By PAUL McLEARY
In a wide-ranging speech delivered at National Press Club in Washington on Dec. 18, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta presented a vision of the future that includes a very active role for the U.S. military in a post-Afghanistan world, even as the Pentagon shrinks its end strength and tightens its fiscal belt.
Panetta—whose potential replacement may be announced as early as this week—said that the Pentagon has learned the lesson of past postwar draw-downs, “when deep across-the-board cuts hollowed out the force, and left the military demoralized and unready to carry out the missions assigned to it. Instead, we have set priorities and made tough decisions to build the force of the future,” he said.
The force of the future will be smaller, he said, but it won’t simply draw back to the United States and wait for the next war.
Instead, the U.S. military remain active globally though regular rotations of forces to conduct training and advising missions as well as working to streamline the way in which partner nations buy American-made military gear.
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