Addresses the challenges for defense policy in a world transformed by the end of the Cold War and then the war on terrorism, and sketches analytic techniques for framing particular defense issues.

In 2003, the U.S. Army began a process to transform from a division-based to a modular force structure. Congress requested a study of the process and outcomes of the initiative to assess the impact on the Army s capabilities in a range of operations.

This report calls into question the viability of the longstanding logic of naval force building. It provides a description of the opportunities that rapid advances in technology and organizational effectiveness offer the U.S. Navy as it looks to a demanding future. Most important, it provides an alternative feel architecture design that incorporates the three broad elements of the Department of Defense's transformation strategy.

Recent military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq were characterized by the rapid defeat of enemy military forces, by relatively small deployments of American forces, and by a very limited destruction of the critical civilian infrastructure. This success can be credited in large part to the ongoing transformation of the U.S. military evident in its effective use of information superiority, precision strike, and rapid maneuver on the battlefield.