Debating the National Defense Strategy

Is the National Defense Strategy actually a strategy? Melanie, Chris, and Zack debate the Biden administration’s recently released National Defense Strategy. Do integrated deterrence, campaign, and enduring advantage add up to more than the sum of their parts? Does the unclassified version of the National Defense Strategy make any hard choices to connect ends and means? Melanie commends those U.S. service members who evacuated thousands of people from Afghanistan. Chris complains about incessant political advertisements ahead of the midterm elections. And Zack thanks his teammates from the Alliance for Securing Democracy.

Episode Reading:

• “Experts React: The Biden Administration’s National Defense Strategy,” Stimson Center, November 2, 2022.
• Justin Logan and Benjamin H. Friedman, “The Case for Getting Rid of the National Security Strategy,” War on the Rocks, November 4, 2022.
• “Ukraine and the Future of Air Warfare,” Online Webinar, Stimson Center, November 14, 2022, 10 am
• Department of Defense, “2022 National Defense Strategy,” October 2022.
• Midterms Monitor, Alliance for Securing Democracy.
• Editorial Board, “The German chancellor’s China trip is about lessons learned – and not,” Washington Post, November 7, 2022.
• Ian Marlow, “‘Sloppy’ US Talk on China’s Threat Worries Some Skeptical Experts,” BNN Bloomberg, November 3, 2022.
• David Roza, “Air Force C-17 Crew Receives Distinguished Flying Cross for Hauling Record 823 People to Safety During Kabul Airlift,” Task and Purpose, November 4, 2022. Ian Marlow, “‘Sloppy’ US Talk on China’s Threat Worries Some Skeptical Experts,” BNN Bloomberg, November 3, 2022.
• David Roza, “Air Force C-17 Crew Receives Distinguished Flying Cross for Hauling Record 823 People to Safety During Kabul Airlift,” Task and Purpose, November 4, 2022.

Image: DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Alexander Kubitza