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Military

01 October 2001

Defense Department Sends Strategy Review to Congress

(Quadrennial Report examines future U.S. defense policies) (630)
By Merle D. Kellerhals, Jr.
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The U.S. Defense Department sent the 2001 Quadrennial
Defense Review, which examines future U.S. defense strategy and
policies, to Congress October 1 "during a crucial time of transition
to a new era," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says.
Rumsfeld said in the report that at the outset uncertainty will be the
greatest challenge.
"We can be clear about trends, but uncertain about events," he said in
the report's forward. "We can identify threats, but cannot know when
or where America or its friends will be attacked. We should try
mightily to avoid surprise, but we must also learn to expect it."
The military review, mandated in the Military Force Structure Review
Act by Congress, involves a reassessment of U.S. defense strategy,
force structure, military modernization programs, defense
infrastructure, potential threats, force readiness and the defense
budget. It is a collaborative effort involving key elements of the
Defense Department: the offices of the defense secretary, the joint
chiefs of staff, the regional commanders-in-chief and the four
military services, a senior Defense official said October 1 during a
Pentagon briefing.
Actual planning for the review began in June 2000, but the process was
slowed during the transition from the Clinton administration to the
Bush administration as new officials began taking office, the official
said.
President Bush charged Rumsfeld to conduct a strategic review of the
Defense Department, looking at every aspect called for by Congress,
but also to examine the U.S. nuclear stockpile, base closures and
future equipment programs, he said.
The 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review:
-- replaces the two major-theater-war strategy of the 1990s with four
new policy goals: assuring friends and allies; dissuading future
military aggression from adversaries; deterring threats to U.S.
interests; and defeating aggression if deterrence fails.
"U.S. forces will remain capable of undertaking major combat
operations on a global basis and will train to be effective across a
wide range of combat conditions and geographic settings," the report
said. This requires U.S. forces to defeat any adversary in one major
theater operation, while still being able to carry on decisive
operations in another, it said.
-- makes homeland defense a prominent mission involving heavy reliance
on Reserve and National Guard forces.
-- changes from a "threat-based" model for defense planning to one
based on "capabilities." This model focuses more on how an adversary
might fight rather than specifically who the adversary might be or
even where the conflict might occur.
-- calls for no substantial change in the current force structure. It
calls for the active duty forces to remain at 1.4 million personnel
and the reserve forces to remain at 1.3 million personnel.
-- provides for a layered missile defense system.
-- directs the U.S. Army to deploy a new, highly mobile Brigade Combat
Team to Europe by 2007, while also enhancing ground combat forces in
the Persian Gulf region.
The report also calls for the Pentagon to shift some emphasis away
from Europe and more toward the Asia-Pacific theater of operations.
-- increases emphasis on protecting vital computer networks and using
emerging technologies to enhance intelligence gathering.
"It is not enough to plan for large conventional wars in distant
theaters," the report said. "Instead, the United States must identify
the capabilities required to deter and defeat adversaries who will
rely on surprise, deception and asymmetric warfare to achieve their
objectives."
The entire 2001 QDR report can be found on the Internet:
http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/qdr2001.pdf
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)



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