With its new QDR, the Pentagon keeps in place the 2001 defense strategy of “assure, dissuade, deter, and defeat.” What has changed, officials say, is the way DOD plans to “operationalize” the strategy. According to Ryan Henry, the Pentagon’s QDR point man, this requires two major changes. First, the services need to de-emphasize “traditional” combat—that is, against conventional militaries—and get ginned up for “irregular,” “catastrophic,” and “disruptive” threats. Second, according to Henry, “we need to be able to do more things horizontally.” What does that mean? It means, according to Henry, “We need to move from a service-centric, systems-oriented approach to one that looks at joint warfare capabilities across the portfolio.” Translation: Jointness, good; the military services, bad.
A single-pallet-sized tactical operations center is slated to begin shipping to 70 Air Force units by the end of the year following a recent announcement by the company that made it and the Air Force entity responsible for its development.
