PNAC:
Rebuilding
America's Defenses
Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century
A Report of
The Project for the New American Century
September 2000
Key Findings
This report proceeds from the belief that America should seek to preserve and extend its position of global
leadership by maintaining the preeminence of U.S. military forces. Today, the United States has an unprecedented strategic
opportunity.It faces no immediate great-power challenge; it is blessed with wealthy, powerful and democratic allies in every
part of the world; it is in the midst of the longest economic expansion in its history; and its political and economic principles
are almost universally embraced. At no time in history has the international security order been as conducive to American
interests and ideals. The challenge for the coming century is to preserve and enhance this “American peace.”
Yet unless the United States maintains sufficient military strength, this opportunity will be lost. And in
fact, over the past decade, the failure to establish a security strategy responsive to new realities and to provide adequate
resources for the full range of missions needed to exercise U.S. global leadership has placed the American peace at growing
risk. This report attempts to define those requirements. In particular, we need to:
ESTABLISH FOUR CORE MISSIONS for U.S. military forces:
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defend the American homeland;
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fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theater wars;
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perform the “constabulary” duties associated with shaping the security environment in critical regions;
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transform U.S. forces to exploit the “revolution in military affairs;”
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To carry out these core missions, we need to provide sufficient force and budgetary allocations. In particular,
the United States must:
MAINTAIN NUCLEAR STRATEGIC SUPERIORITY, basing the U.S. nuclear deterrent upon a global, nuclear net
assessment that weighs the full range of current and emerging threats, not merely the U.S.-Russia balance.
RESTORE THE PERSONNEL STRENGTH of today’s force to roughly the levels anticipated in the “Base
Force” outlined by the Bush Administration, an increase in active-duty strength from 1.4 million to 1.6 million.
REPOSITION U.S. FORCES to respond to 21st century strategic realities by shifting permanently-based
forces to Southeast Europe and Southeast Asia, and by changing naval deployment patterns to reflect growing U.S. strategic
concerns in East Asia.
MODERNIZE CURRENT U.S. FORCES SELECTIVELY, proceeding with the F-22 program while increasing purchases
of lift, electronic support and other aircraft; expanding submarine and surface combatant fleets; purchasing Comanche helicopters
and medium-weight ground vehicles for the Army, and the V-22 Osprey “tilt-rotor” aircraft for the Marine Corps.
CANCEL “ROADBLOCK” PROGRAMS such as the Joint Strike Fighter, CVX aircraft carrier, and
Crusader howitzer system that would absorb exorbitant amounts of Pentagon funding while providing limited improvements to
current capabilities. Savings from these canceled programs should be used to spur the process of military transformation.
DEVELOP AND DEPLOY GLOBAL MISSILE DEFENSES to defend the American homeland and American allies, and
to provide a secure basis for U.S. power projection around the world.
CONTROL THE NEW “INTERNATIONAL COMMONS” OF SPACE AND “CYBERSPACE,” and pave
the way for the creation of a new military service – U.S. Space Forces – with the mission of space control.
EXPLOIT THE “REVOLUTION IN MILITARY AFFAIRS” to insure the long-term superiority of U.S.
conventional forces. Establish a two-stage transformation process which
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maximizes the value of current weapons systems through the application of advanced technologies, and,
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produces more profound improvements in military capabilities, encourages competition between single services and
joint-service experimentation efforts.
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INCREASE DEFENSE SPENDING gradually to a minimum level of 3.5 to 3.8
percent of gross domestic product, adding $15 billion to $20 billion to total defense spending annually.
Fulfilling these requirements is essential if America is to retain its militarily dominant status for the coming decades.
Conversely, the failure to meet any of these needs must result in some form of strategic retreat. At current levels of defense
spending, the only option is to try ineffectually to “manage” increasingly large risks: paying for today’s
needs by shortchanging tomorrow’s; withdrawing from constabulary missions to retain strength for large-scale wars; “choosing”
between presence in Europe or presence in Asia; and so on. These are badchoices. They are also false economies. The “savings”
from withdrawing from the Balkans, for example, will not free up anywhere near the magnitude of funds needed for military
modernization or transformation. But these are false economies in other, more profound ways as well. The true cost of not
meeting our defense requirements will be a lessened capacity for American global leadership and, ultimately, the loss of a
global security order that is uniquely friendly to American principles and prosperity.
