The 45th president has been a pretty establishment-like commander in chief. Nowhere was this clearer than in the White House’s National Security Strategy and the Pentagon’s following National Defense Strategy. To most eyes, these documents laid out a vision for the U.S. not terribly different than those of President Barack Obama (and Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George H.W. Bush).
So the State of Defense for 2018 is stable? Not exactly. The one consensus seems to be the view that, under Trump, America is no longer the world’s clear leader. And that is a titanic change.
This is the landscape in which the Pentagon is operating into 2018. Below are our looks into the year ahead for the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps — all of which are receiving new missions from the new political bosses and new promises:
- Introduction by Kevin Baron »
- State of the Army by Ben Watson »
- State of the Navy by Bradley Peniston »
- State of the Air Force by Marcus Weisgerber »
- State of the Marines by Caroline Houck »
Continue the conversation. Join the editors of Defense One — and top-ranking officials, stakeholders and thought leaders — at our first State of Defense Live on March 15 from 7:30-10:45 a.m. at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW, Washington, D.C.) Get details and register here.