1. Strategy, Revisited Analyzing the Shift from a Threat-Based to Capabilities-Based Approach to US Strategic Planning
- Author:
- Isaiah Wilson III
- Publication Date:
- 08-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Department of Social Sciences at West Point, United States Military Academy
- Abstract:
- Making the best strategic and force choices in a free society is a difficult and lengthy process. The strategist and force planner must consider numerous international and domestic factors, including political, economic and military influences. [B]ecause planning involves preparing for the future, there is considerable uncertainty and much room for disagreement about preferred strategy and how forces should be structured, organized, and equipped. [E]qually valid arguments are often made for widely different choices, each depending on the objectives sought and the assumptions made about threats, challenges, opportunities, technological advances, and future political and economic conditions. This tendency is exacerbated by various advocates who focus on the single factor most important to them, such as the threat or budget, without a balanced attempt to explore the full dimensions of the problems.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- United States