"We have to realize that we no longer have the luxury of interminable dialogue over parochial issues. If we are to bring the alliance to where it needs to be in the 21st century, then we need to dramatically accelerate, across the board, to make up for the time lost to indecision, indifference and procrastination." Source: Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Richard Lawless, speaking at a Tokyo conference sponsored by the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute. The Washington Post quoted him, saying, while a breakthrough agreement has been reached between Washington and Tokyo on basing US Marine aviation assets in Okinawa, He's generally concerned about the slow pace of military negotiations between the two partners.