“The challenges of a new century are not nearly as predictable as they were during the Cold War. …And let there be no doubt, in the years ahead, it is likely that we will be surprised again by new adversaries who may also strike in unexpected ways...and let there be no doubt …these attacks will grow vastly more deadly than those we suffered several months ago.”

“Our challenge in this new century is a difficult one. It's really to prepare to defend our nation against the unknown, the uncertain and what we have to understand will be the unexpected.”

“This is precisely what transformation is about. Here we are in the year 2002, fighting the first war of the 21st century, and the horse cavalry was back and…being used in previously unimaginable ways. It showed that a revolution in military affairs is about more than building new high tech weapons…It's also about new ways of thinking, and new ways of fighting.”

— Secretary Rumsfeld,
Jan. 30, 2002,
National Defense University

Preparing for the Future

Preparing for the future will require us to think differently and develop the kinds of forces and capabilities that can adapt quickly to new challenges and to unexpected circumstances.

Our challenge in this new century is to prepare to defend our nation against the unknown, the uncertain and the unexpected. To accomplish it, we have to put aside the comfortable ways of thinking and planning, take risks and try new things.

To prepare for the future, we will move away from a threat-based strategy and adopt a capability-based strategy, one that focuses less on who might threaten us and more on how we might be threatened.

 

Transformation Goals

Our defense strategy and force structure must be focused on achieving six transformational goals:

  • Protect the U.S. homeland and our bases overseas.
  • Project and sustain power in distant theaters.
  • Deny our enemies sanctuary.
  • Protect our information networks from attack.
  • Use information technology to link up different U.S. forces.
  • Maintain unhindered access to space and protect our space capabilities from enemy attack.

 

Lessons for the Future from the War Against Terrorism

  • Preparing to re-fight the last war is a mistake repeated throughout much of military history. But we can glean important lessons from recent experiences that apply to the future, including:
  • Wars in the 21st century will increasingly require economic, diplomatic, financial, legal, law enforcement, intelligence, overt and covert military operations.
  • Accepting help from any country on a basis that is comfortable for them enables us to maximize both their cooperation and our effectiveness against the enemy.
  • Wars should not be fought by committee. The mission must determine the coalition, and the coalition must not determine the mission.
  • Defending the U.S. requires prevention, self-defense and sometimes preemption. The best defense is a good offense.
  • Rule out nothing, including ground forces. The enemy must understand that we will use every means to defeat them, and that we are prepared to make sacrifices to achieve victory.
  • U.S. special forces on the ground early dramatically increase the effectiveness of the air campaign.
  • Be straight with the American people. The American people understand what we're trying to accomplish, what is needed to get the job done, that it's not easy and that there will be casualties. And they must know that, good news or bad, we will tell it to them straight.