines Government)

Inside the Ring: China warship grounded

A Chinese warship recently ran aground in the South China Sea, an embarrassing incident that has highlighted international tensions over Beijing's increasing military power and disputes among China's neighbors.

August 8, 2012
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz says the Air Force and Navy are developing "a range of initiatives" to counter high-technology and area-denial weaponry as part of the new Air Sea Battle Concept. (Associated Press)

Inside the Ring: Air Force Chief on air-sea battle

Outgoing Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz says the Air Force and Navy are developing "a range of initiatives" designed to counter high-technology anti-access and area-denial weaponry as part of the new Air Sea Battle Concept.

July 25, 2012
FILE - In this April 13, 2012 file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, applauds with military officers as he attends the unveiling ceremony of statues of late leaders, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Mansudae in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)

Inside the Ring: North Korean EMP

Recent satellite navigation jamming by North Korea’s military near the demilitarized zone and a report in a Chinese journal are raising new fears that Pyongyang is developing electromagnetic pulse weapons.

July 18, 2012
Army Gen. Keith B. Alexander, chief of U.S. Cyber Command, this week told a Chinese reporter that he thinks "defending our country in cyberspace is one of our most important missions ... to ensure that we're secure." (Associated Press)

Inside the Ring: CyberCom chief on digital war training

Army Gen. Keith B. Alexander, the commander of the new U.S. Cyber Command, this week defended the creation of the military's digital war-fighting command and its training of cyberwarriors for future high-tech combat.

July 11, 2012
**FILE** House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Peter King, New York Republican, speaks March 10, 2011, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Associated Press)

Inside the Ring: Military hit for correctness

The U.S. military is guilty of political correctness toward domestic Islamic terror, according to a congressional report made public Wednesday that concludes al Qaeda is using U.S.-based Muslim radicals to plan mass casualty attacks.

June 20, 2012