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.
Pentagon Deploys F-22s as Trump Weighs Strikes on Iran
June 18, 2025
U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors landed at RAF Lakenheath in England June 18 as President Donald Trump weighs whether to join Israel's attacks on Iran.