Is U.S. Military Up to the Job

By SUSANNE M. SCHAFER
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - During his campaign for the White House, George Bush warned that the next president "will inherit a military in decline." Now Bush must rely on that same military force to fight his new war against terrorism.

Is America's military up to the job?

The armed forces are seen by many as overworked, underpaid, lacking spare parts and ammunition, hemorrhaging experienced pilots and lacking long-term investments for new planes, ships and guns. Yet they are still hailed as the best in the world.

"Make no mistake about it, your armed forces are ready," a grim-faced Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the nation just hours after last week's terror attacks, even as the Pentagon burned.

Since the end of the Cold War, the size of the military, and its budget, have shrunk considerably. In the wake of the twin terror attacks, Washington's constant debate over military money suddenly evaporated and Congress voted billions more to help Bush unleash the armed forces against those responsible and the people who helped them.

But to take on terrorism, experts warn the nation must increase the size of its 29,000 special operations forces, hire and train additional spies to gather on-the-ground intelligence and improve covert surveillance capabilities.

Money is not the only answer. It may depend upon just what the military is asked to do.

"At the tactical level, the answer is pretty straightforward. We have all ... the guns and boats and bullets and bombs we need, especially regarding fixed targets," said Air Force Gen. Merrill McPeak, the top Air Force general during the Persian Gulf War.

It may be easy to "level Kabul," Afghanistan's capital, with tactical strikes and cruise missiles. It would be much harder to insert forces that would be able to track down an elusive target such as the suspected terrorist mastermind, Osama bin Laden.

"We have the firepower to do it, but I'm not sure we have the intelligence (information) to do it," McPeak said.

The post-Cold War military has shrunk to 1.4 million troops from a high during the mid-1980s of 2 million. The Pentagon must turn to its 1.3 million reservists to shoulder part of any military campaign, and Bush has initiated a call-up of up to 50,000.

At present, the Army has 10 divisions; the Navy 12 aircraft carrier battle groups; and the Air Force 1,200 fighter aircraft and 125 bombers in active duty ranks.

The end of the Cold War also brought a smaller defense budget, a slide that had its roots in 1986 during the second Reagan administration. Through the last two years of Reagan tenure and the administration of the elder George Bush, defense spending as a percentage of gross national product declined _ from 6.3 percent of GDP in 1986 to 4.7 percent in 1992. The fiscal 1989 defense budget was $295 billion in outlays.

Before the terrorist strikes, Bush had asked Congress to approve $329 billion in defense spending for the budget year starting Oct. 1. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had said even that would not be enough to solve all the military's problems.

Since the attacks, Congress has bestowed $40 billion on Bush, bidding him to help rebuild from the terrorist attacks and use the military against whomever sponsored, helped or harbored the people responsible. More than half the money is supposed to go to the reconstruction efforts in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

Will the additional billions do the trick?

"To deal with the threat at home, we will have to increase the size of our domestic air defense network - that means fewer base closures, more and newer aircraft and additional use of reservists" to fly protective air caps, said Loren Thompson, of the Lexington Institute, a military think tank in Arlington, Va.

Since the attack, 26 bases have combat aircraft on high alert, which hasn't occurred since the Cold War.

Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, queried Gen. Richard Myers, Bush's choice as his top military adviser, last week on whether the military will be able to respond to the terrorist strikes.

"I think we are able to respond today," Myers said. "But let me just reiterate: We have what we need today to do what we need to do."