CENTER HOLDS HIGH-LEVEL ROUNDTABLE ON POWER PROJECTION; IDENTIFIES KEY SHORTFALLS, SERIOUS RISKS TO U.S. INTERESTS

(Washington, D.C.): The end of the Cold War has
witnessed a nearly unprecedented reduction in the size of
the Nation’s armed forces and a sharp contraction in
their overseas deployments. This has largely been the
result of an erroneous — but widespread — perception
that, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United
States would face a world in which America’s far-flung
interests need no longer be protected militarily. The
truth is that the post- Cold War era is increasingly
characterized by portentous challenges and ominous
instability. Evidence of this reality can be found in
the repeated forward deployment of U.S. forces in recent
months required to project American power in the former
Yugoslavia, the Persian Gulf, Haiti, the Korean peninsula
and Africa.

To illuminate the growing requirement for U.S.
power-projection capabilities in the post Cold War era —
and what it will take to satisfy that requirement — the
Center for Security Policy today convened the fourth in
its series of High-Level Roundtable Discussions. Among
the participants in this Roundtable were such
distinguished national security decision-makers as:
former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger;
former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition T.K.
Jones; Major General Charles Link, the Air
Force Chief of Staff’s Special Assistant for Roles and
Missions; John Kaskin, Programs Director,
Logistics, Plans and Policy, Strategic Sealift Division,
U.S. Navy; Rear Admiral Brent Bennitt, the Navy’s
Director of Naval Aviation; and Brigadier General Dick
Vercauteren, the Marine Corps’ Director of Plans.
Also present were senior representatives of the
Congressional Budget Office and the Arms Control and
Disarmament Agency, industry experts, congressional staff
and members of the press.

The Roundtable featured a thorough discussion of: the
requirement for U.S. power projection capabilities; the
adequacy of U.S. air- and sealift capabilities and
related modernization programs; the future of naval
aviation as an instrument of U.S. power projection and
what it will take to realize that future, and the role of
the Marine Corps in U.S. power projection and what will
be required to execute that role.

Although no effort was made to reach a consensus, the
general sentiment appeared to be that there will be an increased
— rather than a decreased — demand for U.S. power-
projection capabilities in the future, and that various
steps should be taken now to ensure that the
Nation has the ability to meet that need when it arises.
A summary of the
highlights of this informative High-Level Roundtable
will be available shortly. To obtain a copy, please
contact the Center.