Our National Defense Problem

Author : Earl H. Tilford (Jr.)
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781463724870
Total Pages : 48 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (248 download)

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Download or read book National Defense Into the 21st Century written by Earl H. Tilford (Jr.) and published by . This book was released on 1997-06-06 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The current Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) and the recommendations to be made by the members of recently established National Defense Panel (NDP) are of tremendous importance to the U.S. Army as well as to the other armed services. This is a difficult and challenging time, filled with the kind of tensions that can foster, compel and exacerbate inter-service rivalries. It is also a time of opportunity, if we can put aside more parochial interests to address those vital defense issues that will face the nation in the coming years. The timing of the QDR comes at a watershed point in the history of our nation and its defense establishment. Rather than facing a single and symmetrical threat from a known enemy, as was the case from 1946 until the end of the Cold War, the nation now faces a range of multidimensional and asymmetrical threats. We do so at a time of constrained budgets and ever more constrained resources, as the nation and its Congress seek to balance the budget by 2002. Simultaneously, the pace of development in military technology is not only expanding more rapidly, but the sophisticated weapons and the technology necessary to employ those weapons are becoming more readily available to a range of potential foes. In March 1996, Colonel Jim Blundell of the Association of the United States Army's Institute for Land Warfare and Dr. Earl H. Tilford, Jr., of the U. S. Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute envisioned a symposium that would bring all the services together for an open and honest meeting aimed at defining the complex issues that will face the services individually and the Department of Defense corporately during the Joint Strategy Review and Quadrennial Defense Review process. It was a bold and innovative idea, one that ran against the conventional propensity to defend service prerogatives while pushing for a maximum benefit for the individual service. General Andrew Goodpastor of the Atlantic Council and Dr. Robert Wood of the Naval War College agreed that a joint effort to reach for a higher order of discussion would be beneficial. Their organizations became cosponsors. The Air War College was unable to join as a cosponsor, but a representative of the U.S. Air Force Air Command and Staff College's School for Advanced Airpower Studies and a former Air Force Chief of Staff made compelling presentations on an airpower panel organized by Dr. Tilford. The symposium, held February 24-25, 1997, in Arlington, Virginia, was a resounding success. Soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen joined government officials, policymakers, civilian academics, and the media for two days of forthright discussions. What follows are summaries of the presentations and papers. To be sure, individual service positions were stated and restated. But there was a distinct spirit of jointness expressed by virtually every speaker as each acknowledged the absolute need to train and fight together. At the conclusion of the symposium, there was a general acknowledgement that the better interests of the nation had, indeed, been served. The AUSA's Institute for Land Warfare and the Strategic Studies Institute are pleased to present the following SSI Special Report, "National Defense into the 21st Century: Defining the Issues."