ABSTRACT
As the United States looks beyond the 9/11 spin-off wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, its attentions naturally turn to the future. Within the national security arena, the primary focus is on how the military must rebuild its depleted state to prepare for the next encounters the United States will face in which the possibility of employing force will be one of its options and how, or whether, American force will be available and appropriate as a tool in such future experiences. This assessment must go forward in an environment of fiscal restraint, wherein the United States is unable to reduce its potential risks in the world entirely due to insufficient resources for such preparations.
