# 99076. Shelton Says Corrections Now Prevent Problems Later

```

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON -- The proposed fiscal 2000 defense budget increases 
will help service members meet the threats of today and the 
possible threats of the future, said the chairman of the Joint 
Chiefs of Staff told Congress Feb. 3..

Army Gen. Henry Shelton, testifying before the House Armed 
Services Committee with Defense Secretary William S. Cohen, said 
personnel concerns were first on the chiefs' budget lists. But 
they were also concerned with modernization and increasing 
operations tempo, he added.

Shelton said corrective action now will stop the downward spiral 
of the services. "That is why, � the package of compensation 
initiatives proposed in the president's budget is so important 
to the joint chiefs and to the unified commanders," he said. 
"The 'triad,' as we have called it, of across-the-board pay 
raises, pay reform, and return to a retirement formula based on 
50 percent of [base] pay at 20 years, will meet our most 
pressing retention and recruiting challenges."

He said the proposed compensation package will meet those 
challenges and still allow DoD to meet other budget priorities. 
"These are, of course, maintaining our current readiness, 
preparing for the future through modernization and sustaining 
the quality of the force by taking care of our people," he said.

Shelton said the 1997 Quadrennial Defense Review strategic basis 
of 'shape, respond and prepare' is the right course for the U.S. 
military, but is a "demanding" one. "We must ensure that we have 
the resources needed to execute this strategy, including the 
most challenging scenario that we face -- the ability to prevail 
in two nearly simultaneous major-theater wars," he said. "We can 
never lose sight of the fact that when deterrence and diplomacy 
fail, the ultimate mission of our armed forces is to fight and 
win the nation's wars."

The chairman said the world is still a dangerous place and U.S. 
interests are challenged around the world. "To meet these 
challenges, we have the world's finest military force, bar 
none," he said. "But we are a much smaller force today � than we 
were just a few years ago." Shelton said he and the chiefs are 
worried about the high rate of operations. He said the high 
optempo is adversely affecting service members, their families 
and the aging equipment.

"We've taken many steps, working closely with the service chiefs 
and the unified commanders, to better manage the operational 
tempo of the force, particularly those units that we categorize 
as low-density, high-demand," he said. "The services and the 
unified commanders are also taking significant steps to 
restructure forces, to meet the rotational deployment realities 
of today's operations and also to reduce unnecessary 
administrative or training requirements in between deployments."

Shelton also said the reserve components are playing increasing 
operational roles. "We simply could not meet our global 
commitments in Bosnia, Europe, Southwest Asia, Central America, 
the Pacific -- you name it -- without our reserve components," 
he said.

He said the budget request also supports force modernization. He 
told legislators procurement accounts in the past paid the bills 
for current readiness, contingency operations and the upkeep of 
infrastructure, some of which is excess to the services' needs. 
Modernization must begin now, he said, so future service members 
have the right weapons to defend U.S. interests.

The 1999 Unified Command Plan to be issued soon will include an 
annex called UCP 21 that builds on the chairman's Joint Vision 
2010 strategy, Shelton announced. Joint Vision 2010 describes 
how U.S. forces expect to fight on future battlefields; the 
annex is a conceptual framework for organizing those forces, he 
said. 

"Unified Command Plan 21 will lay out a flexible plan to 
establish a joint forces command, a space and information 
command, and a joint task force to deal with the complex issues 
here within the United States," he remarked.

In his prepared statement to the committee, Shelton assessed 
three hot spots: Korea, Southwest Asia and the Balkans.

He called North Korea one of the few military powers capable of 
launching a major conventional attack on U.S. forces with 
minimal warning. More than a million North Korean soldiers are 
on active duty, the vast majority within hours of the 
demilitarized zone and the South Korean capital of Seoul, he 
said.

Despite a collapsed economy and reportedly widespread 
starvation, North Korea continues to pour its resources into its 
military and to pursue a policy of confrontation with South 
Korea and other neighbors, he stated. 

"Infiltration by North Korean special forces continues to 
exacerbate tensions between the two governments, and the recent 
launch of a previously unknown long-range variant of the Taepo 
Dong 1 ballistic missile represents a significant improvement in 
the North's capability to threaten the region and beyond," he 
said. "The North Korean threat remains one that we must -- and 
do -- take very seriously."

In Southwest Asia, Iraq remains the largest concern. "The 
ongoing disputes with Saddam Hussein and the military threat 
Iraq poses to its neighbors require a substantial, capable, and 
ready military force in the Persian Gulf region, as well as 
powerful reinforcing units in the U.S. prepared to move quickly 
should conditions require rapid deployment of additional 
assets," Shelton said in the statement. "As we showed in 
December, we are ready to act swiftly, in concert with our 
coalition partners or alone if necessary, to protect U.S. 
interests and those of our friends and allies."

Shelton said the U.S. military has built up pre-positioned 
stocks of weapons and supplies in the region, has considerably 
improved strategic lift, and has developed a crisis response 
force in the United States that can deploy to the gulf on short 
notice. 

"The development of this force is one example of our efforts to 
reduce the number of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines 
deployed overseas on contingency operations, while still 
maintaining sufficient capability to meet our security needs 
around the world," he said.

The Balkans continue to be an area of intense U.S. interest and 
involvement. The NATO multinational stabilization force in 
Bosnia includes 6,900 U.S. troops, down from 18,000 in 1996. The 
U.S. element will shrink another 10 percent in the spring, he 
said in the statement. U.S. forces in Bosnia suffered no 
fatalities during fiscal 1998, and morale remains high, he said. 
Shelton added NATO continues to monitor the conflict in Kosovo.

##end##
```