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Pentagon downplays 'dramatic change' report

USS Blue Ridge
The USS Blue Ridge docked at a naval base in Shanghai  

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Pentagon officials have downplayed reports the United States is shifting its defense focus away from Europe to Asia.

The Washington Post reported on Friday that U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfield had signaled his intention to pursue dramatic defense reforms.

As part of his proposed reforms, Rumsfied and another Pentagon official had named the "Pacific Ocean as the most likely theater of major military operations, as China becomes more powerful," the paper said.

Such a step would reorient the post-World War II focus away from keeping peace in Europe and deterring Russia, towards emerging China.

It would also require an emphasis on "long range power projection," which means attention to airlift capacity and ways of sending troops and firepower across thousands of miles, the Washington Post added.

But Pentagon officials said Friday a review of the U.S. military is still in its early stages, and Rumsfeld has reached no conclusions about what changes he may recommend in strategy or weapons.

The recommendations are being made to U.S. President George W. Bush, who ordered the review after making campaign pledges he would phase out Cold War attitudes.

But one official noted that not only had Rumsfeld not made these recommendations, he also hadn't yet received recommendations from panels he set up to review these questions.

Reform speculations

A key part of the defense reforms include building smaller aircraft carriers, spending more on long-range bombers, and buying fewer F-22 stealth fighters, the Washington Post reported.

Rumsfeld met Wednesday with President Bush to outline how the review is going, and later briefed members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon, but officials said the briefings were "very preliminary" and there was no discussion of specific reforms.

"They didn't talk programs, they talked process," according to one official familiar with the discussions.

As for the future of aircraft carriers, the last of the Navy's Nimitz class carriers is now under construction in Norfolk, Virginia.

The Navy has not settled on a design for its next generation aircraft carrier, which it plans to start building in 2006, but the new ships are supposed to be stealthier and require a smaller crew than the current carriers.

Andrew Marshall, who is leading the review of defense strategy, is known as an advocate of a radical rethinking of U.S. security strategy in the post-Cold War era, and that has led to speculation that he may recommend dramatic changes.

An aide to Rumsfeld said while the defense secretary has been a long-time admirer of Marshall's views, he has reached no conclusions yet on what he will ultimately recommend to the president.

CNN Washington Bureau’s Jamie McIntyre contributed to this report.



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