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Deputy Defense Secretary Says Modernizing Funds Available |
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(Source : US State Department ; issued Nov. 30, 2000)
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The next decade will be a period of transformation -- the transformation of our military forces," the Pentagon's civilian second-in-command said November 29.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Rudy De Leon said that as a new presidential administration comes to Washington, the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) will take center stage in the debate over modernizing the U.S. military services, and it will be operating with "new financial resources on the table."
Speaking at The Center for Naval Analysis Forum on National Strategies and Capabilities held near Washington, D.C., De Leon said that in the last two years, Defense Secretary Cohen and the administration, working with Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General (Hugh) Shelton and Congress "have been able to increase the defense top line, through its FYDPs (Future Years Defense Programs), by $180 billion."
This significant increase in new capital, plus "the $50 billion to $100 billion that the two presidential candidates have talked about," adds up to a quarter of a trillion dollars in new investment in defense, he said.
To have the maximum funds allocated to the military's priorities of pay and quality of life as well as the modernization of the armed forces "will require that the new administration continue to build upon the Defense Reform Initiative of Secretary Cohen and Dr. (John) Hamre (De Leon's predecessor)," he said.
De Leon emphasized that the next administration must continue to make U.S. defense policy bipartisan, as President Clinton, a Democrat, illustrated by nominating former Republican Senator William Cohen as
Secretary of Defense . This is necessary, De Leon said, so that the United States may "speak with unity and clarity in terms of our foreign policy."
Click here for the full text of De Leon's address
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