National Military Strategy of the United States

The community of nations has entered into an exciting and promising era. Global war is now less likely and the US national security strategy reflects that fact. The National Military Strategy reflects this new world and guides US military planning. The Goldwater-Nichols Reorganization Act of 1986 charges the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, with the responsibility of assisting the President and the Secretary of Defense in providing strategic direction for the Armed Forces. This document provides my advice in consultation with the commanders of the unified and specified commands and the other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It implements the Defense Agenda of the Presidents National Security Strategy and Secretary of Defense policies spelled out in the Defense Planning Guidance and in the Annual Report to the President and the Congress. This new strategy is built upon the four key foundations of the National Defense Strategy Strategic Deterrence and Defense, Forward Presence, Crisis Response, and Reconstitution. For most of the past 45 years the primary focus of our national military strategy has been containment of the Soviet Union and its communist ideology--we met that challenge successfully. Certain realities remain -- the United States is looked to for world leadership we have enduring cultural, political, and economic links across the Atlantic, the Pacific, and within the Western Hemisphere and vast quantities of modern nuclear and conventional forces still exist in the Commonwealth of Independent States and its constituent republics.