• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Defense Department Report: Quadrennial Defense Review

01 February 2006

Rumsfeld calls counterproliferation significant task for U.S., friendly nations

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld offered journalists some details about the upcoming Quadrennial Defense Review at a Pentagon press briefing February 1.

The report, to be made public February 3, will emphasize four priorities for the agency: defeating violent extremists, defending the U.S. homeland, helping countries at strategic crossroads and preventing terrorists and dangerous regimes from obtaining weapons of mass destruction, Rumsfeld said.

Admiral Edmund Giambastiani, who briefed reporters along with Rumsfeld, said the report “will lay the groundwork for addressing security challenges,” and called it “a vector for the future of the joint force.”  The admiral, who is vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said these challenges are “irregular, disruptive, and catastrophic threats.

“We talk about large institutional forces,” Giambastiani said.  “We're talking about, in the future, larger operational capabilities, from conventional combat operations to irregular or asymmetric operations.”  He said the fiscal year 2007 Defense Department budget, which will be submitted to Congress the week of February 6, will contain requests for “a considerable down payment” on those capabilities, including:

-- Accelerating the Army's transformation to more modular, deployable units and headquarters;

-- Significant increases to special operations forces, with contributions from all services (including, for the first time, the Marines);

-- Shaping joint air capabilities to gain greater range and capacity to stay over targets; larger and more flexible payloads; and ability to penetrate and sustain operations in hostile areas;

-- Building joint maritime forces to project power into coastal waters;

-- Broadening deterrence capabilities to have more military options available to combat a wider range of potential threats; and

-- Making significant investments in joint mobility, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and combating weapons of mass destruction.

Asked to give more details about the increases for Special Forces, Rumsfeld said he preferred to let the report, when made public, speak for itself.  He then said that counterproliferation was “a significant task” both for the United States and for other friendly nations.

“It can't be done alone by us,” Rumsfeld said.  “It has to be done in cooperation with other nations.”  He added that “the risk of very powerful, lethal weapons moving into the hands of rogue states and/or terrorist networks is real.”

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)