George W. Bush 2000 On The Issues
Defense
Governor Bush believes that a
strong, capable and modern military is the foundation of the peace we
enjoy today and hope to extend for future generations. The military
of the present must be better supported and respected. It must also
be challenged and transformed to become the military of the future. The
right choices must be made to renew the bond of trust between the
President and the military, protect America with an effective national
missile defense, and create a military capable of meeting the challenges
of the 21st Century.
Governor Bush’s Principles for a Strong National Defense
Governor Bush believes that America’s military is faced with a moment of
opportunity – an opportunity to transform itself, and thus ensure peace
for generations. Seizing this opportunity will require spending
more, but equally as important, spending more wisely. Governor Bush
knows the next President must:
- Restore the morale of our armed forces. Governor Bush
will respect the military, and earn the respect of the men and women
who wear our uniform.
- Insist that deployments have well-defined objectives. Our
military requires the rallying point of a defining mission: to be able
to fight and win our nation’s wars – and thereby deter war. Sending
our military on vague, aimless and endless deployments is a sure way
to destroy morale. Nothing would be better for morale than
clarity and focus from the Commander-in-Chief.
- Focus on defending the American homeland. Rogue nations
are developing missiles capable of hitting American soil, as well as
threatening our allies and forces overseas. Defending America
itself must now assume a high priority.
- Prepare the military for the challenges of the information age.
Power is increasingly defined not by mass or size, but by
mobility, swiftness and stealth. Influence is increasingly
measured in information. Yet today’s military is still
organized more for Cold War threats than for the challenges of a new
century – for industrial age operations, rather than for information
age battles.
- Begin to build the military of the future. The choices
made by the next President will affect American defense for decades to
come. We must ensure that our armed forces stay generations
ahead of any potential opponent on the battlefield – by not merely
improving existing systems, but by skipping ahead to new generations
of technology: land forces that are lighter but more lethal, air power
that can strike across long distances, and naval power that packs a
bigger punch in smaller platforms.
Governor Bush’s Proposals for a Strong National Defense
Governor Bush will set three goals for our nation’s defense.
1. To Renew the Bond of Trust Between the President and the
Military, Governor Bush will:
- Respect the tradition and culture of the military.
- Increase by $1 billion a year the recently enacted military pay
raise to encourage the best and brightest to enlist and reenlist.
- Renovate substandard military housing and improve military training.
- Maintain longstanding U.S. commitments, but order an immediate
review of overseas deployments in dozens of countries, with the aim of
replacing uncertain missions with well-defined objectives.
2. To Defend the American Homeland, Governor Bush will:
- Deter terrorist attacks by ensuring that every group or nation
understands that if they sponsor such attacks, the U.S. response will
be devastating.
- Deploy national and theater anti-ballistic missile defenses, as soon
as possible.
- Reduce the number of American nuclear weapons to the lowest possible
number consistent with our national security.
- Strengthen our intelligence community’s ability to detect
terrorist threats, and develop long-range strike capabilities to
eliminate threats before they arise.
- Promote cooperation with our allies, who should share the burden of
defense.
3. To Begin to Create the Military of the Future, Governor Bush
will:
- Order a comprehensive military review to develop a new architecture
for American defense to meet the challenges of the next century.
- Seize the opportunity to skip a generation of weapons, not merely
improving existing systems, but replacing them with a new generation
of technology: land forces that are lighter but more lethal, air power
– manned or unmanned – that can strike across long distances, and
naval power that packs a bigger punch in smaller platforms.
- Encourage a spirit of innovation and experimentation within the
military.
- Earmark at least 20 percent of the procurement budget for
acquisition programs that propel America generations ahead in military
technology.
- Increase defense R&D spending by at least $20 billion from
FY2002 to FY2006.
Position Proposal and Speeches
Source: George W. Bush for President 2000 Web Site
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