children with exceptional needs—when selecting officers to attend our various schools that require a change in duty station. We have instituted a "year-out program" for our junior officers and SNCOs, within the corporate world, think-tanks, and Congress. This will widen perspectives and provide valuable experiences which will bolster our marines capacity to innovate and adapt in the years to come.

OUR MARINE WARRIOR CULTURE

At the very heart of the Corps and its relationship to each marine is our service culture. The Marine Corps is sui generis—that is, we have a nature that is distinct from all others. This goes beyond the unique characteristics of our expeditionary Marine Air-Ground Task Forces which are always prepared to be deployed overseas. It, in fact, pertains to our warrior ethos. From the individual marine to our institution as a whole, our model is the thinking and stoic warrior who fights more intelligently than his enemy and is inured to hardship and challenges.

Our commitment to maintaining our warrior culture is illustrated by our recently instituted martial arts program. We have developed a discipline unique to the Corps and are in the process of training every marine in its ways. This program seeks to promote both physical prowess and mental discipline. Successive levels of achievement are rewarded with different colored belts reflecting a combination of demonstrated character, judgment, and physical skill. This training will benefit marines in the missions we face; especially in peacekeeping and peacemaking operations where physical stamina and mental discipline are often vital. At its heart, our martial arts training is fundamentally concerned with mentoring our young men and women to understand that the keys to mission accomplishment often are a matter of using intelligence, strength, and self-control to influence circumstances, rather than always resorting to the application of deadly force. In this regard, our martial arts training supports our pursuit of non-lethal alternatives.

Under Title 10 of the U.S. Code, each of America's Armed Services has a different set of responsibilities, separate operating roles, and institutional structures that give every service a culture that is distinct from the others. Indeed, such cultural diversity should be considered a force multiplier. Consequently, "one-size fits all" policies are not often the best solutions in the Department of Defense, despite the importance of our on-going work to be fully joint in the conduct of operations. It is important to understand how the differences between the services may sometimes require separate and service-specific means of accomplishing universal goals such as promoting the quality of life of our people.

The recently enacted PERSTEMPO Program is an example of a requirement that is likely to impact each of the services differently. The 2001 National Defense Authorization Act mandated that any service member deployed more than 400 days in 2 years receive $100 for each additional deployment day. While the larger services may be capable of managing the restriction placed on deployments and the additional costs associated with this requirement, the policy runs counter to the Corps' rotationally deployed, expeditionary force identity.

Our young men and women join the Corps to make a difference, to challenge themselves, and are prepared to deploy in service of our country. The testament to this is our success in recruiting and retention: the "acid-test" of any service culture. Our young marines and their families understand that our forward presence and expeditionary deployments are the core expression of our warrior culture. It is why they are marines. In turn, though the PERSTEMPO Program may be appropriate for the other services, its present construct does not comport with the Corps' culture and missions. The policy may in fact have the unintended consequences of having a profoundly deleterious effect on our cohesion, capabilities, training, and budget. As a consequence we are now conducting a study to analyze how we can better manage our personnel tempo and still meet our operational requirements while remaining true to our culture and our fiscal constraints.

CONCLUSION

One of the clearest indicators that people are our first priority is that approximately 60 percent of the Marine Corps budget is allotted to funding manpower programs. Yet, this fact also emphasizes the relative state of the other pillars of readiness, especially transformation and modernization; which have been underfunded for most of the past decade. The Marine Corps has long prided itself on being able to do more with less. Nothing reflects this more clearly than the fact that the Corps provides 20 percent of our Nation's expeditionary ground and aviation combat force for 6 percent of the Department of Defense budget.

Just as the other services have pursued plans to reorganize from a Cold War posture to one that matches the post-Cold War world, the Corps, too, has adapted itself

to the challenges and opportunities that have emerged during the last 10 years. I want to underscore that the Marine Corps intends to remain our Nation's premier expeditionary combined arms force with modernized sustainment capabilities. That identity is central to who we are as marines.

With that firmly in mind, the Corps has carefully plotted a course for the future. Indeed, if the programs we have currently planned are properly funded, we will see a convergence of transformation and modernization capabilities in our Marine AirGround Task Forces starting in 2008 that will revolutionize our expeditionary operations.

