The Pentagon has released its updated strategic planning framework and it includes some interesting focus areas.
The Pentagon plans to increase the ranks of U.S. Special Forces, establishing a Marine component for the first time, and will create a new unit to direct the "elimination" of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of rogue states or terrorists, according to a new strategy document released today.The 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review, a report mandated by Congress every four years, lays out broad plans to strengthen U.S. forces to defeat terrorist networks, boost homeland defense, increase deterrent capabilities and "improve the nation's ability to deal with the dangers posted by states that possess weapons of mass destruction and the possibility of terrorists gaining control of them."
In an effort to strengthen U.S. forces to defeat terrorist networks, the new report says, the Pentagon "will increase Special Operations Forces by 15 percent and increase the number of Special Forces battalions by one-third."
The U.S. Special Operations Command, known as SOCOM, "will establish the Marine Corps Special Operations Command," and the Air Force will create "an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron" under SOCOM, the document says.
The Navy, for its part, will augment SEAL teams under the command and "will develop a riverine warfare capability," it says.
"The Department will also expand Psychological Operations and Civil Affairs units by 3,700 personnel, a 33 percent increase," the report says.
Starting in the new fiscal year, the Pentagon will also fund a $1.5 billion initiative over five years to develop "broad-spectrum medical countermeasures against the threat of genetically engineered bio-terror agents," the review says.
All that sounds good, but the increase in PsyOps and Civil Affairs seems low. Iraq and Afghanistan are teaching us anew that long-term interaction with local populations is the norm, not the exception. And that the smart set from the State Dept cannot fill the need.
• Pentagon - 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review