[infowar.de] Neues zu Rumsfeld's shopping list

[Georg Schoefbaenker <schoefbaenker -! - aon - at>]

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Seit einiger Zeit zirkulieren die öffentlichen und klassifizierten Entwürfe zur QDR. Andrew Marshall's Anregungen scheinen bei Rumsfeld auf fruchtbaren und furchtbaren Boden gefallen zu sein. Die alternde B1-Bomber-Flotte soll um 1/3 gekürzt (das steht woanders). Unter 6 Prioritäten befindet sich folgendes Anliegen:

"Develop "plans and programs that take full account of the transition of information operations, intelligence and space assets from enablers of current U.S. forces to core capabilities of future forces."

Unter "13 investment priorities" befindet sich IW- und RMA-relevantes.

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InsideDefense.com
June 26, 2001

Rumsfeld Circulates Outline Of Major Issues For 2001 QDR

An unclassified version of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld?s "terms of reference" for the 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review identifies more than a dozen investment priorities for the secretary and six major issues the review will confront.

The June 22 document, obtained by InsideDefense.com, has begun circulating within the Pentagon. Earlier versions were classified. The TOR document states the review will focus on transforming military forces to speed decision cycles, extend their "reach" and drastically improve their capabilities.

The Defense Department "must improve morale, reverse the decline in readiness, replace or retire worn out equipment, purchase necessary spare parts and manage the frequency of deployments," the document states.

Rumsfeld outlines six issues the review will tackle "to develop the U.S. military posture and launch the [fiscal year 2003 through 2007] programmatic and budgetary process:

*Identify a "wider range of mid-term and long-term contingencies and options for employing U.S. military forces, including pre-conflict operations."

*Provide recommendations on "force organization to enhance effective joint operations, possibly through . . . the potential establishment of standing joint task forces and/or headquarters."

*Provide recommendations to "determine the shape, size and structure of the armed forces."

*Develop program options "consistent with the desired characteristics of priority conventional capabilities" to guide investment and modernization efforts.

*Develop "plans and programs that take full account of the transition of information operations, intelligence and space assets from enablers of current U.S. forces to core capabilities of future forces."

*Improve DOD?s personnel base and ensure "infrastructure aligns with its force structure." 

In addition to these overarching issues, the terms of reference outlines 13 investment priorities for the Defense Department: people; experimentation; intelligence; missile defense; information operations; pre-conflict management tools; precision strike; rapidly deployable maneuver forces; unmanned systems; command and control, communications and information management; strategic mobility; countering nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and means of delivery; and infrastructure and logistics.

The White House has been working on a separate high-level review of defense priorities and strategy, while simultaneously preparing for the QDR. "Work over recent months" on the QDR, Rumsfeld noted, has already provided the "foundations for a new defense strategy," the document states.

Inside the Pentagon reported June 14 that the planning document had grown into an unusually elaborate one that reflects the Bush administration?s thinking on defense strategy.

While a typical terms of reference document might name who will review certain topics and when, the unclassified QDR terms of reference is 22 pages long, with only a third of the document dedicated to the nuts and bolts of the review.

The remainder of the document describes specific capabilities future forces will require and lays out near-, mid- and long-term plans for preparing those forces. 

Information operations and space, for example, are identified as "new dimensions of conflict" requiring more investment in such technologies as space sensors and jam-proof data links.

"Looking toward the future, the U.S. requires forces that are more capable of information operations and effective in all critical areas of the world. . . . These forces must be capable of deploying into and sustaining forces in anti-access environments and operating under the threat of covert or overt attack from nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) weapons and their means of delivery, including ballistic and cruise missiles of all ranges," the document states.

-- Anne Plummer


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