While our Nation's current strategy and force structure may change, it is clear that a sustained increase in resources will yield the operational strength, flexibility, and resilience we envision in both the short and the long-term. With regard to the Marine Corps, an increased investment of approximately $1.8 to $2 billion a year sustained for the next 8 to 10 years-a modest step that is less than 1 percent of what is allotted to the overarching national security budget-will permit us to achieve our vision and deliver a Marine Corps, in partnership with the U.S. Navy, which will be capable of defending America's global national security interests in the 21st Century. Such an investment addresses our warfighting readiness requirements, accelerates the pace of our transformation and modernization, and recapitalizes our infrastructure. The fiscal year 2002 plus-ups provided by the administration during budget wrap-up reduced our unfunded requirements by approximately $400 million. With your consistent support we can achieve our goals and provide our Nation with a Marine Corps that will be well on the road to dramatically transformed expeditionary capabilities.

Chairman LEVIN. General Jones, thank you so much.

STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES G. ROCHE, SECRETARY OF THE

AIR FORCE

Secretary ROCHE. Mr. Chairman, Senator Warner, members of the committee: I am honored to appear before you today for the first time as Secretary of the Air Force and to be in the company of my fellow service secretaries and the distinguished flag officers who lead the world's finest military team.

I, too, would like to pause and say something special about Mike Ryan. He is certainly a class act. In fact, besides being a superb military officer, I find that he is a man for all seasons, and I commend him to you, sir.

With your permission, Mr. Chairman, I will make just a short opening statement, as will General Ryan, and we will request our written statement and the Air Force 2001 posture statement be inIcluded in the record.

Mr. Chairman, America is an aerospace Nation. During the last 100 years our country has harnessed and developed aerospace power to accomplish many impressive feats, including revolutionizing the nature of warfare, changing the face of transportation and the conduct of global trade, and enabling mankind to open doors to a new universe of discovery in space. Those accomplishments, Mr. Chairman, form the legacy of the twentieth century.

In the 100 years to come, aerospace power, properly guided and nourished, will further transform the interactions among nations for the benefit of our own citizens. With its attributes of speed, range, stealth and precision, our Nation's outstanding Air Force will continue its current global reconnaissance and strike superiority and the greatest deterrent power that capability brings with it.

The President's fiscal year 2002 budget supports critical needs for our 21st Century Air Force. It places a special and very welcome emphasis on people and readiness, areas of immediate con

cern to our forces. The current quadrennial review process and the analysis the Secretary of Defense is leading in the Department of Defense will address our strategy, force structure, and efficient management of our resources for the longer term.

As these intellectual efforts reach their conclusions, my Air Force colleagues and I will be prepared to consider and orchestrate the role of military aerospace power in the joint and combined operations of the future.

We also are striving for efficiency. We recognize that we cannot just keep coming back and asking for more money, but we are looking for things we can do to free up resources so that we can in fact devote those resources to modernization and transformation where it makes sense to do so.

Mr. Chairman, I thank you and Senator Warner and members of your committee for your tremendous support that has enabled our Air Force to become without question the world's finest. We did not get here on our own.

I look forward to your questions and advice and the dialogue we will conduct together in the months and years to come. Thank you,

sir.

[The joint prepared statement of Secretary Roche and General Ryan follows:]

PREPARED JOINT STATEMENT BY HON. JAMES G. ROCHE AND GEN. MICHAEL E. RYAN, USAF

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, the Air Force has and will continue to focus on aggressive transformation to the extent our budget allows. This fiscal year 2002 budget shores up some of our most critical people and readiness concerns and allows us to remain the world's most respected aerospace force.

During the last 100 years, U.S. air and space competence has revolutionized the conduct of warfare, providing near-instantaneous global reconnaissance and strike capability across the full spectrum of engagement, from combat operations to humanitarian aid. This competence has contributed to our ability to deter wars, as well as our ability to win them. However, in this century, we find that rogue nations, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and the rapid spread of information technology, have the potential to threaten our National interests. This changing security environment presents us with both unique challenges and opportunities.

