But it is also financial. In the end, it comes down to which new initiatives will be started, which old programs will survive, and which ones will be canceled or curtailed. Congress will approach it that way, even if the Pentagon doesn't. Any move to reduce the role of big deck carriers, for example, will encounter fierce resistance in the Senate. If transformation deteriorates to a budget competition, as happened in the Quadrennial Defense Review and the National Defense Panel review, strange things can happen.
Transformation competes with the needs of today.
The short budgets of the Clinton years left the military in a deep hole. The replacement of worn-out capital equipment cannot be postponed much longer. Readiness problems are getting worse. We cannot stand down the force of today and reinvest the money in the force of tomorrow. Even if Bush and Rumsfeld succeed in reducing our operational obligations abroad, the remaining demands on current forces will still be substantial.