Quadrennial Defense Review
The Quadrennial Defense Review ( QDR for short ) is a four-year study of US defense planning. Since 1997 the US Secretary of Defense has been required by law to conduct a QDR, which covers the next 20 years, and to record the results in a report for Congress . Even if the proposals are not binding on the government, the QDR report, along with the National Security Strategy, is one of the most important foundations of medium and long-term military planning in the USA.
So far, five QDR reports have been published: the first in May 1997, the following in September 2001, February 2006, February 2010 and March 2014.
background
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, the US saw the need to realign its defense strategy. One of the studies to serve this end was the bottom-up review commissioned by Secretary of Defense Les Aspin in March 1993 . However, in the opinion of critics, the results presented in autumn of the same year did not contain a convincing future defense concept and could not be reconciled with the planned cuts in the defense budget.
In 1994 the US Congress commissioned the Commission on Roles and Missions (CORM) to carry out an analysis. The Commission's report published on May 24, 1995, however, was also unable to offer a comprehensive military strategy with regard to the new security situation. Nevertheless, the military leadership and Congress supported the CORM's proposal to carry out an investigation into future military strategy every four years. This became a legal obligation, initially within the framework of the defense legislation for the 1997 budget year , and then since 1999 through a federal law .
execution
The law stipulates, among other things, that the Secretary of Defense should conduct a comprehensive review every four years under the title Quadrennial Defense Review on the national defense strategy, the structure of the armed forces , the infrastructure, the budget and other components of the defense program of the United States with a view to a national Defense strategy and defense planning for the next 20 years. The QDR should be carried out in coordination with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
The first QDR was completed in 1997, the later reviews were to be held in the year that follows a year that can be evenly divided by four, i.e. 2001, 2005, 2009 and so on.
The Secretary of Defense is also required to prepare a report on the Quadrennial Defense Review upon completion of the investigation and submit it to the Senate and House Force Committees . The report on QDR 1997 should be submitted by May 15 of the same year; the 2001 deadline was September 30. A new deadline has been in effect since the 2003 budget year. The report is now to be presented in the year after the investigation, but before the US President submits his draft budget to Congress, i.e. before February 6 of any year.
The reviews
Quadrennial Defense Review 1997
The report on the 1997 Quadrennial Defense Review presented by William Cohen in mid-May 1997 included many aspects of the bottom-up review of 1993, such as the ability of the US armed forces to wage two regional wars simultaneously and the reduction in troop strength, but also highlighted new threats, such as the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction , drug trafficking and organized crime .
Quadrennial Defense Review 2001
QDR 2001 was nearing completion when the 9/11 attacks fundamentally changed the US security situation. In the three weeks leading up to the handover of the report, only hasty changes could be made. The defense of the home country was now given top priority over the originally worked out 4-2-1 concept . This means that threats ward in the four critical regions of Europe, Northeast Asia (Japan, Korea), the Pacific and the Middle and the Middle East (Iraq, Afghanistan) in two to fight at the same time larger clashes and one to win it. With internal security first, it became 1-4-2-1 . However, the political reality of the Iraq war caused 4-2-1 to fail due to haphazard armament and understaffing.
Quadrennial Defense Review 2005
QDR 2005 (also known as QDR 2006 because of the publication date of its report) is all about the war on terror , which is known as the long war . The breaking up of terrorist networks and the defense of the home country are named as the most pressing challenges. In order to be able to react better to irregular warfare that is to be expected more frequently in the future, such as terrorist attacks and uprisings, among other things, the number of personnel in the classic troop units is to be further reduced by 2011, while the military special units are to be increased by 15 percent. The reserve armed forces should no longer be viewed primarily as a strategic reserve, but should be able to be deployed more flexibly in current conflicts.
Web links
- QDR website
- Jeffrey D. Brake: Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR): Background, Process, and Issues (PDF), CRS Report for Congress, June 2001 (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ A b William S. Cohen : Report of the Quadrennial Defense Review May 1997, documented on the Air University website
- ^ A b Donald H. Rumsfeld : Quadrennial Defense Review Report September 2001 (PDF)
- ↑ a b Donald H. Rumsfeld: Quadrennial Defense Review Report February 2006 (PDF)
- ^ Robert M. Gates : Quadrennial Defense Review Report February 2010 (PDF)
- ↑ Chuck Hagel : Quadrennial Defense Review Report March 2014 (PDF)
- ^ John T. Correll: The Legacy of the Bottom-Up Review . In: Air Force Magazine . October 2003, p. 57
- ↑ Overview of the recommendations of the Commission on Roles and Missions AUSA Institute of Land Warfare, July 1995 (PDF)
- ^ A b National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997 congress.gov, see Sec. 923.
- ↑ a b United States Code , Title 10, § 118: Quadrennial defense review
- ^ Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003 congress.gov, see Sec. 922.
- ↑ United States Code, Title 31, § 1105
- ↑ US sets its sights on asymmetric warfare Article on QDR 2005 in Asia Times , January 26, 2006.