2.2: Military Capabilities
Ensure Military Capabilities and Readiness Other Information:
Today, DOD is engaged in a "long war," a term recently coined to recognize the belief that the nation’s ongoing war on terrorism
is one that will likely continue for an extended and indeterminable number of years. This war is being fought at the same
time that DOD is attempting to adapt and transform legacy warfighting capabilities from the Cold War era to meet 21st century
needs—needs that now extend to a more diverse range of threats than previously recognized. Events of recent years have also
highlighted the growing importance of homeland security and multiple coordinated roles that DOD must play in addition to the
key roles played by other federal, state, and local agencies in securing the homeland. Likewise, both the 2001 terrorist attacks
and the 2005 hurricane disasters have provided important insights into areas needing increased attention to strengthen U.S.
abilities to respond domestically to catastrophic events either of man-made or natural origin, especially the support that
may be required from DOD. Although DOD has received significant increases in budget authority, including numerous supplemental
appropriations, since 2001 questions exist about the extent to which these increases can be sustained in the coming years
as the nation faces growing fiscal challenges and budget deficits, even as DOD faces challenges in addressing its own competing
priorities under existing budget authorities. The recently completed 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review Report provides an important
frame of reference for considering these competing priorities in responding to today’s threat environment, but many details
or actions are left for further study, development, or implementation. In contrast to the downward trend in defense spending
during the last decade, this first decade of the new century has seen a significant upward trend in authorized defense spending.
After dropping below $300 billion in years past, total defense budget authority increased in the years since 2001 to around
$400 billion in recent years, excluding substantial war-related appropriations totaling about $451 billion since 2001. However,
we and others have noted that some portion of these funds has also been used to support other needs, such as transformation
efforts. Absent steps to reshape, reduce, and reorient defense priorities, reducing or eliminating supplemental appropriations
could place additional pressures on regular defense appropriations to meet defense needs. The 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review
Report articulated a vision for change and highlighted numerous areas for change and transformation. The report defined two
fundamental imperatives for DOD: (1) continuing to reorient DOD’s capabilities and forces to be more agile in this time of
war, to prepare for wider asymmetric challenges, and to hedge against uncertainty over the next 20 years and (2) implementing
enterprisewide changes to ensure that organizational structures, processes, and procedures effectively support its strategic
direction. The quadrennial review effort reportedly has identified more than 120 action items for implementation, and DOD
has named a senior-level working group to guide their implementation as well as oversee a number of follow-on studies in such
areas as departmental institutional reform and governance, building partnership capacity, and intelligence. Nevertheless,
some defense analysts have expressed concern that the quadrennial review did not go far enough in identifying reductions in
conventional capabilities or providing a greater level of detail and specificity to the framework for reshaping defense and
realigning funding priorities. As noted in our report on 21st century challenges, as DOD seeks to meet the demands of the
new security environment, it continues to bear the costs of the past by implicitly maintaining or continuing to pursue many
programs and practices from the Cold War era. In this context, the magnitude of funding and potential for current investments
and operations to turn into long-term financial commitments are prompting real questions about the affordability and sustainability
of the rate of growth in defense spending. As DOD continues its emphasis on transformation, it faces numerous competing issues
or challenges. Notwithstanding these challenges, DOD is continually faced with the overall challenge of maintaining a ready
force to meet today’s operational requirements through the requisite provision of manning, equipping, and training of its
forces even as it transforms for tomorrow.
Indicator(s):
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