The strategies and force structures set forth in the 1997 Quadrennial Defense Review have become increasingly unsustainable and outdated. As presently constituted, the ability of our Armed Forces to support the national security strategy of shaping the security environment, responding to threats to important interests, and preparing for the future is seriously in doubt. The exacting demands of cyclic crises and small-scale contingency operations have left the Armed Forces mired in high operational tempos with rising operations and maintenance costs. Our focus on the numerous military engagements worldwide today, however important they may be, impedes efforts to develop new capabilities to counter emerging threats. This severe mismatch between the current strategy and future requirements must be correctedit will require a transformation in our Armed Forces. Innovative approaches to formulating new strategies and sustaining resources will be necessary to bring about such a transformation in the rapidly changing security environment of the 21st century.
Our Armed Forces must fulfill three highest priority operational imperatives if they are to effectively meet emerging challenges:
Near Term Readiness: The Department of Defense is overwhelmed by the sweeping demands of the current national security strategy. The numerous military interventions abroad have severely challenged our ability to respond adequately to other possibly larger-scale contingencies. Although militarily successful, Operation Allied Force revealed important shortfalls and deficiencies in near-term readiness that must be remedied, while severely challenging the key assumption underlying the 1997 QDR that the United States could fight and win two nearly simultaneous major theater wars. At a minimum, near-term military readiness will require additional and sustained funding for operations and maintenance, weapon and equipment upgrades for tried and true systems, and greater precision munition inventories.
Taking Care of People: The Services must continue to attract and retain the highest quality personnel in order to remain the world's most effective military force. Problems of recruitment and retention must be addressed as urgent priorities. Ensuring that the best and brightest join and remain in the military starts with quality of life improvements, including better pay, more predictable deployment cycles, and rigorous training focused on key tasks. While the Department of Defense recently addressed the pay issue, the other two problems persist. The current unacceptably high operational tempo is placing severe strains on families and morale. To prevent shortfalls on the proving ground from becoming disasters on the battlefield, training at our bases and national training centers must improve. We must tailor skills to meet specific contingencies while we train our forces against the backdrop of uncertainty and strengthen our ability to attract and retain personnel for the 21st century Armed Forces
Preparing for the Future: Based on the changed global security setting of the new century and emerging challenges, the United States must devise a defense strategy that accelerates modernization while maintaining force readiness across the security spectrum ranging from high to low intensity contingencies. To support such a strategy, we must develop innovative operational concepts as well as leverage emerging developments in science, digitization and space technologies. We must achieve greater overall military effectiveness by maximizing responsiveness, lethality, agility, deployability, mobility, and interoperability. We must recognize joint and allied capabilities as critical force multipliers. Major investments in integrative technologies will be needed to enhance the performance of next-generation platforms across the Services and to improve our ability to work more closely with allies and coalition partners. Joint and combined operations, however, will be made more complex and challenging by the growing transatlantic and transpacific gaps in capabilities resulting from the Revolution in Military Affairs. Our resource allocations must be targeted on equipment, manpower, and technology to ensure that the Armed Forces can carry out current responsibilities and prepare for future challenges. Last and most importantly, securing broad public support and understanding of our national security strategy will require a clearly articulated vision of the military's mission priorities and force structure requirements. This report, together with the conference on which it is based, articulates many of these priorities and requirements.
page created 31 October 2000
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