SINGAPORE, June 4 (Xinhuanet) -- US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld hoped on Friday that US military forces will start hunting terrorists in Southeast Asia soon.

    According to local press reports, Rumsfeld made the remarks while talking with US sailors and marines at a Singapore base.

    Rumsfeld said that the only way the US is going to deal with this problem is to recognize it is truly global, and the US has tobring all the elements of national power to bear on it.

    He stressed that the US simply can not wait for another attack and expect to defend against it.

    "We have to go out and find those terrorist networks and the people financing them and countries providing a safe haven for them," he said, adding that it is a tough thing to do.

    However, the US Defense Secretary said on his way to Singapore on Thursday that a suggestion to put US marines on high-speed boats to go after terrorists in Southeast Asian waters was misreported.

    Meanwhile, Rumsfeld said that the US is ready to change its military presence on the Korean Peninsula and in Europe, where US defenses have stood guard against threats that no longer require such a large force.

    It is time to adjust those locations from static defense to "a more agile and a more capable and a more 21st century posture."

    The US Defense Secretary, who arrived here on Thursday night, is in Singapore to attend the three-day Asian security conference,which is to open on Friday evening.

    During his stay here, Rumsfeld will meet with Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, his Singapore counterpart, and will also deliver a speech on US security policy on Asia and the Pacific. Enditem