The first revision since 2011, a new National Military Strategy was recently released. The following quote reflects some of the report’s major concerns.

“For the past decade, our military campaigns primarily have consisted of operations against violent extremist networks. But today, and into the foreseeable future, we must pay greater attention to challenges posed by state actors. They increasingly have the capability to contest regional freedom of movement and threaten our homeland. Of particular concern are the proliferation of ballistic missiles, precision strike technologies, unmanned systems, space and cyber capabilities, and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) – technologies designed to counter U.S. military advantages and curtail access to the global commons.”

It is increasingly likely that our primary adversaries in the future will not be terrorists, but state actors, as well as “hybrid” threats (state-sponsored theoretically independent insurgents, e.g. the Ukraine). Furthermore, our technological superiority may be eroding or may even be irrelevant. The report emphasizes the importance of multilateral international efforts as well as military support of “…diplomatic, informational, and economic activities that promote our enduring national interests.”

Read the whole report here.