HARLESTON, S.C. - George W. Bush, whose lack of foreign policy experience is viewed by his rivals as perhaps the weakest link in his campaign, yesterday proposed an ambitious rebuilding of the military to safeguard American interests in a world still full of risks. Bush called for a $750-per-soldier pay increase and a renewed commitment to a costly antimissile defense system.
''If elected president, I will set three goals,'' Bush told cadets at The Citadel military academy. ''I will renew the bond of trust between the American president and American military, I will defend the American people against missiles and terror, and I will begin creating the military of the next century.''
Bush said he would earmark at least 20 percent of the Pentagon's weapons procurement budget for programs aimed at advancing military technology.
The most ambitious proposal in Bush's speech was a $20 billion increase in military research and development, mostly for antimissile systems that Bush acknowledged would not be built for ''many years.''
The military pay increase would cost $1 billion per year for five years.
Beyond those specifics, however, Bush was vague on most details of his military and foreign affairs plans. The Texas governor promised to provide more details after he is elected and conducts a review of the Pentagon and the world situation. Bush said he may withdraw US forces from areas around the world where they are unnecessary, but he provided no examples. Similarly, Bush said he would ''confront Congress'' over ''pork and patronage,'' but he cited no weapon he would cut or base he would close.
Instead, Bush outlined a thematic vision of a world reshaped since his father left the presidency. With the end of the Cold War, Bush said, that the greatest threat comes from ''new technologies and old hatreds.''
He said that a missile defense system would protect the United States from rogue nations and terrorists, and that he would back the creation of a more agile armed force that could quickly respond to hot spots.
Like some Republicans in Congress, Bush also said that he would withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty unless Russia agrees to amendments that would allow the creation a new antimissile system. The Clinton administration has opposed abolishing the treaty.
The speech was politically important for Bush for several reasons. Bush's service in the Texas National Guard has raised questions about whether he sought to avoid combat during the Vietnam War, and his lack of expertise in military and world affairs has drawn criticism from Democrats.
Bush knows well how the perception of a lack of military expertise can harm a presidential candidate. The 1988 presidential campaign of George Bush, in which his son played a crucial role, ran a TV commercial showing Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis riding a tank and it questioned the military qualifications of the former Massachusetts governor. ''This is no time for uncertainty - no time to train somebody in how to meet with the Russians. This is the time for strength and experience,'' the ad said.
Similar words are being used by the Gore campaign against George W. Bush. Chris Lehane, a spokesman for Vice President Al Gore, dismissed Bush's speech: ''The governor's foreign policy expertise begins with Slovenia and ends with Slovakia, and even these have proven to be too much of a challenge.''
Early in his campaign, Bush made some awkward statements on foreign policy, such as when he confused the names of Slovenia and Slovakia.
Bush also faces challenges within his party on the issue. One of Bush's top GOP opponents, Senator John McCain of Arizona, is a former Vietnam prisoner of war who is focusing much of his attention on military matters and especially on veterans in South Carolina, which plans to hold its primary Feb. 19, shortly after the first-in-the-nation primary of New Hampshire.
Bush, seeking to turn the tables on the issue, spent much of his address asserting that the Clinton-Gore administration has been adrift and ill-informed on military matters, while he would refocus the Pentagon on the post-Cold War world.
''Not since the years before Pearl Harbor has our investment in national defense been so low as a percentage of GNP,'' Bush said. ''Since the end of the Cold War, our ground forces have been deployed more frequently, while our defense budget has fallen by nearly 40 percent.''
Bush's speech was drafted largely by a team of advisers who also worked for his father, including former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, former National Security Council official Condoleezza Rice, and former Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Armitage. Notably, while the speech contained several criticisms of the way the Pentagon budget has been cut in the last decade, the speech left the implication that those cuts were entirely the fault of the Clinton administration. In fact, some of the biggest cuts were set in motion by the Bush administration, with support from some of the same people now advising Governor Bush and helping to craft the speech.
Rice, in an interview, acknowledged that ''there was controversy'' among Republicans over the size of the defense cuts that began in 1990, but she said they were prudent after the end of the Cold War. She said the Clinton administration then went too far in cutting military spending.
