Not everyone agrees with Mr Gates' "the future is today" way of thinking. He one of the intelligence community that failed to predict:
The end of the Cold War
The tensions and conflicts in the Balkans
The rise of Al Qaeda
9/11
The problems in post Saddam Iraq
So when he predicts that the future will be exactly like today....well, perhaps a pinch of salt is needed.
See:
SECDEF and the Doctrine of Sufficiency