America’s new defence strategy

Flanked by military high brass and the Secretary of Defence, President Obama on 5 January 2012 at the Pentagon  gave details of a new US defence strategy titled Sustaining US Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st-Century Defence.

This new defence strategy is significant because it notifies a major policy shift in the size and strategic goals of America’s defence forces.

President Obama said the US is at “a moment of transition” after a decade of war which calls for a cut in the American defence budget and troops.

Despite the fact that the US military will be “leaner” Obama said the US would maintain its “military superiority with armed forces that are agile, flexible and ready for the full range of contingencies and threats.”

The US, according to President Obama, “succeeded in defending the nation and it is now time to put America’s fiscal house in order.”

The new defence review triggered a huge response, mostly negative.

Financial realities

Driven by financial realities this new strategy also comes at a time when the nature of warfare is undergoing a major shift. It is becoming more technology driven and in the wake of severe casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan there is an attempt to keep future US military human footprint on foreign soil as light as possible.

There is consensus about it, and the US Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta admitted, that the financial problems in the US forced the Obama-administration to rethink its military strategy. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to date have cost an estimated US$ 1 trillion which not only financially drained the US but also contributed to an unprecedented global financial crisis.

The financial crunch forced President Obama and his advisors to not only embrace a new strategy but also to develop one that will retain US military superiority.

The new strategy as detailed by President Obama reflects Washington's attempt to strike a balance between its flagging economy and its mounting military expenditure.

Defence spending skyrocketed

US defence spending has skyrocketed to a record high. The ever-growing military outlay, together with the adoption of tax cuts for many years, has caused the US national debt to rise to more than US$15 trillion. The US has such a huge deficit that the Secretary of Defence believes that "serious deficit and debt problems are themselves a national security risk".

The US military has reached a point where it exceeded the capacity of the economy to support it and hefty cuts in military spending are desperately needed.

Central to its new defence strategy President Obama said the US military would be transformed into “agile and flexible armed forces” which would gradually replace its current large-scale army capabilities.

The size of the US military is to shrink by half a million troops to settle around one million by 2020 and divided equally between combat and support staff.

The US further plans to achieve a leaner military with a reduction of around US$ 489 billion in spending cuts over the next decade.

The military budget for 2013 nevertheless is estimated at an astounding US$ 662 billion. It exceeds the combined next 10 largest national defence budgets on the planet.

Greater reliance on external assistance

Past events show that the US is strong enough to overthrow regimes in small countries, but it remains impotent to maintain a stable political order in targeted countries. It has become increasingly obvious that the US needs the cooperation of its allies to succeed with any of its global objectives, as shown during the Libya crisis when the US relied on Nato to fulfil the combat responsibilities.

In the new defence strategy the US plans to reduce its military presence in Europe but expects a bigger role from Nato in Europe. The US will however continue to fight terrorism and uphold its commitments to its allies and partner countries in the Middle East.

The US furthermore plans to develop “low-cost” and “small footprint” approaches through ”innovative methods" to sustain its presence and achieve its security objectives in Latin America and Africa.

These ”innovative methods” include the re-deployment on a rotational basis of small professional units now made more readily available by the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, to lend operational support and provide training to US allies and other pro-US forces.

Africa

In Africa this strategy is already in full swing. In October 2011 President Obama announced the deployment of 100 US military experts to Central Africa to assist in the location and elimination of the murderous leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) of Joseph Kony and his remaining followers.

Specialised US military units are also training various national armies in the Maghreb in counter–terrorism and counter-insurgency operations to equip them to confront the growing terrorist threat in the region.

American military instructors are also on their way to help train the new Liberian army after years of civil war and conflict.

Cyberspace

Identified as a top strategic priority the aim is to secure US global military dominance through aggressive action in cyberspace. The intention is to enhance America’s global posture by securing its domination in cyberspace through information and cyber warfare tactics under US Cyber Command also known as CYBERCOM.

Indicative of the important future role of Cyber Command, headquartered at Fort Meade, Maryland, is the fact that it is currently headed by Army General Keith Alexander, who also happens to be the head of the National Security Agency, America’s most powerful intelligence service.

The importance allocated to cyber warfare is reminiscent of President Reagan’s Strategic Defence Initiative, popularly known as Star Wars in the early 1980’s which many observers believe played a crucial role in the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union. The cost involved in competing with the Americans to fight a future war in space was just too much for the imploding communist system to uphold.

China and the Asia Pacific region

Although not unexpected but certainly controversial, President Obama said the US will project its military power towards China and the Asia Pacific region.

The American president stressed that the US will continue to strengthen its presence in the Asia Pacific region and that the "budget reduction will not come at the expense of that critical region."

This is an unmistakable indication of the eastward shift of the US defence priority and its unconcealed intention to check and counter-balance China's growing influence in that region and elsewhere, including Africa.

There has been no official reaction from Beijing but the silence might be a telling sign of Chinese anger.

Criticism

In an election year criticism of the new defence strategy was fast and furious.

Critics expressed concern that any dow- scaling of US military capacity is sending a clear message that the US is disengaging at a time when the world is becoming less stable and more dangerous.

The focus on China and Asia at the expense of other parts of the world is also singled out as a serious flaw.

Not only, according to the critics, will the new strategy leave the US vulnerable but it conveys a message that might dishearten allies and encourage enemies or would-be enemies.

Eisenhower’s warning

Since the Second World War the defence industry has been  a major player, if not the most dominant, in the US economy. Already in 1961 in his farewell address to the American people then President Eisenhower, an old military man himself, warned against the dangers of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the so-called military-industrial complex.

For too long Eisenhower’s warning was ignored. At long last it seems as if President Obama has taken notice of the warning.

Only time will tell if the decision to take action was not too late.