In his first major public address since becoming Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Henry H. "Hugh" Shelton told a packed crowd at the John F. Kennedy School of Government's ARCO Forum Thursday night to be weary of complascency as the United States military shifts priorities nearly a decade after the end of the Cold War.

Shelton strongly criticized the claim by some observers of the international scene that America faces a peaceful world and should thus "drastically demobilize."

Noting that economic prosperity and the lack of a single enemy were features common to several interwar periods this century, Shelton said that the United States armed forces should proceed cautiously.

"The conclusion I reach as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is that there are too many conditions today that were also present during inter-war periods," he said.

Shelton's remarks counter a report--released by a panel empowered by Congress to determine the status of threats to U.S. national security--which concluded the U.S. does not face the possibility of two regional conflicts, the standard on which the Department of Defense currently bases its conception of troop readiness.

Shelton acknowleged that "America is not likely to face a peer competitor" for the next several decades.

"While we can take comfort from the absence of any potential superpower, competition, continued spurts of nationalism in some areas of the world, terrorism and the growing-pains of continied democratization still leave us with many security-related concerns left unattended," he said.

Shelton, who as the Joint Chiefs Chairman serves as President Clinton's primary military advisor, said his strategy to mantain U.S. interests worldwide would focus on "helping shape the strategic environment and deterring threats before they emerge."

The new Chairman is familiar with the policy he espouses. In 1996, he led the military component of Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti.

Shelton defended a careful expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the member nations' decision to give Russia a voice in NATO affairs.

NATO, Shelton said, has transformed from a military alliance designed to respond to crisis into a political alliance designed to "Deter crisis before they escalate."

"NATO is no longer an alliance against anything...it is an alliance...for peace and stability," he said.

Shelton said initial Russian reluctance to NATO expansion, seen as a threat to their borders and strategic position in Europe, would diminish as the country recognizes the advtanges of having "peaceful democratic neighbors."

"We are in the process of trying to replace the Iron Curtain with a picture window," Shelton said.

After Shelton's 25 minute speech, audience members questioned the Army Ranger on topics ranging from women in the military to the U.S's position on land mines.

Shelton vigorously defended the latter policy; the U.S. and China were conspicuous hold-outs from a 50 nation treaty signed recently which banned all types of land mines.