Rebuilding America's Defenses
It's not "new", as this came out in 2003.
When we hear this oath- I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic. At least I, don't think much about the term "domestic". But at this time in our history, I think we need to start paying more attention to the domestic threat which is growing within our own country. And it's not gay marriage or pot smokers.
Here are the main goals that the RAD-
HOMELAND DEFENSE. America must defend its homeland. During the Cold War,
nuclear deterrence was the key element in homeland defense; it remains essential. But the
new century has brought with it new challenges. While reconfiguring its nuclear force, the
United States also must counteract the effects of the proliferation of ballistic missiles and
weapons of mass destruction that may soon allow lesser states to deter U.S. military action
by threatening U.S. allies and the American homeland itself. Of all the new and current
missions for U.S. armed forces, this must have priority.
LARGE WARS. Second, the United States must retain sufficient forces able to rapidly
deploy and win multiple simultaneous large-scale wars and also to be able to respond to
unanticipated contingencies in regions where it does not maintain forward-based forces.
This resembles the “two-war” standard that has been the basis of U.S. force planning over
the past decade. Yet this standard needs to be updated to account for new realities and
potential new conflicts.
CONSTABULARY DUTIES. Third, the Pentagon must retain forces to preserve the
current peace in ways that fall short of conduction major theater campaigns. A decade’s
experience and the policies of two administrations have shown that such forces must be
expanded to meet the needs of the new, long-term NATO mission in the Balkans, the
continuing no-fly-zone and other missions in Southwest Asia, and other presence missions in
vital regions of East Asia. These duties are today’s most frequent missions, requiring forces
configured for combat but capable of long-term, independent constabulary operations.
TRANSFORM U.S. ARMED FORCES. Finally, the Pentagon must begin now to exploit the so-called
“revolution in military affairs,” sparked by the introduction of advanced technologies
into military systems; this must be regarded as a separate and critical mission worthy of a
share of force structure and defense budgets.
This is the PNAC defibrillated; On steroids. That's all I'll say, as I have only just started to digest this. I'm posting links from a couple of sites. The Antiwar site has a somewhat abbreviated description of RAD. And the informationclearinghouse has a link to the actual RAD document.
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/stockbauer1.htmlhttp://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3249.htm