Thursday, October 6, 2016

Dunford: Power Projection, Alliances Key In New National Military Strategy

Dunford: Power Projection, Alliances Key In New National Military Strategy: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford on Wednesday previewed a soon-to-be-finalized National Military Strategy, saying that developing international alliances and projecting power to faraway places will be the two key tenets of the classified document.



Speaking at the Association of the United States Army’s annual convention in Washington, Dunford said the new strategy also will attempt to reframe the definition of war and the planning processes the Defense Department has in place to prepare for it.



“We owe the secretary a better command-and-control structure,” Dunford told Defense News following his speech. Improved planning and collaboration among combatant commanders would be especially important in times of simultaneous conflicts, he said.



A re-evaluation of what constitutes war comes against the backdrop of what US officials consider Russian activities in Europe carefully orchestrated to fall below the West’s threshold.