Defense, industry upheaval defined by 10 key moments.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: FIRST DECADE A WOWSER - Calendar

The turbulent noughties finally have drawn to a close.

For the U.S. military and its supporting industrial base, it was a decade of sweeping, profound and, often, excruciating change. Sept. 11 will always be remembered as the day that "changed everything." But other, much less horrific, events make the past 10 years a landmark period of commotion in the business of defense.

2000 Terrorists Hit the USS Cole

* The Oct. 12 suicide attack against the Navy destroyer, USS Cole, while it was harbored in the Yemeni port of Aden, stunned the nation. Seventeen U.S. sailors were killed. Although the attack was later overshadowed by 9/11, the Cole bombing sparked a debate that continues to this day about what constitutes an act of terrorism, as opposed to an act of war.

For the Navy, it was a wake-up call. It also presaged the era of "asymmetric warfare" as a gang of al-Qaida operatives aboard a small craft was able to successfully hit a heavily armed warship. The event prompted widespread changes in security operations, intelligence, training and equipment choices, particularly after the Navy judge advocate general concluded that the commanding officer of the Cole did not have the necessary intelligence, training, appropriate equipment or on-scene security support to effectively prevent or deter such a determined assault on his ship.

2001 Suicide Hijackers Pull Off 9/11

* The Sept. 11 suicide attacks by 19 al-Qaida terrorists killed 2,976 people. They also dramatically altered the course of the nation's defense posture and foreign policy, and set in motion the planning for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. By the afternoon of Sept. 11, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld already was asking his aides to search for evidence of Iraqi involvement in the attacks.

In the immediate aftermath, the Bush administration announced it was launching a "war on terrorism" against Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, and also to prevent the emergence of other terrorist networks. Later that year, a U.S. military-led coalition overthrew the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

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The attacks also had a major effect on U.S. domestic and financial affairs. They led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. The extended wars following the attacks have cost the U.S. treasury trillions of dollars, and have resulted in increasing war fatigue among the general public.

2002 Pentagon Embraces Military 'Transformation'

* Following the successful overthrow of the Taliban, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld typecast the operation as a new way of conducting wars. The toppling of the Afghan foe, executed mostly by U.S. special operations forces, reinforced Rumsfeld's belief that the military needed to "transform."

Under Rumsfeld's transformation doctrine, the military did not...