Read the report in full:
PNAC: Rebuilding America's Defenses.pdf
PNAC: Rebuilding America's Defenses.htm
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September 20, 2001
The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
Washington,
DC
Dear Mr. President,
We write to endorse your admirable commitment to “lead
the world to victory” in the war against terrorism. We fully support your call for “a broad and sustained campaign”
against the “terrorist organizations and those who harbor and support them.” We agree with Secretary of State
Powell that the United States must find and punish the perpetrators of the horrific attack of September 11, and we must, as
he said, “go after terrorism wherever we find it in the world” and “get it by its branch and root.”
We agree with the Secretary of State that U.S. policy must aim not only at finding the people responsible for this incident,
but must also target those “other groups out there that mean us no good” and “that have conducted attacks
previously against U.S. personnel, U.S. interests and our allies.”
In order to carry out this “first war of the 21st century”
successfully, and in order, as you have said, to do future “generations a favor by coming together and whipping terrorism,”
we believe the following steps are necessary parts of a comprehensive strategy.
Osama bin Laden
We agree that a key goal, but by no means the only goal, of
the current war on terrorism should be to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, and to destroy his network of associates. To this
end, we support the necessary military action in Afghanistan and the provision of substantial financial and military assistance
to the anti-Taliban forces in that country.
Iraq
We agree with Secretary of State Powell’s recent statement
that Saddam Hussein “is one of the leading terrorists on the face of the Earth….” It may be that the Iraqi
government provided assistance in some form to the recent attack on the United States. But even if evidence does not link
Iraq directly to the attack, any strategy aiming at the eradication of terrorism and its sponsors must include a determined
effort to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. Failure to undertake such an effort will constitute an early and perhaps
decisive surrender in the war on international terrorism. The United States must therefore provide full military and financial
support to the Iraqi opposition. American military force should be used to provide a “safe zone” in Iraq from
which the opposition can operate. And American forces must be prepared to back up our commitment to the Iraqi opposition by
all necessary means.
Hezbollah
Hezbollah is one of the leading terrorist organizations in
the world. It is suspected of having been involved in the 1998 bombings of the American embassies in Africa, and implicated
in the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983. Hezbollah clearly falls in the category cited by Secretary Powell
of groups “that mean us no good” and “that have conducted attacks previously against U.S. personnel, U.S.
interests and our allies.” Therefore, any war against terrorism must target Hezbollah. We believe the administration
should demand that Iran and Syria immediately cease all military, financial, and political support for Hezbollah and its operations.
Should Iran and Syria refuse to comply, the administration should consider appropriate measures of retaliation against these
known state sponsors of terrorism.
Israel and the Palestinian Authority
Israel has been and remains America’s staunchest ally
against international terrorism, especially in the Middle East. The United States should fully support our fellow democracy
in its fight against terrorism. We should insist that the Palestinian Authority put a stop to terrorism emanating from territories
under its control and imprison those planning terrorist attacks against Israel. Until the Palestinian Authority moves against
terror, the United States should provide it no further assistance.
U.S. Defense Budget
A serious and victorious war on terrorism will require a large
increase in defense spending. Fighting this war may well require the United States to engage a well-armed foe, and will also
require that we remain capable of defending our interests elsewhere in the world. We urge that there be no hesitation in requesting
whatever funds for defense are needed to allow us to win this war.
There is, of course, much more that will have to be done. Diplomatic
efforts will be required to enlist other nations’ aid in this war on terrorism. Economic and financial tools at our
disposal will have to be used. There are other actions of a military nature that may well be needed. However, in our judgement
the steps outlined above constitute the minimum necessary if this war is to be fought effectively and brought to a successful
conclusion. Our purpose in writing is to assure you of our support as you do what must be done to lead the nation to victory
in this fight.
Sincerely,
William Kristol
Richard V. Allen . Gary
Bauer . Jeffrey Bell . William
J. Bennett . Rudy Boshwitz .
Jeffrey Bergner . Eliot
Cohen . Seth Cropsey . Midge Decter . Thomas Donnelly . Nicholas Eberstadt . Hillel Fradkin . Aaron Friedberg . Francis Fukuyama . Frank Gaffney . Jeffrey Gedmin .
Reuel Marc Gerecht . Charles Hill .
Bruce P. Jackson . Eli S. Jacobs
. Michael Joyce . Donald Kagan . Robert Kagan .
Jeane Kirkpatrick . Charles Krauthammer . John Lehman . Clifford May . Martin Peretz .
Richard Perle . Norman
Podhoretz . Stephen P. Rosen . Randy Scheunemann . Gary Schmitt . William Schneider, Jr. . Richard
H. Shultz . Henry Sokolski . Stephen J. Solarz . Vin Weber . Leon Wieseltier . Marshall
Wittmann
Copyright New American Century 2003.
For fair use only/ pour usage équitable
seulement .
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