The White House today released a National Security Strategy that seeks "deeper collaboration" with foreign allies when it comes to developing and producing weapon systems and military technology, a vision made more urgent by the war in Ukraine.
“The war in Ukraine highlights the criticality of a vibrant Defense Industrial Base for the United States and its allies and partners,” the document states. “We also seek to remove barriers to deeper collaboration with allies and partners, to include issues related to joint capability development and production to safeguard our shared military-technological edge.”
The document, which was delayed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, follows a global meeting of national armaments directors led by Pentagon acquisition chief Bill LaPlante, who has said the United States wants to explore “multi-country procurements -- even development -- and contracting for items such that we would have production lines in multiple places for the same item . . . by multiple countries.”
The defense industrial base, the document states, “must not only be capable of rapidly manufacturing proven capabilities needed to defend against adversary aggression, but also empowered to innovate and creatively design solutions as battlefield conditions evolve.”
The strategy notes the United States is focused on emerging technologies that will “transform warfare,” like cyber and space capabilities, missile defeat capabilities, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
“Incorporating allies and partners at every stage of defense planning is crucial to meaningful collaboration,” the document states.
China still ‘pacing challenge’
The strategy, which continues the U.S. focus on China as the “pacing challenge” and Russia as an “acute” threat, calls for investments in emerging technologies and modernizing the U.S. military with a special focus on allies in the Indo-Pacific region and Europe.
“We will effectively compete with the People’s Republic of China, which is the only competitor with both the intent and, increasingly, the capability to reshape the international order, while constraining a dangerous Russia,” the strategy states. “This decade will be decisive, in setting the terms of our competition with the PRC, managing the acute threat posed by Russia, and in our efforts to deal with shared challenges, particularly climate change, pandemics, and economic turbulence.”
The U.S. military, the strategy states, will operate using a “campaigning mindset” that sequences “logically linked military activities to advance strategy-aligned priorities.” The strategy also notes that ending the U.S. war in Afghanistan signals the end of an “era of major military operations to remake other societies.”
Meanwhile, the document asserts that the United States is willing to cooperate “with any country, including our competitors, willing to constructively address shared challenges.” One of those shared challenges is climate change.
The strategy says the United States will work to combat climate change by “bolstering our energy security, and hastening the clean energy transition,” which are “integral to our industrial strategy, economic growth, and security.”
Now that the NSS has been released, the Pentagon is expected to release the unclassified version of the National Defense Strategy -- and other strategic documents like the Nuclear Posture Review -- that were on hold. All the documents are used to inform White House budget policy and investment decisions.
The White House last year released interim security guidance focused on increasing partnerships with U.S. allies, divesting legacy weapon systems and investing in new military technology.