U.S. Military to scale back, refocus

7/21/2014

Facing increased pressure from policy makers, the Pentagon has announced its plan to re-
scope the military's procurement priorities. "The United States is no longer fighting the Cold
War," a spokesman for the Defense Department said, "and it's time the composition and
strategies of our forces reflects that." The plan, as outlined in a 200 page report titled
"Agile Warfare for the 21st Century" focuses more on Special Operations teams and the use
of unmanned vehicles, and less on fleets of capital ships and large-theater military conflicts.
"The modern nature of asymmetric warfare demands that the United States respond in kind
if it intends to stay on the frontline of armed combat," the report states. "The future
military of the United States will be light, fast and heavily automated, featuring drones and
relying primarily on the strength of our digital infrastructure."

Trivia

• On February 23, 2014, the New York Times published an article about the scaling back of U.S. forces, even stating that "[t]he new American way of war will be underscored in [Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel]’s budget, which protects money for Special Operations forces and cyberwarfare".