Fit for Purpose? The U.S. Strategic Posture in 2030 and Beyond

“The time is ripe to revisit questions about the future of the U.S. strategic posture. Next year, 2021, will bring a new defense strategy review and a return to basic questions of defense policy and posture by a new Congress and perhaps also a new administration. U.S. strategic forces, broadly defined here to include not just nuclear forces but also non-nuclear strategic strike, missile defense, and space and counterspace capabilities, can be expected to play a more prominent role in that process than in the past. This follows from the changing nature of modern warfare, the need to compete with and deter two major power adversaries who put a lot of stock in the strategic dimensions of modern war, and the need to address major concerns about U.S. deterrence strategy articulated in 2018 by the National Defense Strategy Commission.

To help focus our thinking, we posed a simple question: Will the U.S. strategic posture of 2030 be “fit for purpose”? This proved difficult to answer, not least because the question links to so many others… The essays included here explore different facets of this agenda from varied perspectives.”

Read the full publication, published in October of 2020 by the Center for Global Security Research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, here.

Paper authors include Benjamin Bahney, Paul Bernstein, Linton Brooks, former NSWG Fellow Anya Loukianova Fink, William Goldstein, John R. Harvey, Sheryl Hingorani, Brad Roberts, Michael Shoebridge and Dean Wilkening. The publication is edited by Brad Roberts.

(Image credit: Center for Global Security Research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)