US Military Strategy in Four Dimensions

The monograph that follows seeks to analyze the current military strategy of the US. The framework proposed by the renowned military historian Michael Howard assists in this endeavor. The resulting analysis establishes the criteria for an effective military strategy. As defined within the monograph an effective military strategy will present a successful operational strategy, a sustainable logistical strategy, a sufficient technological strategy, and a supportable operational strategy. A wide range of comparable strategies, doctrinal sources, critiques from think tanks and defense experts, and academic research assists in developing the analysis and argument. Once the analysis is complete, the monograph recommends a focus on improving the effectiveness of the existing strategy in the logistical, technological, and social dimensions. The monograph establishes that the current deliberate military strategy of the US as documented in the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review and the 2011 National Military Strategy is likely to be ineffective. Given faulty assumptions in the logistical dimension, the need for extensive reforms within a historically unchanging procurement bureaucracy, and indications that American society prefers social programs to defense spending, emergent strategies are required to adjust the current plan. A solid operational core cannot succeed on its own. It needs the social support required to generate sustainable logistical and sufficient technological dimensions critical to an overall effective military strategy.