[infowar.de] Strukturwandel der US Armee

[Krystian Woznicki <krystian -! - snafu - de>]

Infowar.de, http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~bendrath/liste.html
-------------------------------------------------------------

April 10, 2002

Pentagon balances anti-terrorism efforts, transformation plans
By Molly M. Peterson, National Journal News Service

The Defense Department's transformation programs were scrutinized on 
Capitol Hill on Tuesday, as lawmakers sought ways to balance budgetary 
constraints with the military's need to win the war on terror while also 
moving from the industrial age to the information age. "There's a limited 
amount of resources we can devote, even in this time of great danger to the 
country," Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., told Pentagon officials during a Senate 
Armed Services Committee hearing. "Frankly, the appetite of the Department 
of Defense for systems and building things is rather substantial." 
Republican Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky shared some of Reed's concerns, 
arguing that President Bush's $379 billion fiscal 2003 Defense budget 
proposal is bogged down in antiquated "legacy" systems that have been in 
development for up to 10 years. "You are spending a lot of money for old 
weapons systems that don't seem to work very well," Bunning said, noting 
that the budget calls for nearly $1.5 billion to continue developing the 
controversial MV-22 Osprey helicopter, which has been plagued with problems 
during the past 10 years. "If we're going to upgrade the Defense Department 
in an effective manner, we have to have very forward thinking, not in 
10-year periods but in one- or two- or three-year periods." Deputy Defense 
Secretary Paul Wolfowitz called the Osprey a "revolutionary" and 
"transformational" system but acknowledged that military officials are 
still studying its reliability. But Wolfowitz said Defense had devoted a 
significant chunk of its fiscal 2003 budget to transformation efforts. 
"There's a lot of new investment here," he said, noting that the budget 
would earmark $21 billion for transformation-related procurement and 
research programs. It also calls for $25 billion to support existing 
Defense programs that "enable transformation or extend current 
capabilities, such as precision-guided munitions." "Over the next five 
years, we plan to invest more than $136 billion in transformational 
technologies and systems," Wolfowitz said. "Of this, $76 billion represents 
new investments to accelerate or start new transformation programs." Sen. 
John Warner of Virginia, the panel's ranking Republican, said many specific 
transformation programs would have a better chance of withstanding 
congressional scrutiny if they were delineated more clearly in the budget 
request. "There ought to be a red flag put on transformation programs," 
Warner said, noting that transformation efforts resemble a chain that is 
only as strong as its weakest link. "If you let one or two pieces of it 
lapse and let the others go forward, I think [transformation] will be less 
effective." Retired Vice Adm. Arthur Cebrowski, the Pentagon's director of 
force transformation, said strong links between lawmakers and Defense 
officials are crucial to the military's ability to move into the 
information age. "We can do this," Cebrowski said. "It's a matter of 
courage and commitment to do it, and we need to work as a team."

http://nationaljournal.com/about/njns/



---------------------------------------------------------------
Liste verlassen: 
Mail an infowar -
 de-request -!
- infopeace -
 de mit "unsubscribe" im Text.