Defense Department Sends Strategy Review to Congress

01 October 2001

Defense Department Sends Strategy Review to Congress

Quadrennial Report examines future U.S. defense policies

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