Experts: 2005 QDR Fails To Deliver Transformation

Posted on: Dec. 19th, 2005 || Source: aviationweek.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

A "series of process defects," Bush administration "incompetence" and the high-level naivete of implementing a top-down military restructuring have resulted in a Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) that has "failed" to transform the Defense Department but has successfully shielded most major defense weapons and systems, a trio of analysts told reporters Dec. 16.

In turn, hard choices inside the Pentagon will come in a few years when the United States has withdrawn from Iraq but more supplemental funding is needed just to recapitalize military forces, let alone continue a slew of budding programs, they said.

"The QDR has failed to institutionalize the concepts of transformation that [Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld and his advisers have espoused for the last four years," said Loren Thompson, director of defense studies at the Lexington Institute.

"That's partly because of political resistance, but it's partly because of their own incompetence," he added.

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