Significant gaps exist in the ability of the United States and its allies to deter or defeat aggression that could threaten national interests. For example, NATO members Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania remain vulnerable to Russian invasion. South Korea is vulnerable to North Korea's artillery. China's neighbors — especially Taiwan — are vulnerable to coercion and aggression. Violent extremists continue to pose a threat in the Middle East. Solutions to these problems will take both money and time. In this report, RAND researchers analyze the specific technological, doctrinal, and budgetary gaps between the stated strategic and defense policies of the United States and the resources and capabilities that would be required to implement those policies successfully. Absent a change in administration policy or a new political consensus in favor of a defense buildup, there will not be enough resources to close the gap between stated U.S. aims and the military capabilities needed to achieve them. This leaves the Trump administration and this Congress with some difficult choices. The United States could decide to focus primarily on its own security, devoting to allies and partners only those forces and capabilities that could be easily spared. At the other end of the spectrum, the Trump administration could take the central role in defending U.S. allies against aggression by Russia, China, and other potential adversaries. The hard-to-find middle ground would be to provide the military with sufficient capabilities to ensure that aggression that imperils U.S. interests in critical regions would fail while helping allies build the capacity to do more for their own and the collective defense.
The author states that despite the vastly changed world order, basic principles of international relations still apply, and the United States would be ill-served by abandoning those principles.
Hoffman concluded with seventeen specific recommendations. The most significant were: at the outset of an operation, the Secretary of Defense should make clear his policy that the media pool must be given every assistance to report on ...
This report presents the results of a fiscal year 2016 RAND Project AIR FORCE add-on project to generate a range of future projections to assist Air Force strategic planning in developing the Air Force Strategic Environment Assessment.
This report describes the current defense planning process used by the U.S. Department of Defense, with a focus on how scenarios are developed and employed to support defense planning.
Following the background provided in these initial chapters, the remainder of the book provides a comprehensive discussion outlining how the European Campaign was was carried out.
"Prepared for the United States Army."--Title page.
This book examines the key areas of science and technology that the Air Force must focus on over the next two decades to enable technologically achievable capabilities that can provide it with the greatest U.S. Joint force effectiveness by ...
... war, Washington would seek to adjust the record to reflect the result, reworking the disorderly landscape of war until his escape from disaster seemed predestined — which is to say, he revised his diary. But he could not revise his ...
Iraq War veteran and former police officer David G. Bolgiano examines how the fear of using force in combat has put American fighting forces in unnecessary danger.
Creating Strategic Vision: Long-range Planning for National Security