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120I think that, of all the defence reviews conducted by any Governmentsince the war, it was probably the most open and the most honest. And Idon%u2019t say that just because I was part of it, although I was actually there,participating and observing. I say it because I have a great deal of respectfor the people who were involved, including the politicians.Sir Peter Squire. I think that the Strategic Defence Review to which SirRichard has referred, was so successful because it was built on a baselinepaper which reflected foreign and security policy. That paper was jointlysponsored by the Foreign Office and the MOD and, although it was notformally endorsed by Cabinet, it was %u2018noted%u2019 by Cabinet and thusprovided a valid basis for the subsequent planning assumptions,including scales of effort, the ability to recuperate, the roulement ofpeople and so on. From this we were able to derive the constitution ofthe force structure, its component elements, the degrees of readiness thateach one could maintain and for how long, the provision of strategicmobility and all of the other factors that go to make up our real defencecapability. It was a very thorough, empirical exercise which wasintended to define the front line forces needed to meet the demands ofwhat we believed to be the future as far ahead, at the time, as 2015.In effect, we determined that the UK has four key areas of interest inwhich it would be prepared to engage in operations. Clearly, one wasNorthern and Central Europe; the second was the Balkans; the third, theMiddle East; and the fourth, the Mediterranean and the North Africanlittoral. If we were required to do anything beyond those regions, wewould do only what we could; the Armed Forces would not be resourcedto deal with any crisis outside our specified areas of national interest. Wehave since reviewed those parameters in the light of the September 11thincident, and we have decided that the increased threat of internationalterrorism means that we now have to consider a wider geographical area;in fact we need to go as far east as perhaps Nepal and further south intoAfrica. As a result, we have more need for strategic lift and, in thefullness of time, I think that you will see that we will actually investmore in that capability in order to match the changed circumstances.