Bush Appeals for More Agility, ‘Forward Thinking’ by Military

Pressing his case for radical change in the military, President Bush told the U.S. Naval Academy’s graduating class Friday that the modern American armed forces need to shift their core advantage from brute strength to speed and mobility.

The president attached a new urgency to the mission, calling for more creativity in military thinking and likening the challenge of changing the Pentagon’s direction to that of “changing the course of a mighty ship.”

If met, Bush’s goal would greatly accelerate a course on which the Pentagon has embarked, with some reluctance, as it continues to move away from the doctrines that guided it during the Cold War.

Bush’s comments sent a signal to an often reluctant military that changes are coming as its mission encounters a shifting geopolitical landscape. And they were an acknowledgment that the overhaul would take longer and be more difficult to enact than initially anticipated.

“We must build forces that draw upon the revolutionary advances in the technology of war that will allow us to keep the peace by redefining war on our terms,” the president told the departing midshipmen.

But another key audience was 40 miles away in the Pentagon, where the civilian leadership and senior military officers are facing a difficult task: how to find elusive common ground as they seek to update the armed services’ doctrine in the face of new missions.

“I’m committed to building a future force that is defined less by size and more by mobility and swiftness, one that is easier to deploy and sustain, one that relies more heavily on stealth, precision weaponry and information technologies,” he said, suggesting that the active duty force could shrink. At 1.4 million, it is 33% below the level of 2.1 million in uniform near the end of the Cold War.

At the same time, Bush said that the U.S. military of the 21st century demands not only new weapons but also a readiness to innovate.

“We cannot transform our military using old weapons and old plans. Nor can we do it with an old bureaucratic mind-set that frustrates the creativity and entrepreneurship that a 21st century military will need,” he said.

In a pointed message to the newest officers of an institution often thought of as being too slow to change, he said: “Creativity and imaginative thinking are the great competitive advantages of America and America’s military.”

The result, he predicted, would be a military in which Aegis destroyers could protect a continent from ballistic missile attack, submarines could carry hundreds of cruise missiles, and Marine task forces could deploy “with far greater speed, operational reach and precision than ever before.”

Administration aides said last month that the speech would offer important insights into the new Pentagon team’s conclusions about how they plan to overhaul the military.

More recently, however, as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s defense study has appeared to bog down, officials have played down the speech’s significance.

But even lacking detail, it offered a general look at the goals the president has set for the Pentagon’s shifting direction, even as he saluted the muscular role assigned to units in the Persian Gulf and other distant deployments.

“These forces are America’s insurance policy in a world of change and challenge. They give comfort to our allies and pause to our enemies and adversaries,” Bush said.

Congressional and independent defense experts say they believe that Rumsfeld has found overhauling the military to be a more complex job than he expected, especially since the budget office has balked at providing the kind of financial increases military officials say are needed.

Rumsfeld, who in his confirmation hearing last January promised Congress a comprehensive review of the military, insisted more recently this was never his intention.

“The review is not really huge. It’s been mischaracterized as top to bottom, comprehensive and so forth,” he said, according to a transcript released by the Pentagon.

Bush’s remarks suggested that the overhaul he had promised in the presidential campaign would take longer than expected. By singling out “an old bureaucratic mind-set,” he suggested that it has already met stiff resistance from some in the military services.

Rumsfeld, who had declined an invitation to speak at the U.S. Military Academy commencement, was listed on the Annapolis program as one of the guests to be introduced at the Navy football stadium, but he did not attend.

After the speech, Bush helped hand out diplomas to the 902 graduates. Despite cloudy skies that forced the cancellation of an aerial display by the Navy’s Blue Angels flight team, the white tunics of the newly minted officers stood out against the deep green of the stadium’s near-perfect playing field.

Encouraging them to seek creative solutions--and encouraging the military to reward them--Bush told the departing midshipmen, “Our national and military leaders owe you a culture that supports innovation and a system that rewards it.

“As president, I am committed to fostering a military culture where intelligent risk-taking and forward thinking are rewarded, not dreaded. And I’m committed to ensuring that visionary leaders who take risks are recognized and promoted.”

As he has in other commencement addresses, Bush acknowledged his less-than-sterling academic record, as well as offering a timeworn salute to the fraternity of long-winded commencement speakers.

“You’ll always remember this commencement day--a day of excitement, pomp, circumstance; tears of joy and relief when the speaker finally stops speaking.”

He said he had asked Adm. Vernon Clark, the chief of naval operations, for “any thoughts on what I should talk about.”

“He said, ‘Mr. President, you should talk about 20 minutes,’ ” Bush said. He spoke exactly 20 minutes.

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Gerstenzang reported from Annapolis and Richter from Washington.