Washington announced on 26 November that it is to send an additional 3,000 marines as part of the rotation of US forces in Iraq during early 2004. US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that he had ordered the deployment of three more marine battalions to Iraq. The move comes amid calls within the US to bring greater security to the country before the transfer of political power, which is scheduled for June 2004. 'The exact number of [of marines], where they are going to come from, the reserve-active duty mix, the timeline of deploying them - all of that is to be determined,' said US marine spokesman Douglas Powell.