Even while it focused on the early stages of the war on terrorism, the Bush administration strongly reaffirmed the commitment to military transformation that had marked its first months in office. The ongoing war may even have heightened its interest in pursuing transformation, particularly the contributions that advances in information technologies can make to military effectiveness. In his December 2001 speech at the Citadel, President Bush renewed his campaign promise to support the long-term process of military transformation. The president stressed “the need to build this future force while fighting a present war.” He spoke glowingly of real-time intelligence and targeting, precision munitions, and the operational successes of rapidly deployed prototypes such as Predator unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and he committed his administration to expanding the nascent advanced technology programs.

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