The Joint Staff has established a new high-level panel to sharpen thinking about force design -- a group the Pentagon's No. 2 military officer predicts will become "one of the most important" Defense Department bodies -- with an aim to influence future weapon system investment plans. Gen. C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, directed formation of the Joint Future Steering Group in a March 25 instruction, a new body that will include all three-star Joint Staff directors,...