Building a Ready Force for the 21st Century.
Abstract
Paul G. /Kaminski addresses the Chamber of Commerce in Huntsville, AL on 17 Jan 96. This is part of his speech - I would sum up our current national security environment in statistical terms by saying that the mean value of our single greatest threat is considerably reduced. But the irony of the situation is that the variance of the collective threat that we deal with, plan for, and must counter is up. This gives us some pause in trying to plan intelligently. In response to reduced mean value of the threat, the United States has cut end strength by about a third from 1985 levels. But at the same time, the increase in variance has caused deployments of U.S. forces to go up by a third. US DEFENSE BUDGET TRENDS During this adjustment phase, we have brought the total defense budget down while maintaining the high state of readiness needed to support increased operating tempos. We have done this by reducing our procurement at a pace that is twice the rate of the overall downturn in total obligation authority (TOA). This response is consistent with historical norms... procurement has traditionally been the most volatile component of the budget in a draw down because it is not necessary to purchase new equipment for a smaller force structure. But this approach also defers long term modernization and future readiness. He also spoke about Modernization Prerequisites, Base Realignment and Closure, Acquisition Reform,
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 17, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADA339699
Entities
People
- Paul G. Kaminski
Organizations
- Office Of The Under Secretary Of Defense