John Boehner, April 4, 2003

Last week, I wrote about President Bush and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld’s drive to transform our military for the new, unique challenges of the 21st Century. The Cold War is over, and new kinds of war – like the global War on Terrorism – are upon us. With this change comes the need not to alter our ultimate goal in war – victory - but to revolutionize the methods through which we will achieve that goal. For decades, our military strategy was one that employed the use of "overwhelming force" to defeat the enemy. This strategy served us well. When employed properly and effectively, we won world wars, held the Soviet empire at bay, and drove Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait through a devastating air assault and a record 100-hour ground campaign.

What President Bush, Secretary Rumsfeld, and others at the Pentagon are developing today is a strategy that does not abandon overwhelming force. Instead, it improves it. In a recent congressional hearing, Secretary Rumsfeld described his view of the military’s transformation in strategy and in attitude like this:

Imagine for a moment that you could go back in time and give a knight in King Arthur’s court an M-16. If he takes that weapon, gets back on his horse, and uses the stock to knock in his opponent’s head, that is not transformation. Transformation occurs when he gets behind a tree and starts shooting. All the high-tech weapons in the world won’t transform our Armed Forces unless we also transform the way we think, train, exercise, and fight.

In other words, we should not confuse "modernization" with "transformation." Generally, when we refer to military modernization, we mean upgrading aircraft, ships, armor, guns, and communications. But transformation takes it a step further; it involves using these advances in technology to our advantage. Through major leaps in technology that have brought us laser-guided weapons, unmanned aerial vehicles to gather intelligence, and "bunker buster" bombs, we can - as the Secretary has repeated time after time - "take the war to the enemy" in a wider array of ways than in the past. Though it is not possible to defend against every conceivable type of attack in scores of different locations and terrains throughout the world, our Armed Forces are being prepared to adapt to the new global landscape – one that has become increasingly apparent since September 11, 2001.

The Pentagon has identified six transformational goals as part of its new military strategy: protect the U.S. homeland and critical bases of operation; deny enemies sanctuary; protect and sustain power in access-denied areas; leverage information technology to connect troops and their operations; improve and protect information networks from attack; and enhance space operations.

Here in Ohio, we are home to a military facility that will play a major role in this military transformation: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Wright-Patterson is the home to the Air Force Materiel Command, which is charged with planning, developing, fielding, and sustaining weapons. And the major "acquisition center" at the Base, the Aeronautical Systems Centers, is directly connected to many warplanes currently in the news – products like the F-16 fighter jet and the new, unmanned Global Hawk spy plane. The role Wright-Patterson is playing in Secretary Rumsfeld’s strategy for the Armed Forces is proof that "transformation" is not a buzzword; it is a work in progress and a goal within reach.

As we watch our military take its first steps toward transformation – simultaneously waging battle in mountains of Afghanistan, the deserts of Iraq, and the streets of Baghdad – we are witnessing the first chapters of the Pentagon’s bold plan. Transformation will be a long, sustained effort, but with an eye toward the challenges that have become all too real in this new century, it is an effort worth pursuing. Our security – both at home and abroad – depends on it.

Congressman John Boehner represents the Eighth Congressional District of Ohio in the United States House of Representatives.