Defense Secretary Gates has submitted a "wartime" Quadrennial Defense Review of military capabilities and requirements, balancing near-term priorities with the future needs of the force, according to a copy of the document obtained by CongressDaily.
"This is truly a wartime QDR," Gates wrote in an introductory letter accompanying the review, slated to be released Monday. "For the first time, it places the current conflicts at the top of our budgeting, policy, and program priorities, thus ensuring that those fighting America's wars and their families -- on the battlefield, in the hospital, or on the home front -- receive the support they need and deserve."
The QDR focuses on preparing the military for a broad range of security challenges, marking a departure from more than two decades of military planning that centered on maintaining the capability to fight two regional wars nearly simultaneously.
"This QDR likewise assumes the need for a robust force capable of protecting U.S. interests against a multiplicity of threats, including two capable nation-state aggressors," according to the document. "It breaks from the past, however, in its insistence that the U.S. Armed Forces must be capable of conducting a wide range of operations, from homeland defense and defense support to civil authorities, to deterrence and preparedness missions, to the conflicts we are in and the wars we may someday face."
To prepare the military for a range of conflicts, Gates wrote that the QDR "directs more focus in investment in a new air-sea battle concept, long-range strike, space and cyberspace, among other conventional and strategic modernization programs."
The 105-page planning document will be released along with the FY11 budget submission.
•Click here to read a PDF of the document
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