THE TELEGRAPH: The US is to abandon its doctrine of always being ready to fight two simultaneous conventional wars.
Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, said instead the Pentagon will shift its focus to a broader range of challenges including terrorism and cyber-security.
In a sweeping review of US military strategy, he said the Pentagon must prepare for an "uncertain security landscape" where extremists or "non-state actors" sought missile technology or weapons of mass destruction.
Warning that US military power faced new limits and constraints, he said that weaponry, tactics and enemies had overtaken the "familiar contingencies that dominated US planning after the Cold War".
"We have learned through painful experience that the wars we fight are seldom the wars that we planned," said Mr Gates, as he presented the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defence Review and the 2011 budget plan to the Senate armed services committee.
"As a result, the United States needs a broad portfolio of military capabilities, with maximum versatility, across the widest possible spectrum of conflict." >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Tuesday, February 02, 2010
