America’s military is shifting from the Cold War to the Long War — which, until recently, was known as the War on Terror — and has identified four priority areas:
- Defeating terrorist networks
- Defending the homeland in depth
- Shaping the choices of countries at strategic crossroads
- Preventing hostile states and non-state actors from acquiring or using weapons of mass destruction
This shift requires quite a few changes:
Among specific measures proposed are: an increase in special operations forces by 15%; an extra 3,700 personnel in psychological operations and civil affairs units — an increase of 33%; nearly double the number of unmanned aerial drones; the conversion of submarine-launched Trident nuclear missiles for use in conventional strikes; new close-to-shore, high-speed naval capabilities; special teams trained to detect and render safe nuclear weapons quickly anywhere in the world; and a new long-range bomber force.