When Barack Obama takes office as President on Jan. 20 he will be confronted with what are undoubtedly the most challenging and complex national security issues in more than a generation. In addition, it is widely agreed that the military, at present, is ill-equipped for whatever are the tasks ahead.

Troops and equipment are so overtaxed that the Pentagon does not have enough of either for the fight in Afghanistan, which is in Obama's view, the front line of the war on terror.

It is estimated that the military will need 65,000 additional Army troops and 27,000 more marines. This buildup, which is expected to take at least two years, will raise active-duty ground troops to approximately 760,000.

Much of the military's transport equipment is old and wearing out. The Pentagon will need to procure more long-haul cargo planes and refueling tankers. So it is likely the new administration will move forward with plans to buy approximately 180 new aircraft.

America will also have to investment in sealift, which includes maritime pre-positioning force ships that carry everything marines need for initial military operations — such as helicopter landing decks, food, and water pumping equipment. The Marine Corps will also have to restock shipboard supplies that have been depleted due to their use in Iraq. One study has predicted that replenishment will cost $12 billion — plus $5 billion for every additional year the marines stayed in Iraq.

Undoubtedly the U.S. Navy will choose to spend more on capable, smaller coastal war craft — such as littoral combat ships — and less on deep-water vessels.

Though America may still have to fight traditional wars against hostile nations, future conflicts are very likely to involve guerrilla insurgencies employing terror tactics — and it just may be that they will be armed with weapons of mass destruction.

There is no question that our armed forces were able to easily defeat Saddam Hussein's army. However, they were woefully unprepared to handle the insurgency as well as the fierce sectarian civil war that followed.

Finally the Pentagon's procurement system must be fixed. Dozens of the most costly weapons programs are billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.

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