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| Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld pointed out at the March 9, 2004, Pentagon press briefing that pushing forward with transformation programs within the department would ultimately be a wiser investment of scarce defense dollars than increasing military personnel levels. While he recognized the heavy personnel committments of the present, he doubted that such requirements would be typical, looking longterm. Defense Dept. photo by R. D. Ward |
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| Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld |
| Speech to The Greater Phoenix Leadership, Phoenix, Aug. 26, 2004 |
| "The way ahead will have its share of ups and downs – we know that. Any development of a new technology, leading-edge technologies, has ups and downs, successes and what people call failures. I was in the pharmaceutical business and invested heavily in research and development. And folks did not just simply get up one morning to discover an important new therapy for people. They went out and they tried things that worked and that didn’t work. And each thing that didn’t work was part of that learning process and so, too, in weapons and defense systems capabilities. All cutting-edge endeavors include trial and error, but we will continue to benefit from leadership that combines vision with resolve and to simply learn from each of the so-called failures." Remarks |
| Interview with Martha Zoller, WDUN Radio, July 16, 2004 |
| "A lot of people said when the attack came on Sept. 11 that there goes the transformation process and I said quite the contrary. The attacks on Sept. 11 prove the urgent need to transform the department so that we’re arranged for the challenges and the threats and the difficulties of the 21st century. And in fact, that’s proven to be the case. It’s given an impetus to everything we’re doing." Remarks |
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| Town Hall Meeting on USS Essex, June 4, 2004 |
| "What they (Navy) are in the process of doing is trying to invest in increasingly capable and lethal military equipment that is less manpower intensive, and there is no doubt but that the navy of tomorrow and next year and the year after will be a considerably more capable navy....What we will have each year going forward is a United States Navy that is increasing capable, more agile, and more lethal." Remarks |
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| News Conference with NATO Secretary-General, April 6, 2004 |
 "The new NATO command structure is in place. The new transformation command here (Norfolk, Va.) is something that is helping move the entire alliance towards the challenges of the 21st century. The NATO Response Force, which I think is going to have a big effect and impact on the alliance, in terms of its capability to deal with trouble spots; several other things that have taken place; but particularly, the fact that NATO has moved outside of the NATO treaty area and outside of Europe to Afghanistan and has taken on the responsibility for the International Security Assistance Force there, and is in the process of expanding still further with respect to some of the provincial reconstruction teams — these are impressive accomplishments and a great deal of work remains, to be sure." |
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| Remarks from Radio Days, March 16, 2004 |
| "The president did specifically ask that we undertake the transformation of the department. That is to say, see that we move from the 20th century into the 21st century from the industrial age into the information age, that we assure that we have the kind of capabilities that are lethal, that are agile, that are readily deployable, and that we look out for the men and women which are clearly the most important asset we have - they are the men and women in uniform. "So we've made many efforts to see that the quality of life for the troops has improved and that we've improved the housing and their circumstances, their pay. But beyond that, to see that we have the kinds of leadership and focus that would meet the challenges of the 21st century." Remarks |
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| Remarks on March 9, 2004 |
| "This is the time to press forward with transformation of our nation's defenses. The men and women in uniform who are risking their lives in Iraq, in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the war on terror need our support and they need the tools to prevail in this war and to prevail and prepare for the next." |
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Douglas J. Feith
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy |
| Statement before the House Armed Services Committee, June 23, 2004 |
 "We are performing the most thorough restructuring of U.S. military forces overseas since the major elements of the U.S. Cold War posture were set in 1953, when the Korean War ended. This initiative is intended to improve our military’s forward presence to increase our ability to fulfill U.S. security commitments and to work with allies and partners in the decades to come in military activities across the spectrum of endeavors from combat to peace operations.
The goal of our realignment is to update our defense posture so that it looks forward, not back toward the Cold War. We want our posture to enable more effective military operations in the future – greater flexibility for our forces, their ability to deploy powerful capabilities rapidly anywhere in the world where they are needed. We want our posture to enrich our ties with our defense partners around the world – making it easier for us to cooperate, lightening our footprint, eliminating unnecessary irritations, helping them as well as us to modernize our armed forces. And we want our posture to be efficient – to be affordable – with the right kind of command structures, facilities and equipment for the work that may be required in the future." Remarks |
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Arthur K. Cebrowski
Director, Force Transformation |
| Remarks at Annapolis Naval History Symposium, March 31, 2004 |
 "We must think and act anew. This is what transformation is ultimately about -- new values, new attitudes, and new beliefs and how those are expressed in the behavior of people and institutions. While we have made very significant progress, there are clear indications that these are only the 'first steps.' Much more must be done, and the pace is not ours to set. The war in Iraq, the larger global war on terrorism and globalization are compelling not only the pace and the intensity of transformation, but also its very character." |
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Admiral E.P. Giambastiani
Commander, U.S. Joint Forces Command |
| Remarks for Industry Symposium 2004, March 17, 2004 |
 "We need to establish new ways of transferring information and intellectual capital. Until now, our relationship with the private sector has been essentially limited to formal contracts. In my view, this will not foster the exchange of ideas necessary to resolve the joint warfighting challenges facing us both today and tomorrow. We must engage with the private sector to improve joint force capabilities and allow you in industry to participate in parallel with JFCOM's transformational process." Remarks |
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