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Having themselves reduced, restructured and reengineered since the height of the Cold War, America’s Armed Forces now find themselves buttressed by support organizations that have failed to effect proportionate changes. As a result, there is an adverse imbalance in efficiencies between the warfighters and those who support them.

The experience of American business is instructive. Commercial sector reforms demonstrate that business practices require reengineering headquarters staff.

Toward that end, Secretary Cohen made a series of decisions to reduce and restructure DoD headquarters elements -- the OSD staff, the Defense Agencies, the DoD Field Activities, and the Joint Staff.

Three central principles guide our efforts to streamline the Department. First, Department headquarters should be flexible enough to deal with future challenges.

Second, OSD should focus on corporate-level tasks.

And third, operational management tasks should be pushed to the lowest appropriate level.