Privately, Pentagon strategists and some administration officials note that President Bush has talked often in recent months of changing his tactics, but not his strategy.

For starters, Pentagon strategists are well aware that Afghanistan is a black hole that has swallowed many a world power.

Among Pentagon strategists there are strong reservations about an invasion that could quickly become mired in the Balkans with no clear exit in sight.

Pentagon strategists, political scientists and nuclear physicists agree: India's tests made two nations with a billion people between them one of the world's more dangerous regions.

Mr. Kinzer makes vividly clear that this was not a low-intensity war, as Pentagon strategists dubbed it.

For Pentagon strategists, that means having to make a target of every known or suspected weapons site in Iraq.

In the 1970's and 1980's, when Pentagon strategists spoke of a two-front war, they envisioned having to fight simultaneously in, say, Germany and Korea.

Some Pentagon strategists warned that hard-line North Korean generals might try to capitalize on the South's moment of weakness.

Today, Pentagon strategists have seen little to alter that analysis.

The "lessons learned" report on wartime operations focuses on operations at the level below Pentagon strategists and policymakers, during the period of major combat.