Military promises a 'transformation'

Military promises a 'transformation'
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military, which has resisted changes in its force structure since the end of the Cold War, said it wants to transform itself in the aftermath of the deadly terror attacks.

In a report to Congress scheduled to be delivered Monday (Oct. 1), Pentagon planners said military strategy would place greater emphasis on defending the United States while continuing to project power overseas. A range of new "transformational" technologies would be developed under the plan for long-range precision strikes, global intelligence gathering and real-time dissemination. Cyberwar is also moving to the front lines.

While "homeland defense" has gained new urgency since the Sept. 11 terror attacks here and in New York, the Pentagon's new defense posture, known as the 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), provides the first glimpse of how the counterterrorism strategy may unfold. The review outlines a "capabilities-based strategy" focusing more on "how an adversary might fight than who the adversary might be and where a war might occur."

According to a draft version of the QDR dated three days after the Sept. 11 attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, "The ability to defend the homeland from external attack is the foundation of the strategy and safeguards the nation's military advantage to project power overseas."

The Bush administration moved in the aftermath of the terror attacks to create a cabinet-level Office of Homeland Security to coordinate national strategy on counterterrorism. The QDR acknowledges that the Pentagon and World Trade Center attacks showed that the Department of Defense (DOD) lacks sole responsibility for homeland defense.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and top aides have called for nothing short of a "transformation of the U.S. military." Prior to Sept. 11, Rumsfeld's plan was meeting stiff resistance among Pentagon brass determined to maintain the current force structure, which is designed to fight two wars simultaneously.

Observers said key decisions reflected in the QDR were made well before the terror attacks that shook the Pentagon.

Before the terror attacks there was "a lot of rhetoric about change, but it looked like all we'd get is the status quo. The big question is whether the events of Sept. 11 will make a difference," said Joseph Nye, former assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs and dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.DOD said its transformation rests on "four pillars":

• Joint operations as well as improved joint command and control.

• Experimentation with new approaches to warfare through war gaming, high-fidelity simulations and realistic field exercises.

• Exploiting U.S. intelligence advantages through global surveillance and reconnaissance along with enhanced analysis and dissemination over secure networks.

• Developing "transformational capabilities" through increased science and technology efforts. The QDR calls for stabilizing DOD's investment in science and technology at 3 percent of its budget from fiscal 2003 to 2007.

The technology strategy reflects the realization after the Sept. 11 attacks that terrorists will try to avoid U.S. strengths and exploit weaknesses using "asymmetric" tactics like terror and cyber attacks.

The review further underscored the growing need for offensive and defensive cyberwar and for a greater use of sensor technologies.