"Despite President Bush's allegations during the 2000 campaign, today's U.S. military is not in dire distress. In fact, the recent downsizing of the American armed forces has undoubtedly been the most successful in the nation's history. The president was right, however, that strains have emerged in a military that was very busy throughout the 1990s and remains so today. Moreover, equipment purchased largely during the 1980s must soon be replaced, necessitating a considerable increase in defense spending simply to retain current capabilities. New threats ranging from global terrorist networks to a gradually strengthening China to proliferation of missile technology also demand attention. In this book, Michael O'Hanlon suggests ways to make defense spending more efficient - and to limit the need for real budget increases - without weakening U.S. military capabilities and overseas deterrence and engagement, while at the same time preparing for the likely threats of the future."--BOOK JACKET.

A Successful Defense Drawdown6 -- Major Challenges and Problems Ahead 9 -- No Easy Answers 12 -- Why Budgetary Constraints Remain 14 -- Plan of the Book 18 -- Chapter 2 Military Readiness and Overseas Commitments 22 -- Current and Future U.S. Military Readiness 22 -- Reducing Overseas Commitments 41 -- Chapter 3 Modifying the Two-War Framework 59 -- A New Two-War Concept: "Desert Storm plus Desert Shield plus Bosnia" 63 -- Capabilities of Smaller, Rapidly Deployable U.S. Forces 67 -- Hollowing Iraqi and North Korean Militaries 69 -- South Korea's Strong Military 71 -- Appendix Beyond the Korean and Iraqi Threats 76 -- Chapter 4 Modernizing the U.S. Military 82 -- Contemporary Debate on a Revolution in Military Affairs 83 -- Rethinking the Pentagon's Modernization Agenda 96 -- Chapter 5 Homeland Defense 115 -- Homeland Defense Budget 122 -- New Initiatives to Combat Terrorism 130 -- New Initiatives To Protect Cyber Infrastructure 136 -- New Initiatives to Secure and Destroy Former Soviet WMD 139 -- Chapter 6 Building a Limited National Missile Defense and Cutting Nuclear Forces 143 -- Case for Limited National Missile Defense 147 -- Clinton Administration's NMD Program 156 -- Boost-Phase Endoatmospheric Intercept 164 -- Offensive Nuclear Weapons 168 -- Chapter 7 Helping Taiwan Defeat a Chinese Blockade 177 -- Strategic Backdrop 179 -- China-Taiwan Military Balance 182 -- Why China Could Not Seize Taiwan 189 -- Could China Coerce Taiwan's Capitulation? 208 -- Force Planning Implications for the United States 213 -- Basic Approach to Breaking the PRC Blockade 216 -- Arms Sales 222 -- Less Expensive Weaponry 228 -- A Different Two-War Capability 229 -- Selective Reductions in Overseas Deployments 230 -- More Defense and Less (Nuclear) Offense 231 -- Selective Increases in Certain Activities 232 -- Modest Increases in the Defense Budget 233.