By Nick Childs BBC Pentagon correspondent

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he has ordered US military commanders to prepare new war plans to deal more quickly with emerging threats, including from Iraq.

Donald Rumsfeld has made little secret of the fact that he would like the US military to be able to respond more quickly to emerging threats.

Now the New York Times says that in an interview with the newspaper he has revealed that he has ordered US regional commanders to rewrite their war plans.

He wants them to take more account of precision weapons, better intelligence and the ability to deploy more quickly.

Pentagon struggle

The newspaper says these instructions are having an impact on planning for a possible military show-down with Iraq.

Rumsfeld wants quicker military responses

It adds that the ability to mobilise more quickly could give more breathing space for diplomacy in the Iraq crisis.

But just how far these new instructions go in the case of Iraq isn't clear.

There has been a struggle between the civilian and military leaders in the Pentagon over the past few months over how big a force would be needed in a full-scale Iraq operation.

The civilians, led by Mr Rumsfeld, have pushed for more innovative plans.

But all the indications have been that the more cautious military leadership has largely won out.

Any build-up would be quicker than in the 1991 Gulf war and there's no doubt that US forces would be more advanced and more agile than a decade ago.

But the message from the American top brass has been that with Iraq there is no getting away from the fact that any show-down would require a very major military commitment.

Still Mr Rumsfeld is clearly keeping the pressure on the military to freshen up its overall planning and strategy.