Planning for Future Warfare--Not an Exact Science.

• Position: Brief Article

The Pentagon's strategic blueprint, which calls for being prepared to fight two major regional wars nearly simultaneously, should nor be changed, said Bernard Rostker, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.

The principle is known as the two-MRC (major regional contingency) strategy. It was adopted as part of the 1997 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). A new QDR will be developed by the incoming administration.

"I think the two-MRC construct is an important strategic concept," Rostker told reporters in Washington, D.C. The reason, he explained, is that "you don't want to tell an adversary that you are not prepared to fight in two theaters, [regardless of] whether you have all the resources to effectively do it...