Military Transformation? Which Transformation, and What Lies Ahead?

Paul K. Davis

ResearchPublished Jun 4, 2010

This paper discusses military transformation across the eight years of the George W. Bush administration, particularly those in which Donald Rumsfeld was secretary of defense. The chapter begins with the 1990s for context and ends with thoughts on what lies ahead (2010 and beyond). Most of the paper describes the transformation associated with, e.g., precision weapons, information technology, and capabilities-based planning under uncertainty. Later portions of the paper discuss the “rebalancing of the portfolio” that became necessary in dealing with counterinsurgency and other complex forms of warfare. The paper ends by touching briefly on what lies ahead: the need for yet another round of dramatic changes.

Posted here with permission from The George W. Bush Defense Program: Policy, Strategy, and War, edited by Stephen J. Cimbala, Chapter 2, May 2010. Copyright © 2010 Potomac Books, Inc.

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Originally published in The George W. Bush Defense Program: Policy, Strategy, and War, edited by Stephen J. Cimbala, Chapter 2, May 2010, Potomac Books, Inc.

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