Reshaping conventional capabilities

de Jaume Fuster, Daniel H. Layton, Stephen H. Strom, Robert M. Young, William G. Foster, John F. Kennedy School of Government. National Security Program

The United States, as the pre-eminent national power in the world today, must continue to develop strategies for the employment of military force. The continued relevance of military force in the support of national objectives should be more apparent today than even a short time ago. Implementing change will be difficult. Barriers to change must be identified and overcome. Maintaining individual service charters within a joint operational framework must continue to progress. However, some factors will not change. Superiority over the sea and air access routes continues (in the absence of nuclear war) to be vital to the basic survival of the nation. Yet, global naval superiority, critical in crisis management and in long--term conflicts, is less relevant to the prosecution of mid-intensity intensity armed regional engagements. Coalitions in regions where we have interests will continue as a fundamental tenet of our global involvement. We will continue to plan to fight beyond our borders, working with allies abroad to control crises. Once engagements begin, the ability to influence events on the ground through conventional capabilities remains the decisive element of combat. Our ability to project power through a balance of complementary air, sea and land capabilities remains the key to effective employment of conventional military force.