Gates just issued a statement urging legislators to look beyond their districts, but the important statement comes further down:

The thing that is important is to reinforce within the building, in terms of dealing with the Hill, that there is a chain of command,’ he said. ‘Once the decision is made, and particularly once the president signs off on the budget, then there needs to be discipline about people not conducting guerilla warfare against decisions the president has made.

(emphasis mine)

He is telling the generals that the decisions have been made, and behind the scenes lobbying will be punished.

This has been a consistent problem with the Pentagon for at least 15 years, and it has only become worse in the last 8 or so, and it needs to be shut down.

Military officers should answer questions honestly, but the lobbying for weapons systems is simply corrupt and a repudiation of civilian control.

Good for Bob Gates for putting the Generals on notice.