The 20-to-30-year plan has been sent to the armed services and the Pentagon's worldwide commands, the report quoted defense officials as saying.

The 150-page classified document, called the National Military Strategic Plan for the War on Terrorism, provides the first long-term, strategic framework for the military on how to carry out its portion of the campaign against terror, according to officials familiar with the plan.

It is meant to complement similar counter terrorism strategies developed by the State Department, Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation and other government agencies, the report said.

The plan, approved in October by General Myers and later revised by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, outlines an approach that aims to disrupt and destroy terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda, and confront countries and organizations that sponsor or support terrorism.

The plan also describes a long-term goal of creating a global environment that would be hostile to terrorism, the report quoted defense officials as saying.

The drafting of the document was coordinated with the National Security Council, and White House officials said the plan's guidelines were consistent with the broad goals enunciated in Bush administration's National Security Strategy, announced last September.

Bush administration's directive shifted American military strategy toward preemptive action against hostile states and terrorist groups developing weapons of mass destruction.

The new plan also addresses the military's heightened role in homeland security. Warplanes have flown periodic air patrols over American cities since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Last October, the Pentagon formally created the new United States Northern Command in Colorado to coordinate the military's response to homeland security.

The details of the document were not released, but some officials familiar with the plan said the document's framework identifies three basic stages that build on one another.

The first stage is to attack the most immediate threat, Al Qaeda. The second stage, which involves organizing for a sustained campaign against terror, includes putting pressure on countries that support terrorist activities. The third stage aims to build a long-term, antiterrorist global environment to discredit terrorism worldwide. This would presumably involve combating the propaganda of terrorist groups and their supporters, as well as addressing the economic or political conditions that foster terrorist activities.

(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2003)