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Bill Gertz

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

EXCLUSIVE: Obama wants Bush war team to stay

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is asking many of the Bush administration's 250 Pentagon political appointees to remain on the job until the incoming Obama administration finds replacements -- a move designed to prevent a leadership vacuum with U.S. troops engaged in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

December 23, 2008

Obama wants Bush war team to stay

EXCLUSIVE: Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has asked most Bush administration political appointees — except those targeted for dismissal — to stay on in the Pentagon until replaced by the Obama administration in the coming months.

December 22, 2008

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. to tighten export rules on 5 firms in China

EXCLUSIVE: The U.S. government is taking steps to suspend a program that allows five companies in China to obtain sensitive U.S. technology without an export license, according to documents and interviews.

December 17, 2008

Inside the Ring

The U.S. military is moving ahead with a new strategy to develop precision-guided, conventionally armed missiles that can hit targets anywhere in the world within minutes.

November 27, 2008

Inside the Ring

The Pentagon's military exchange program with China suffered another setback this week when a Chinese general announced that military visits and port calls by ships will not resume until the announced $6.5 billion U.S. arms package to Taiwan is canceled.

November 20, 2008

Inside the Ring

Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering, outgoing director of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, said on Wednesday that U.S. missile defenses are working and he hopes President-elect Barack Obama will continue the multibillion-dollar programs once he is briefed on them.

November 13, 2008

Inside the Ring

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday that the United States is vulnerable to attack or other incidents during the presidential transition period and that the military is ready to respond.

November 6, 2008

Inside the Ring

A report by the Pentagon inspector general states that problems with controls and accounting for U.S. weapons and explosives supplied to the Afghan security forces could lead to the diversion of arms to insurgents.

October 30, 2008

Obama, McCain eye better use of spies

The next president will take office with plans to continue reforming the U.S. intelligence community and to put more emphasis on improving human intelligence.

October 23, 2008

Inside the Ring

An internal Chinese government document says China is working to develop an advanced unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as part of a strategy to combine civilian and military technology in weapons and nonmilitary equipment.

October 23, 2008

Military report: Terms ‘jihad,’ ‘Islamist’ needed

EXCLUSIVE -- A U.S. military "Red Team" charged with challenging conventional thinking says that words like "jihad" and "Islamist" are needed in discussing 21st-century terrorism and that federal agencies that avoid the words soft-pedaled the link between religious extremism and violent acts.

October 20, 2008

Inside the Ring

Congress voted recently to approve $5 million for a study of space-based missile defenses, the first time the development of space weapons will be considered since similar work was canceled in the 1990s.

October 16, 2008

Inside the Ring

Sen. John McCain criticized the Bush administration this week for holding back key weapons in its package of defensive arms to Taiwan that was announced to Congress.

October 9, 2008

Inside the Ring

Expanding U.S. military exchanges with China could help reduce an apparent "disconnect" between China's military and civilian leaders, but caution is needed to guard against possible spying and disinformation efforts. That's one of the key points in a draft report for the secretary of state by the International Security Advisory Board, a panel of outside experts.

October 2, 2008

China report urges missile shield

The United States needs new weapon systems, including missile defenses and other advanced military capabilities, to deter and counter China's steady buildup of nuclear and conventional arms, according to a draft internal report.

October 1, 2008

Ex-official reports counterintelligence is weak

U.S. government efforts to counter foreign spies remains fragmented and weak, despite a series of highly damaging spy cases, said a report made public Monday by a former high-ranking counterintelligence official.

September 30, 2008

Inside the Ring

A senior U.S. official says North Korean leader Kim Jong-il suffered some kind of incapacitating illness but the totalitarian leader remains in the decision-making chain.

September 24, 2008

Passport printer repays $51 million

The Government Printing Office has repaid $51 million to the State Department for overcharges from the sale of millions of blank passports, according to GPO officials and internal government documents.

September 24, 2008

Inside the Ring

The Pentagon is expected to notify Congress in the next several days that it wants approval to sell Taiwan a major arms package, which would end a freeze on arms sales to the island state imposed before the Beijing Olympics, according to a senior defense official.

September 18, 2008