National Defense Strategy

Defense Primer: U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces

The following is the Feb. 2, 2023, Congressional Research Service report, Defense Primer: Strategic Nuclear Forces.

From the report

The Nuclear Triad

Since the early 1960s, the United States has maintained a “triad” of strategic nuclear delivery vehicles. These include long-range land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), long-range submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and long-range heavy bombers equipped to carry nuclear-armed cruise missiles and gravity bombs. The number...

https://news.usni.org/2023/02/08/defense-primer-u-s-strategic-nuclear-forces

CNO Gilday: Expanding Military Cooperation Between South Korea, Japan ‘A Necessity’

Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Mike Gilday delivers testimony at the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the fiscal year 2023 defense budget request on May 12, 2022. US Navy Photo

The Navy’s top officer stressed the need for “a forward-looking relationship” between Japan, South Korea and the United States. “It’s no longer a luxury but a necessity” that the three nations work together, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said Thursday.

Examples of the improved trilateral...

https://news.usni.org/2023/01/13/cno-gilday-expanding-military-cooperation-between-south-korea-japan-a-necessity

Panel: New National Defense Strategy Needs More Substance, Clear Goals

The next National Defense Strategy, scheduled for release next month, must spell out “what are we going to do; when are we going to do it; and who’s going to do it,” the former civilian chief of Pentagon acquisition said Wednesday.

Ellen Lord, speaking at an Atlantic Council online forum, said the secretary of defense should say, “these are the types of scorecards I want to see.” This way, the strategy would have set “actual goals … to bring this NDS to life,” she said.

While expecting the...

https://news.usni.org/2022/01/05/panel-new-national-defense-strategy-needs-more-substance-clear-goals

New National Defense Strategy Must Focus on Competing ‘Where It Makes Sense,’ Pentagon Official Says

A key point in the new National Defense Strategy will be the recognition that “we have to compete only where it makes sense,” according to a senior Pentagon official.

Speaking Thursday, Mara Karlin, performing the duties of the deputy under secretary for policy, said, “we’ve tried to shift the conversation to strategic competition,” and not just competition for its own sake because someone else like the Chinese are doing it.

“Forcing that rigor on the department is going to be challenging,” she...

https://news.usni.org/2021/12/10/new-national-defense-strategy-must-focus-on-competing-where-it-makes-sense-pentagon-official-says

Pentagon Announces Completion of Global Posture Review

Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) transits the Philippine Sea to Guam for a port visit on Nov. 11, 2021. US Navy Photo

The Department of Defense on Monday announced the completion of its Global Posture Review, which offers few changes in force lay down and includes a series of previously announced troop movements.

In a press briefing Monday afternoon, Mara Karlin, who is performing the duties of the deputy under secretary of defense for policy, shared highlights of the...

https://news.usni.org/2021/11/29/pentagon-announces-completion-of-global-force-posture-review

With No Long Range Plans in FY 22 Budget, Lawmakers Relying on ‘Best Judgement’ to Fund Navy

Moon over U.S. Capitol on Nov. 13, 2016. NASA Photo

Congress has been asked to make major decisions on the Navy’s funding with limited information on the service’s future, two lawmakers said on Tuesday.

“We’re going to be using our best judgment” when working on the Fiscal Year 2022 defense authorization bill without necessary details, Reps. Joe Courtney, (D-Conn.), and chairman of the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee, said. Left unanswered in the Biden...

https://news.usni.org/2021/07/20/with-no-long-range-plans-in-fy-22-budget-lawmakers-relying-on-best-judgement-to-fund-navy

Milley: China Striving ‘To Be Our Equal’ In Coming Decades

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark A. Milley testify before the House Appropriations Committee-Defense on the Fiscal 2022 Department of Defense Budget in the Pentagon Press Briefing Room, Washington, D.C., May 27, 2021. DoD Photo

While the Chinese are investing heavily in advanced technology, “they are not our peer or near-peer competitor just” militarily, but their goal is “to be our equal” across all domains in the coming decades,...

https://news.usni.org/2021/05/27/milley-china-striving-to-be-our-equal-in-coming-decades

Berger: War With China Not ‘An Inevitability,’ But Competition Will Endure

Gen. David Berger, the 38th commandant of the Marine Corps, visits Camp Lejeune, N.C., on May 3, 2021. US Marine Corps Photo

While the commandant of the Marine Corps has ushered in a slew of changes to prepare the service for potential conflict in the Indo-Pacific region, Gen. David Berger today emphasized that he does not believe war between the U.S. and China is inevitable.

Speaking at a Tuesday virtual forum hosted by the Brookings Institution, Berger said he has spent the last decade studying...

https://news.usni.org/2021/05/18/berger-war-with-china-not-an-inevitability-but-competition-will-endure

CNO: Pentagon Force Posture Review Will Inform Future Carrier Missions, Arctic Presence

USS Toledo (SSN-769) surfaces at Ice Camp Seadragon on the Arctic Ocean for Ice Exercise (ICEX) 2020. US Navy Photo

The chief of naval operations said an ongoing Global Force Posture Review led by the defense secretary could bring about changes to how aircraft carriers and other in-demand naval assets should be deployed around the world in the future, as one deployed carrier strike group that trained for a range of new missions is now in the Middle East conducting the same old missions of land...

https://news.usni.org/2021/04/05/cno-pentagon-force-posture-review-will-inform-future-carrier-missions-arctic-presence

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