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Accompanied by Secretary of State Colin Powell, far left, Vice President Dick Ch
eney and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Hugh Shelton (far right), Preside
nt George W. Bush talks with the press about the previous day's terrorist attack
s during a cabinet meeting Sept. 12, 2001.
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Revitalize
National Defense
En Español
Ensuring
the common defense is the sworn duty and first responsibility of
any President. The President believes a strong military is essential
to defend American interests and extend the more secure peace that
resulted from the end of the Cold War.
As
old threats recede, however, new threats emerge. While the Cold
War may be over, a Cold War focus continues to define our Armed
Forces in terms of doctrine, structure and strategy. The threat
of a massive nuclear attack launched by the Soviet Union has been
replaced by a world in which threats come from rogue states bent
on acquiring weapons of mass destruction and terrorismthreats as
unconventional as they are unpredictable. America's armed forces
are more than capable of defending our national security in such
a world, provided we adapt our defense strategy and structure accordingly.
The
President took office with three goals in mind: To renew the bonds
of trust between the Commander-in-Chief and the American military;
to protect the American people from missile attack and threats of
terror; and, central to these goals, begin building a military capable
of combating the threats of a new century.
Restoring
Military Morale
The
President believes that the men and women who choose to serve this
country deserve not only our respect, but also our support in terms
of pay, housing, and other quality-of-life issues. We cannot honor
our servicemen and women and yet allow sub-standard housing and
inadequate compensation levels to endure.
Restoring
morale also means restoring a clear sense of mission. To this end,
the President has pointed to the pattern of extended deployments
that have characterized the post-Cold War period and has made clear
that future deployments must reflect clear American goals, sharpened
mission focus, and an end to the practice of diffuse, open-ended
commitments.
To
signal to our servicemen and women our renewed respect, the President
proposes to:
- Add
$1.4 billion for a military pay raise and allowances;
- Increase,
by $400 million, funding to improve the quality of housing
or reduce out-of-pocket expenses for housing for our
military personnel and their families; and
- Fund
new and expanded health benefits for military retirees
recently authorized by Congress.
Shape
a 21st Century Force Structure
The
Cold War is over, but to a too great extent the structure and strategies
appropriate to that era of bi-polar, super power stand-off continue
to govern our Armed Services. The Cold War posture can trace its
origins to the Eisenhower era and the early debates over the New
Look strategy. This strategy laid the foundation for the structure
of armed forces and deterrence policy that dominated until the collapse
of the Soviet Union. Indeed, the last revision to that national
security strategy occurred in the Gulf War period with the introduction
of a Regional Defense Strategy as a means to transition to the post-Cold
War imperatives. That interim strategy has remained transitional
and largely unaltered since its introduction a decade ago. The
President has called for a review of the U.S. Military posture.
The review will examine the imperatives for national security capabilities,
scrutinize the structure of our armed forces, and set priorities
for research, development, procurement, and operations. These findings
will help develop a new national defense architecture, consistent
with our alliance obligations and enduring interests, yet suitable
to meet the emerging threats of a new century. In
addition, the findings will provide the underpinning for informed
decisions about appropriate resource adjustments necessary to carry
out the objectives of the review.
Develop
Next Generation Weapons Systems
The
President is committed to enlisting the power of American technology
in the service of national security. In both R&D and acquisitions,
he will emphasize programs that offer our Armed Forces information
superiority, safety through stealth, and victory achieved less through
massed power than superior striking speed, agility and mobility. In
short, the President intends to equip the U.S. Armed Forces with the
systems and strategy that will allow us to redefine waron our terms.
To that
end, the President challenges the defense technology community to
use the present window of relative peace not just to modernize the
force but to move beyond incremental improvements on defense systems
already deployed and develop the military forces the nation will need
for the 21st Century. The President proposes to:
- Increase
defense R&D by $20 billion between 2002 and 2006; and
- Allocate
20 percent of the R&D budget to especially promising programs
that propel America's Armed Forces generations ahead in military
technology.
Safeguarding
Nuclear Security
Our
nuclear weapons remain key to our national security and the President
is committed to maintaining a modern and effective force. Nevertheless,
the President believes America must rethink the requirements of
nuclear deterrence in our new security environment. Most particularly,
our deterrent for the future must be based on a combination of offensive
and defensive capabilities. While the President will seek to persuade
Russia to join us in further reducing nuclear arsenals, he is also
prepared to lead by example. The President proposes to maintain
our nuclear arsenal with the lowest number of nuclear weapons consistent
with our present and future national security needs.
Deploying
Missile Defense
As the President said during the campaign, "America's development
of a missile defense is a search for security, not a search for
advantage."
In
a world where more than a dozen nations possess ballistic missile
technology, and a number of nations are racing to acquire weapons
of mass destruction, America's most pressing national security challenge
is to reduce our current vulnerability of our deployed forces and
our allies and friends by acquiring defenses against missile attack.
Outmoded arms control treaties must not compromise America's security;
as the President has said, his "solemn obligation (is) to protect
the American people and our allies, not to protect arms control
agreements signed almost 30 years ago."
America
must build effective missile defenses based on the best available
technologies, deployed at the earliest possible date. These defenses
must be designed to protect our deployed forces abroad, all 50 States,
and our friends and allies overseas.
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