President Joe Biden on Wednesday issued interim guidance outlining his national security priorities that include investing in the all-volunteer force and their families, sustaining readiness of the Armed Forces, and moving away from irrelevant legacy platforms and weapons to invest in new technologies and capabilities that give the U.S. military the edge in the future.
The Interim National Security Strategic Guidance defines the nation’s national security interests broadly and requires working with allies and partners.
“It demands creative approaches that draw on all the sources of our national power: our diversity, vibrant economy, dynamic civil society and innovative technological base, enduring democratic values, broad and deep network of partnerships and alliances, and the world’s most powerful military,” the 24-page document says. “Our task is to ensure these advantages endure, by building back better at home and reinvigorating our leadership abroad. From a position of renewed strength, America can meet any challenge.”
Biden highlights shifts in global power and evolving threats, pointing out that China is the only “competitor” that can “mount a sustained challenge to a stable and open international system,” although Russia will remain a “disruptive” force. The U.S. also faces challenges from Iran and North Korea, regionally to allies and through efforts to gain new capabilities and technologies.
Other challenges include terrorism, violent extremism, countries with fragile governance and non-state actors.
“In the face of strategic challenges from an increasingly assertive China and destabilizing Russia, we will assess the appropriate structure, capabilities, and sizing of the force, and, working with the Congress, shift our emphasis from unneeded legacy platforms and weapons systems to free up resources for investments in the cutting-edge technologies and capabilities that will determine our military and national security advantage in the future,” the guidance says.
Biden also says that the U.S. will maintain its edge in Special Operations capabilities.
“We will maintain the proficiency of special operations forces on crisis response and priority counterterrorism and unconventional warfare missions,” he says. “And we will develop capabilities to better compete and deter gray zone actions.”
Biden also says the U.S. won’t “engage in ‘forever wars,’” and the administration will continue efforts to end the U.S. war in Afghanistan.
The guidance reiterates that cyber security is a top priority of the administration, which will also work toward promoting international norms for cyber and other areas, including “emerging technologies, space…health and biological threats, climate and the environment, and human rights.”
Cyber security will be “an imperative across the government” and the government and private sector will work together to secure the “online environment,” the document says. The administration plans to “expand our investments in the infrastructure and people we need to effectively defend the nation against malicious cyber activity, providing opportunities to Americans of diverse backgrounds as we build an unmatched talent base.”
The guidance also touches on supply chain security, saying the U.S. will work with “like-minded democracies to develop and defend trusted critical supply chains and technology infrastructure, and to promote pandemic preparedness and clean energy.”