FOCUS | Pentagon Lays Out 'Long War' Strategy

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FOCUS | Pentagon Lays Out 'Long War' Strategy

Sat, 04 Feb 2006 06:41:57 -0800

 

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bility to Wage 'Long War' Is Key to Pentagon Plan

By Ann Scott Tyson

The Washington Post

 

Saturday 04 February 2006

 

Conventional tactics de-emphasized.

 

The Pentagon, readying for what it calls a " long war, " yesterday

laid out a new 20-year defense strategy that envisions US troops

deployed, often clandestinely, in dozens of countries at once to fight

terrorism and other nontraditional threats.

 

Major initiatives include a 15 percent boost in the number of

elite US troops known as Special Operations Forces, a near-doubling of

the capacity of unmanned aerial drones to gather intelligence, a $1.5

billion investment to counter a biological attack, and the creation of

special teams to find, track and defuse nuclear bombs and other

catastrophic weapons.

 

China is singled out as having " the greatest potential to compete

militarily with the United States, " and the strategy in response calls

for accelerating the fielding of a new Air Force long-range strike

force, as well as for building undersea warfare capabilities.

 

The latest top-level reassessment of strategy, or Quadrennial

Defense Review (QDR), is the first to fully take stock of the starkly

expanded missions of the US military - both in fighting wars abroad

and defending the homeland - since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

 

The review, the third since Congress required the exercise in the

1990s, has been widely anticipated because Donald H. Rumsfeld is the

first defense secretary to conduct one with the benefit of four years'

experience in office. Rumsfeld issued the previous QDR in a hastily

redrafted form days after the 2001 strikes.

 

The new strategy, summarized in a 92-page report, is a road map

for allocating defense resources. It draws heavily on the lessons

learned by the US military since 2001 in Iraq, Afghanistan and

counterterrorism operations. The strategy significantly refines the

formula - known as the " force planning construct " - for the types of

major contingencies the US military must be ready to handle.

 

Under the 2001 review, the Pentagon planned to be able to " swiftly

defeat " two adversaries in overlapping military campaigns, with the

option of overthrowing a hostile government in one. In the new

strategy, one of those two campaigns can be a large-scale, prolonged

" irregular " conflict, such as the counterinsurgency in Iraq.

 

In the 2001 strategy, the US military was to be capable of

conducting operations in four regions abroad - Europe, the Middle

East, the " Asian littoral " and Northeast Asia. But the new plan states

that the past four years demonstrated the need for US forces to

" operate around the globe, and not only in and from the four regions. "

 

Yet, although the Pentagon's future course is ambitious in

directing that US forces become more versatile, agile and capable of

tackling a far wider range of missions, it calls for no net increases

in troop levels and seeks no dramatic cuts or additions to currently

planned weapons systems.

 

For example, the active-duty Army will revert by 2011 to its

pre-2001 manpower of 482,400, with the additional Army Special

Operations Forces incorporated in that number, defense officials said.

The Air Force will reduce its strength by about 40,000 personnel.

 

Moreover, the review's key assumptions betray what Pentagon

leaders acknowledge is a certain humility regarding the Defense

Department's uncertainty about what the world will look like over the

next five, 10 or 20 years, as well as its realization that the US

military cannot attain victory alone.

 

" US forces in all probability will be engaged somewhere in the

world in the next decade where they're not currently engaged. But I

can tell you with no resolution at all where that might be, when that

might be or how that might be, " Ryan Henry, principal deputy

undersecretary of defense for policy, said at a Pentagon news briefing

unveiling the QDR.

 

" Things get very fuzzy past the five-year point, " Henry said of

the review in a talk last month.

 

At the same time, Henry stressed yesterday, " we cannot win this

long war by ourselves. "

 

When a major crisis, such as a terrorist strike or outbreak of

hostilities, occurs - requiring a " surge " in forces - the US military

will plan for " somewhat higher level of contributions from

international allies and partners, as well as other Federal agencies, "

the review concludes.

 

The new strategy marks a clear shift away from the Pentagon's

long-standing emphasis on conventional wars of tanks, fighter jets and

destroyers against nation-states. Instead, it concentrates on four new

goals: defeating terrorist networks; countering nuclear, biological

and chemical weapons; dissuading major powers such as China, India and

Russia from becoming adversaries; and creating a more robust homeland

defense.

 

Central to the first two goals is a substantial 15 percent

increase in US Special Operations Forces (SOF), now with 52,000

personnel, including secret Delta Force operatives skilled in

counterterrorism.

 

The review calls for a one-third increase in Army Special Forces

battalions, whose troops are trained in languages and to work with

indigenous fighters; an increase in Navy SEAL teams; and the creation

of a new SOF squadron of unmanned aerial vehicles to " locate and

target enemy capabilities " in countries where access is difficult.

 

In addition, civil affairs and psychological operations units will

gain 3,500 personnel, a 33 percent increase, while the Marine Corps

will establish a 2,600-strong Special Operations force for training

foreign militaries, conducting reconnaissance and carrying out strikes.

 

" SOF will increase their capacity to perform more demanding and

specialized tasks, especially long-duration, indirect and clandestine

operations in politically sensitive environments and denied areas, "

the report says. By 2007, SOF will have newly modified Navy

submarines, each armed with 150 Tomahawk missiles, for reaching

" denied areas " and striking individuals or other targets.

 

" SOF will have the capacity to operate in dozens of countries

simultaneously " and will deploy for longer periods to build

relationships with " foreign military and security forces, " it says.

 

To conduct strikes against terrorists and other enemies - work

typically assigned to Delta Force members and SEAL teams - these

forces will gain " an expanded organic ability to locate, tag and track

dangerous individuals and other high-value targets globally, " the

report says.

 

The growth will also allow for the creation of small teams of

operatives assigned to " detect, locate, and render safe " nuclear,

chemical and biological weapons - as well as to prevent their transfer

from states such as North Korea to terrorist groups.

 

To strengthen homeland defense, the report calls for improving

communications and command systems so that military efforts can be

better coordinated with state and local governments.

 

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