The Defense Department is entering the home stretch of a far-reaching review that is expected to shake up the U.S. armed forces and reorder the mix of weapon systems the Pentagon buys. The congressionally mandated Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) is gearing up this summer to deliver what previous QDRs have not: major decisions. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld aims to use the current review to better prepare the U.S. military to deal with new security challenges such as homeland defense and prosecuting a decades-long campaign against terrorism. To accomplish this, a significant reordering of the allocation of resources among the services, as well as possible new delineation of roles and missions across the military departments, could be in the offing. For example, Deputy Defense Secretary designee Gordon R. England has suggested the integration of the air units of all military services.
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