If you had not already seen it, encourage you to take a look at the Summary of the 2018 National Defense Strategy of the United States of America: Sharpening the American Military’s Competitive Edge. “This unclassified synopsis of the classified 2018 National Defense Strategy articulates our strategy to compete, deter, and win in this environment. The reemergence of long-term strategic competition, rapid dispersion of technologies, and new concepts of warfare and competition that span the entire spectrum of conflict require a Joint Force structured to match this reality…Defense objectives include:

• Defending the homeland from attack;
• Sustaining Joint Force military advantages, both globally and in key regions;
• Deterring adversaries from aggression against our vital interests;
• Enabling U.S. interagency counterparts to advance U.S. influence and interests;
• Maintaining favorable regional balances of power in the Indo-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and the Western Hemisphere;
• Defending allies from military aggression and bolstering partners against coercion, and fairly sharing responsibilities for common defense;
• Dissuading, preventing, or deterring state adversaries and non-state actors from acquiring, proliferating, or using weapons of mass destruction;
• Preventing terrorists from directing or supporting external operations against the United States homeland and our citizens, allies, and partners overseas;
• Ensuring common domains remain open and free;
• Continuously delivering performance with affordability and speed as we change Departmental mindset, culture, and management systems; and
• Establishing an unmatched twenty-first century National Security Innovation Base that effectively supports Department operations and sustains security and solvency.”

Two areas of particular interest to the life cycle logistics and product support manager community include:

• “Resilient and agile logistics. Investments will prioritize prepositioned forward stocks and munitions, strategic mobility assets, partner and allied support, as well as non-commercially dependent distributed logistics and maintenance to ensure logistics sustainment while under persistent multi-domain attack” and

• “Reform the Department for Greater Performance and Affordability. The current bureaucratic approach, centered on exacting thoroughness and minimizing risk above all else, is proving to be increasingly unresponsive. We must transition to a culture of performance where results and accountability matter. We will put in place a management system where leadership can harness opportunities and ensure effective stewardship of taxpayer resources. We have a responsibility to gain full value from every taxpayer dollar spent on defense, thereby earning the trust of Congress and the American people.” Focus areas for the latter include:

• Deliver performance at the speed of relevance.
• Organize for innovation.
• Drive budget discipline and affordability to achieve solvency.
• Streamline rapid, iterative approaches from development to fielding
• Harness and protect the National Security Innovation Base.

For additional information, see also a January 19, 2018 DoD article entitled DoD Official: National Defense Strategy Will Enhance Deterrence.