The Department of Defense is in the midst of numerous studies and analysesthe results of which will undoubtedly influence our future aerospace strategy. We must develop a force structure that, when teamed in joint or combined operations, will be effective in maintaining the peace and preserving freedom. We must also deepen and enrich the bonds of trust with the men and women who serve in the Air Force in order to attract and retain the very best individuals. We must continue to reform our policies, practices, and processes to make our Service more effective and efficient. Finally, we must pay special attention to the shrinking industrial base and evaluate ways to improve our current acquisition processes to ensure innovative future capabilities for the Nation.

We respectfully submit this testimony to recount our accomplishments during the past year and outline our plans for the future. Without the steadfast support of the President and Congress, our past successes would not have been possible. With your continuing support, we will build upon those successes.

AIR FORCE POSTURE STATEMENT-OVERVIEW

As we transition to the new century, even the new millennium, we will use this posture statement to reflect on what the Air Force accomplished during 2000, where we want to go in the future, and how we plan to get there.

We're a service emerging from a decade of continuous transformation. During this period, we have molded and transformed aerospace power into a crucial component of joint operations. We defined ourselves with "integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all we do" and developed ourselves to be "fast, flexible, and decisive."

It was also a time that took a heavy toll on our people and our systems. Therefore, we are developing new initiatives in our People, Readiness, and Modernization programs. If we are to continue to protect America's interests with aerospace power, we must implement these initiatives.

PEOPLE

The state of the economy has exerted considerable pressure on our ability to retain and recruit the right people. Frankly, it is difficult to compete with the financial compensation available in the private sector. Consequently, taking care of our people is our top priority. Taking care of people starts with their professional lives, so that they are satisfied with the work they do and know they're accomplishing something important. It also, of course, means providing them attractive compensation, benefits, housing, and facilities that show we value their efforts and care about their families.

READINESS

Our dominance of the full spectrum of operations tends to overshadow what has happened to our readiness. Responding across this full spectrum of operations necessitates we have a certain number of units ready to deploy in the first 30 days of conflict. This is the basis of our readiness requirement of 92 percent. Since 1996, our worldwide combat force readiness rates have decreased 23 percentage points to a rate of 68 percent in April 2001. Furthermore, our overall Air Force readiness is lower than any time since June 1987. We are capable of winning today; however, we are concerned about these trends in readiness indicators. A major factor in the decline is the increasing age of our aircraft. For example, our flying hours have remained relatively constant over the past 5 years, but their cost has increased by over 45 percent after inflation. Older aircraft are simply more difficult to maintain as mechanical failures become less predictable, repairs become more complicated, and parts become harder to come by and more expensive. But, even with these contributing factors, we had the best year in our history for aviation safety, a clear measure of our people's professionalism.

MODERNIZATION

Today, the average age of our aircraft is almost 22 years old. Even if we execute every modernization program on our books-which amounts to procuring about 100 aircraft per year in the near future-our aircraft average age continues to rise, reaching nearly 30 years old by 2020. In order to level off this increasing trend, we would have to procure about 150 aircraft per year. To actually reduce the average age of our aircraft, we would need to procure about 170 aircraft per year. Similarly, where as industry replaces or totally renovates their facilities on a 50-year cycle, competing priorities have resulted in a 150-year facilities recapitalization rate. We are in a position where we can only address the most urgent repair issues, while our backlog of real property maintenance continues to grow. We are working to slow down the aging of our fleet and infrastructure, but the climbing costs of operations and maintenance, as well as competing modernization effectiveness goals, continue to prevent that from happening. Consequently, we do not have the procurement funding to recapitalize our fleet and facilities to the extent that we would like.

However, even with these challenges, we have molded and transformed aerospace power into a crucial component of joint operations. Because of this, we have expanded our vision for the future. Our new Vision 2020-Global Vigilance, Reach and Power captures the philosophy that transformed us into a "force of choice" for rapid expeditionary operations. Our strategic plan institutionalizes this vision by linking the capabilities we need in the future with what we do best-our core competencies. Core Competencies

Aerospace Superiority-The ability to control what moves through air and space. ensures freedom of action.

Information Superiority-The ability to control and exploit information to our Nation's advantage. . ensures decision dominance.

