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NATIONAL DEFENSE STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A DEFENSE STRATEGY FOR THE 21^st CENTURY

B. HOW WE ACCOMPLISH OUR OBJECTIVES

1. ASSURE ALLIES AND FRIENDS

Throughout the Cold War, our military presence and activities abroad upheld our commitment to our international partners. We shared risks by contributing to their physical defense. Now, given new challenges, we aim to assure a growing and more diverse community of partners of that same commitment.

2. DISSUADE POTENTIAL ADVERSARIES

Would be opponents will seek to offset our advantages. In response, we seek to limit their strategic options and dissuade them from adopting threatening capabilities, methods, and ambitions.

3. DETER AGGRESSION AND COUNTER COERCION

We remain committed to the active deterrence of aggression and coercion. Deterrence derives from our recognized capacity and will to defeat adversaries' attacks, deny their objectives, and dominate at any level of potential escalation. However, as the character and composition of our principal challengers change, so too must our approaches to deterrence.

During the Cold War our deterrent was based necessarily on the threat of a major response after we suffered an attack. In the current era there are many scenarios where we will not want to accept the huge consequences of an attack before responding. Therefore, our deterrence policy in this new era places increasing emphasis on denying enemy objectives by seeking to:

• Prevent attacks (e.g., by destroying terrorist networks); and

• Protect against attacks (e.g., by fielding missile defenses).

While it is harder to deter certain non state actors, such as terrorists and insurgents inspired by extremist ideologies, even these actors will hesitate to commit their resources to actions that have a high likelihood of failure. Our deterrent must seek to influence these actors' cost/benefit calculations, even as we continue prosecuting operations against them.

4. DEFEAT ADVERSARIES

When deterrence fails or efforts short of military action do not forestall gathering threats, the United States will employ military power, together with other instruments of national power, as necessary, to defeat adversaries. In doing so, we will act with others when we can.

In all cases, we will seek to seize the initiative and dictate the tempo, timing, and direction of military operations. Bringing military operations to a favorable conclusion demands the integration of military and nonmilitary actions. When combined, these measures should limit adversaries' options, deny them their means of support, defeat organized resistance, and establish security conditions conducive to a secure peace.

This strategy is intended to provide the President a broad range of options. These include preventive actions to deny an opponent the strategic initiative or preempt a devastating attack; combat operations against a capable and organized military, paramilitary, or insurgent adversary; and stability operations that could range from peacekeeping to substantial combat action.

Today's war is against terrorist extremist networks, including their state and non state supporters. These entities are hostile to freedom, democracy, and other U.S. interests; and use terrorism, among other means, to achieve their political goals.

Victory on battlefields alone will not suffice. To win the Global War on Terrorism, the United States will help to create and lead a broad international effort to deny terrorist extremist networks what they require to operate and survive. To defeat the enemy, we must deny them what they need to survive; in the meantime, we are denying them what they need to operate.

The United States will target eight major terrorist vulnerabilities:

• Ideological support key to recruitment and indoctrination;
• Leadership;
• Foot soldiers-maintaining a regular flow of recruits;
• Safe havens-ability to train, plan, and operate without disruption;
• Weapons-including WMD;
• Funds;
• Communications and movement-including access to information and intelligence; ability to travel and attend meetings; and command and control;
• and Access to targets-the ability to plan and reach targets in the United States or abroad.

Our strategy consists of three elements:

Protecting the homeland. Each partner nation in the coalition against terrorist extremism has a special interest in protecting its own homeland. The Defense Department contributes to protecting the U.S. homeland by sustaining the offensive against terrorist organizations by:

• Conducting military missions overseas;
• Sharing intelligence;
• Conducting air and maritime defense operations;
• Providing defense support to civil authorities as directed; and
• Ensuring continuity of government

Countering ideological support for terrorism. The campaign to counter ideological support for terrorism may be a decades long struggle, using all instruments of national power to:

• Delegitimate terrorism and extremists by, e.g., eliminating state and private support for extremism.
• Make it politically unsustainable for any country to support or condone terrorism; and
• Support models of moderation in the Muslim world by:
  • Building stronger security ties with Muslim countries;
  • Helping change Muslim misperceptions of the United States and the West;
  • and Reinforcing the message that the Global War on Terrorism is not a war against Islam, but rather is an outgrowth of a civil war within Islam between extremists and those who oppose them.

The debate within the world of Islam between extremists and their opponents may be far more significant than the messages that non Muslim voices transmit to Muslim audiences.

Countering the ideological appeal of the terrorist network of networks is an important means to stem the flow of recruits into the ranks of terrorist organizations. As in the Cold War, victory will come only when the ideological motivation for the terrorists' activities has been discredited and no longer has the power to motivate streams of individuals to risk and sacrifice their lives.

Disrupting and attacking terrorist networks. The Department disrupts and attacks terrorist networks by:

• Identifying, targeting, and engaging such networks, particularly the Al Qaeda terrorist network;
• Preventing the exploitation by terrorist organizations of large, ungoverned spaces and border areas;
• and Improving the military counterterrorism capabilities of allies and partners.