Shinseki: War on terrorism shows
necessity of Army's transformation
By Lisa Burgess,
Washington bureau
ARLINGTON, Va. — The Army has a new lease on life in light of the campaign in
Afghanistan, which is proving once again one of warfare’s oldest lessons: Unless you
can physically occupy territory, you can’t declare victory, according to Army Chief
of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki.
Five weeks of airstrikes have failed to budge the Taliban, exposing, "once again,
the limit of any one-dimensional response — like long-range precision strike" to
a military campaign, Shinseki said Thursday.
Long-range strike is a "great capability, but it doesn’t solve the
problem," Shinseki told a gathering of the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) in
Washington. "We must be able to project power anywhere in the world — not just
the easily accessible areas with multiple air- and seaports … but in the most remote,
desolate, landlocked and infrastructure-poor areas as well."
Two years ago, the Army decided to transform itself into a fighting force that can do
just that — leaving behind the armor-heavy echelons designed to fight the Soviet
Union and becoming a lighter, more flexible, and easily deployable "Objective
Force."
As of January, however, the Army found itself against the ropes, fighting a new
administration whose interest in the Army — transformed or not — was minimal.
Instead, President Bush appeared to be consumed by the promise of space-age missile
defense technology to provide a "silver bullet" that would ensure America’s
self-defense.
In the spring, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s civilian national security
team presented him with an option paper that recommended chopping two of the Army’s
10 divisions.
Army Secretary Thomas White subsequently had to devote the lion’s share of time in
his new office combating the notion of cuts to the Army structure.
In the weeks before Sept. 11, White indicated that he believed his arguments has
persuaded Rumsfeld to leave the Army intact. When the much-anticipated Quadrennial Defense
Review was finally submitted to Congress in late September, the document had no mention of
Army cuts.
But Operation Enduring Freedom has changed everything, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric
Shinseki told the AUSA audience.
"Our current operations in Central Asia reinforce the need for Objective Force
capabilities, as we balance this global war against the asymmetries of international
terrorism with the regional threats that demand our attention and a need for conventional
war fighting prowess," Shinseki said.
Yet Shinseki’s transformation efforts continue to meet with resistance from some
quarters, both inside the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill.
In a separate speech, White told AUSA audiences Thursday that the Army has canceled 19
programs, including the fire-and-forget TOW anti-tank weapon, to free more money for
transformation and modernization efforts.
He also said Congress needed to approve another round of base closures; saying that 20
to 25 percent of the Army’s infrastructure is excess, and that the cost of protecting
uneeded bases is escalating because of the terrorist threat.
Meanwhile, Shinseki had a warning for those individuals within the Army who object to
the transformation process.
"If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even
less," Shinseki said. "The Army must change because the nation cannot afford to
have an Army that is irrelevant."
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