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Drones have enabled the U.S. military to stare at enemy positions for days, providing far more intelligence than could be gleaned from a reconnaissance flight or satellite flyby. Such surveillance detects patterns, and patterns betray enemies. Beyond spying and attacking, the Predator has used its own laser to pinpoint targets for satellite-guided bombs from high-flying bombers.
Rumsfeld said last week his new budget "substantially" boosted spending on drones, but TIME's review of the budget shows a 13% increase--from $971 million to $1.1 billion--for Predators, Global Hawks and other unmanned planes. (Spending for fighter jets jumps 37%.) Yet every week U.S. commanders go to Rumsfeld and plead for the drones to help gather intelligence in their part of the world. "There simply are not enough to go around," Rumsfeld said. "We're building them as rapidly as possible." But the Predator's manufacturer, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, tells TIME it is ready to crank out more than the two a month called for in the 2003 budget.
Critics say cronyism and greed are to blame for many of the misguided budget decisions. They seem to have a strong case when it comes to the Army's Crusader. It's not a nimble weapon; the two-vehicle system weighs more than 80 tons. Designed to destroy Warsaw Pact tanks on the German plain, it might have some utility if the U.S. Army ever has to battle Iraqi tanks, in the unlikely event that air power can't finish the job. The Crusader has detractors, like candidate Bush, but it also has powerful backers. United Defense, the company building the system, is owned by the Carlyle Group, a private investment firm known for its g.o.p. heavyweights, including Frank Carlucci, Reagan's Pentagon chief, and James Baker, George Bush Sr.'s Secretary of State and the man who helped George W. win his election struggle in Florida. The company is building the Crusader in Oklahoma, winning support from Senator James Inhofe and Representative J.C. Watts, senior Republicans with clout on military matters.
Or consider the politically protected Virginia-class submarine. The Navy wants more than $60 billion to build a fleet of 30 of these attack subs over the next 25 years. With warming U.S.-Russian relations--and the era of submarine battles 50 years in the past--the Navy is emphasizing the sub's intelligence-gathering potential and its ability, like surface ships and airplanes, to fire cruise missiles. Powerful lawmakers from the two sub-building states--Connecticut's Joseph Lieberman and Virginia's John Warner--are among the sub's champions, so there's a strong political push to produce it.
Rumsfeld's allies say he has not surrendered to the military and its congressional allies. They insist he is transforming the military, albeit slowly, and stress that the military must not view Afghanistan as a template for all future conflicts. "One size," warns Army General Tommy Franks, who is running the war, "will not fit all."