what does " Washington’s fixed interests in the Congres"mean? When I returned to the Pentagon in January 2001, President Bush had given me the mandate to work to transform the Defense Department, making the military quicker and more flexible for the new century. He wanted a military ready for the Information Age, not the Industrial Age. It was a tough assignment, considering that some of the changes the President sought ran directly against Washington’s fixed interests in the Congress, the defense contractor community, and the permanent bureaucracy in the Department of Defense, each of which advocated for particular weapons systems and fiercely defended its interests.