Military Transformation: Army Has a Comprehensive Plan for Managing Its Transformation but Faces Major Challenges

The Army has begun to transform itself into a more rapidly deployable and responsive force better able to meet the diverse defense challenges of the future. These far-reaching organizational and operational changes, which will affect virtually every aspect of the Army, will take decades to implement. Funding the transformation, from developing future combat systems to modernizing aging equipment, will be difficult. The Army has developed a Transformation Campaign Plan, which is a mechanism for integrating transformation efforts within the Army and for achieving the goal of transforming the Army over 30 years. The Army's Transformation Campaign plan serves as a common frame of reference for officials throughout the Army. It defines transformation goals, sets milestones for achieving them, and assigns lines of responsibilities for each aspect of the plan. The Army has established several forums at various levels to discuss evolving issues and address matters of concern. However, the lack of an overall DOD transformation strategy has led the Army to proceed with its transformation plans solely on the basis of broad departmental guidance rather than a clear understanding of how its efforts fit into an overall scheme for military transformation. Although the results of the Quadrennial Defense Review as well as other events are likely to affect the Army's plans, the Transformation Campaign Plan appears to be flexible enough to permit the Army to adapt its plans to evolving events.