Washington -- The changes envisioned for America's re-positioning of its military forces around the world are just part of a much wider strategy of making those forces more agile and efficient in order to meet the challenges of 21st century threats, says Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Leading off a panel that included four general officers, headed by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee September 23 that the planned change to the U.S. defense posture has been in development for several years, and will be implemented over the coming six-to-eight years.

Rumsfeld said the Army has grown in size, and is being reorganized into self-sustaining, independently deployable units with their own protection, firepower and logistics. A pressing need, he said, is to re-balance capabilities in the active duty forces with those in the reserves. "Already the services have re-balanced some 10,000 military spaces ... and we're projected to re-balance 20,000 more during 2004," he said.

Jointness, which means the ability of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine forces to fight as a single entity on a battlefield, has been consciously increased, Rumsfeld said. Communications, intelligence activities, and the capabilities and missions of special operations forces have all been significantly improved, he said.

Rumsfeld told the committee the transformation of U.S. forces involves a set of new concepts that will shape new alignments. Those concepts are:

-- U.S. troops should be located where wanted, welcomed, and needed. U.S. forces are an irritant in some countries, he said, citing Korea as an example, so changes will be made in where and how they are deployed.

-- The troops should be placed in locations where they can easily and quickly be moved.

-- U.S. forces need to be in places that allow those troops to have reasonable access to ample training areas on land, sea and in the air. Host nations will need to provide access "free of encroachment and unreasonable restrictions," he said. And,

-- Advanced technology has increased military capabilities, so that more can be accomplished with fewer numbers of troops and materiel, Rumsfeld said. He gave examples of more capable fighter aircraft and quicker naval response time as allowing few of each to be used than previously.

Rumsfeld addressed current U.S. military thinking about certain geographic regions:

-- Main operating bases in places like Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Japan, and South Korea will be "consolidated but retained," he said.

-- In Asia, "our idea is built upon our current ground, air and naval access to overcome vast distances while bringing additional naval and air capabilities forward into the region."

-- In Europe look for lighter and more deployable ground capabilities, as well as stronger special operations forces, with each positioned for more rapid deployment to other regions, he said.

-- In the broader Middle East, "warm" facilities (ready for use but not fully staffed) are proposed for rotational forces and contingency purposes, building on cooperation and access provided during conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, he said.

-- As for Africa and the Western Hemisphere, an "array of smaller cooperative security locations for contingency access" is contemplated, he said.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers told committee members that the global defense posture that is being pursued in the coming years will better position the United States "to engage our allies and promote regional stability" and put U.S. armed forces in the best position "to prevail in combat when war cannot be prevented." The approach that the Pentagon leadership is pursuing, he said, is in the best interest of U.S. national security, and of the troops that make that security possible.

Myers said the realignment of U.S. forces is being driven by the military requirement to fight a new kind of war --- one that is being waged against terrorism and extremism --- while at the same time being poised to address "future threats that are still unknown."

The U.S. military is in the process of being transformed so it may better confront future challenges and threats, Myers said, and that means organizing the force to it so that it demonstrates "agility, flexibility and speed."

He said the U.S. military transformation has been facilitated by technological changes that have brought improvements in precision-guided munitions, long-range strike capabilities, command and control networks, and the ability of all the services to fight in a joint, integrated fashion and as part of coalitions where necessary.

Committee Chairman John Warner said he understands that when the global posture review is completed, it will result in a significant number of U.S. military facilities closing overseas. This in turn, he said, will likely bring 70,000 military personnel, as well approximately 100,000 of their dependents back to the United States over the next 10 years from locations such as South Korea and Germany.

Senator Carl Levin turned the focus of discussions away from the posture review to Iraq, saying: "The chaos in Iraq puts scheduled Iraqi elections at risk." Rumsfeld acknowledged that Iraq is a violent country and that it is difficult to paint a rosy picture of the situation there when people are being killed every day. He said the insurgents there are trying to force the Iraqi civilians to lose heart.

But even though the numbers of violent incidents -- including beheadings -- are up, the secretary said the number of trained and equipped Iraqi security forces are also on the rise. Myers concurred, saying the military equipment that the Iraqi security forces need is now arriving at a fairly rapid rate.

Rumsfeld said Iraqi elections would take place, but indicated that the process may well be imperfect. "Nothing is perfect in life, so you have an election that's not quite perfect," he said. "Is it better than not having an election?" the secretary asked. "You bet."

Following is the txt of Rumsfeld's prepared remarks:

http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/2004/sp20040923-secdef0783.html