The 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review—released Tuesday along with the President’s Fiscal 2015 budget request—looks to “adapt, reshape, and rebalance” the US military. Specifically, the 88-page document outlines three initiatives. The first incorporates the priorities listed in the 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance, such as the pivot to the Asia-Pacific region, into a “broader strategic framework.” The new strategy is based upon three “pillars.” They are: protect the homeland, build security globally, and project power and win decisively, according to the document. Second, the QDR addresses the steps DOD is taking to rebalance in light of current fiscal constraints and changes to modern warfare. DOD must prepare for the full spectrum of possible military operations, states the document. “Although our forces will no longer be sized to conduct large-scale, prolonged stability operations,” DOD will “preserve the expertise” gained in counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also will “protect the ability to regenerate capabilities that might be needed to meet future demands,” states the QDR. Finally, the QDR addresses the need to further control “internal cost growth that is threatening to erode our combat power.” The QDR promises to maintain the “two-fold sacred contract” of properly compensating and caring for military members and their families, while also providing the “best training and equipment possible.” (Read the full QDR; Caution, large-sized file.)
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.