Budget, QDR Are Driving Necessary DOD Change

Budget constraints and the new Quadrennial Defense Review are the catalysts for needed defense changes, according to the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Gen. James E. Cartwright, USMC, told an overflow crowd at the start of West 2010 in San Diego that the military must break away from its old two high-end war structure and focus on fighting lesser conflicts. The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have taught us that these "lesser conflicts" are much tougher than expected, he said. "The intent now is to move off of the two major wars construct and focus on the type of wars that we actually are in-not the wars that we hope we'll be in," Gen. Cartwright declared. "Whatever it is that we think we'll do next, whomever it is we think we'll fight next, we'll be wrong."