With its new QDR, the Pentagon keeps in place the 2001 defense strategy of “assure, dissuade, deter, and defeat.” What has changed, officials say, is the way DOD plans to “operationalize” the strategy. According to Ryan Henry, the Pentagon’s QDR point man, this requires two major changes. First, the services need to de-emphasize “traditional” combat—that is, against conventional militaries—and get ginned up for “irregular,” “catastrophic,” and “disruptive” threats. Second, according to Henry, “we need to be able to do more things horizontally.” What does that mean? It means, according to Henry, “We need to move from a service-centric, systems-oriented approach to one that looks at joint warfare capabilities across the portfolio.” Translation: Jointness, good; the military services, bad.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.