The Report Of The Quadrennial Defense Review PDF Download

In its May 1995 report, the Commission on Roles and Missions of the Armed Forces recommended that DOD lead a comprehensive strategy and force review at the start of each new administration. In August 1995, the Secretary of Defense endorsed performing a quadrennial review of the defense program. Congress, noting the Secretary's intent to complete the first such review in 1997, required in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997 that DOD report on a number of topics, including the defense strategy; the force structure best suited to implement the strategy; the effect of new technologies anticipated by 2005 on force structure, doctrine, and operational concepts; and key assumptions used in the review. It also authorized a National Defense Panel, comprising national security experts from the private sector, to review the results of the QDR and conduct a subsequent study to identify and assess force alternatives. DOD completed the QDR in May 1997 and the Panel issued its report in December 1997.