Because budgets must flow from and support strategy, this hearing is intended to begin laying the groundwork for the committee s upcoming consideration of the fiscal year 2002 defense budget. This will be the first defense budget prepared by the new Administration and will reflect its views of how best to prepare our military forces to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Ten years after the demise of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, we are still grappling with how to characterize this period in history.
Most analysts continue to refer to it as the post-Cold War period.
I believe this reflects uncertainty regarding the nature of today s threats and how to deal with them. The last Administration s national security strategy was characterized by the terms engagement and enlargement. In implementing this strategy, the U.S. military was called upon to keep the peace in many volatile regions of the world. U.S. military deployments abroad increased dramatically, while the size of our armed forces declined. The resulting strains on our military s warfighting ability led to significant shortfalls in readiness, deferred equipment modernization, and declines in the quality of life for many of our nation s best and brightest.