Apparently Defense Secretary Robert Gates even surprised himself in his plan to keep a lid on his secret budget deliberations until he chose to unveil them to the world April 6 in the Pentagon press briefing room.

"There were no leaks in case you hadn't noticed," he told a group of trade reporters during a roundtable April 7. "I was astonished by the discipline."

He credits USMC Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with his winning strategy. The price of entry into the talks was for participants to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Gates said that getting his staff to sign their name and certify not to talk actually worked.

And, he also says he expects to usher in a new era of discipline for service and agency dealings with Congress. Gone are the days of what he dubs "guerilla warfare" on the part of the services. This is a reference to service officials going behind the back of the president or OSD to argue for pet programs. The worst offender recently was the U.S. Air Force, which had publicly argued for more F-22s than Gates says are required to handle future missions. 

Gates was clear, however, to note that he does feel it the duty of military officers to provide honest military advice when requested ... but he puts his foot down at covert lobbying.

Cartwright says about 100-150 principal decision makers and their immediate staff were involved in constructing Gates's plan. 

Looks like we may have to hunker down for another month before we see the next chapter in the full budget release ... unless we can find some leaks! Oh ... the audacity of hope!