Global Attack-The ability to engage adversary targets anywhere, anytime... holds any adversary at risk.

Precision Engagement-The ability to deliver desired effects with minimal risk and collateral damage denies the enemy sanctuary.

Rapid Global Mobility-The ability to rapidly position forces anywhere

in the world. . ensures unprecedented responsiveness.

Agile Combat Support-The ability to sustain flexible and efficient combat operations . . . is the foundation of success.

Nothing illustrates our culture of transformation better than the Expeditionary Aerospace Force-the "EAF." In October 1999, the heavy demand for aerospace power drove us to restructure our forces so we could inject some stability and predictability into the lives of our people. By December 2000, we had completed the first full rotation cycle of the EAF. In the span of less than 2 years, we succeeded in restructuring ourselves into a more sustainable, flexible, and responsive force. We now give the commanders in chief (CINCs) expeditionary aerospace packages that are tailored and trained-to-task to meet their full mission requirements.

In 2000, we were involved in the full spectrum of operations-from famines, fires, and hurricanes to major contingency operations. Yet, the diversity of these missions didn't stifle us; it stimulated our creativity. We're already light and lean, so now we're pushing the envelope with technologies that will revolutionize the way we deliver aerospace power for the Nation. We are developing directed energy weapons capable of effects at the speed of light; unmanned aerial vehicles that reduce the risk to our people while giving us greater capability at a lower cost; space technologies that radically increase the effectiveness of our aerospace operations; and aircraft like the F-22 that are more survivable and lethal than our current fighters. We don't wait until we're forced to improve-innovation and adaptation are our heritage.

Our creativity also extends to how we conduct business inside our organization. We are realizing significant cost efficiencies by benchmarking the best in commercial and government business practices and adapting them to our unique environment. We are leveraging technology by integrating our people, operations, and oversight into a globally-connected, enterprise-wide, and secure information network. We are conducting manpower and program competitions to take advantage of the best opportunities for outsourcing and privatization. We're improving the way we plan, program, acquire, and protect our air, space, and information systems. Our reinvention teams have saved more than $30 billion during the last decade. Of course better business practices aren't a choice; they're necessary to maximize the returns on our Nation's investment.

This posture statement will give you a good idea about where we've been, where we're going, and what's necessary to remain the world's best aerospace force. Aerospace power is America's asymmetric advantage, and we're determined to make sure America keeps it.

AMERICA'S AIR FORCE IN 2000

In 2000, we participated in the full spectrum of military operations from deterrence and combat contingency operations to humanitarian aid and disaster assistance. Across this spectrum, it was Global Vigilance, Reach, and Power that was essential for assuring U.S. national security and international stability. We provided global vigilance using our intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) assets; force protection measures; and deterrence missions. Our mobility assets and pre-positioned munitions contributed to our global reach. Finally, we displayed global power in Iraq and the Balkans with our unmatched capability to create precise military effects when called upon or threatened. These three facets of aerospace power are interdependent, collectively providing rapid aerospace dominance for America. Perhaps most importantly, all these accomplishments were against the backdrop of a pivotal transformation in the way we structure our forces to support expeditionary operations. This chapter will describe these efforts during the past

year.

THE EXPEDITIONARY AEROSPACE FORCE

This year we completed our organizational transformation to an Expeditionary Aerospace Force—the EAF-a groundbreaking approach to organizing aerospace capability. Given the demand for aerospace forces over the past 10 years, we designed a capability-based force structure to ensure that on-call, rotational forces can effectively meet both our steady-state and "pop-up" commitments, while giving our people more predictability and stability in their deployment schedules. We began implementing the initiative in October 1999, and successfully completed the first full rotation of our ten Aerospace Expeditionary Forces-the AEFS-in December 2000.

The EAF includes both deployable and non-deployable warfighting and support forces. Our deployable AEFs are 10 packages of aerospace power. They provide us with the rotational base required to conduct multiple, concurrent small-scale contingencies, immediate crises, and "pop-up" engagements. These AEFS must be fully resourced to provide the full spectrum of aerospace power capabilities required by the warfighting CINCs. Our AEF Prime forces include those operational capabilities not organically assigned to the AEFS. They comprise our nuclear alert, regional com