Reports that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld plans to ax roughly one-third of the Air Force’s B-1 bombers highlight the difficulty faced by anyone who would reform America’s bloated and misshapen defense establishment.

In what could be a major accomplishment for the Bush administration – if he can pull it off – Rumsfeld wants to recast the U.S. military to fit the needs of the 21st century. That means tailoring the Pentagon’s organizational structure, planning and technology to fit the realities of the post-Cold War world. It also means dropping weapons developed to fight a war that never happened with an enemy that no longer exists.

Nothing exemplifies that Soviet-era baggage, or the difficulty in letting go of it, better than the B-1.

Conceived a generation ago to replace the B-52 – which was then considered aging and now seems destined to fly forever – the B-1 was intended to be a long-range strategic bomber capable of penetrating Soviet defenses at supersonic speeds. It experienced more than the usual technical difficulties, however, and was soon overtaken by events. Too much, too late for the Cold War, it is useless today.

The B-1 became operational in 1986, but sat out the Persian Gulf War. It briefly saw action in 1998 against Iraq and again in the 1999 bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.

The aircraft was developed in part because its manufacture was arranged to involve jobs in almost every congressional district. That same dynamic is still in play.

Rumsfeld would cut 30 of the Air Force’s more than 90 remaining B-1 bombers and consolidate the remainder at bases in South Dakota and Texas by moving them out of bases in Georgia and Kansas.

Sens. Zell Miller of Georgia and Pat Roberts of Kansas are outraged. "It stinks," said Miller, whose state could lose 900 jobs. Roberts accused the Air Force of playing politics.

He is right, but it is neatly done. Miller is a Democrat; Roberts is a Republican. South Dakota, which could gain jobs, is home to Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader of the Senate. The other winner, Texas, is the president’s home state.