Alternative approaches to defense strategy and force structure

In a testimony today at 9:30am before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Codirector of the Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies Thomas Donnelly will discuss what the Department of Defense must do in order to reassert American leadership and strengthen the US military. His four recommendations are as follows:

1. Adopt a “three-theater” force construct:  To remain a global power, the United States must preserve a favorable balance of power in Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia.
2. Increase military capacity: The reductions in the size of the US military of the past three decades have been the most pressing problem of national defense…Despite advances in technology that have improved the precision and tactical effectiveness of weaponry and combat units, numbers still matter in war.
3. Introduce new capabilities urgently: The failure to modernize across the force since the 1980s now leaves America’s armed forces without the kind of great technological advantages that allowed it to “shock and awe” its enemies and conduct decisive operations with very few casualties…In sum, near-term modernization and innovation must take precedence over longer-term transformation
4.  Increase and sustain defense budgets: A “two-target” investment strategy is required: First, return military budgets to the level set by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates in his original 2012 budget.  Second, defense budgets should gradually be built to an affordable floor of 4 percent of gross domestic product that would sustain the kind of military America needs.

Read the full testimony: Alternative Approaches to Defense Strategy and Force Structure.

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