Defense Strategy and Forces: Setting Future Directions

terms of its capabilities vis-à-vis other states. It is the mightiest state in the world
militarily. It has the world’s largest single national economy, which is three
times larger than that of its nearest national competitor (Japan) when measured
in nominal dollars, and somewhere between 20 percent and 100 percent larger
than China’s when measured in purchasing power parity.1 It is the world’s most
economically competitive economy, and it continues to exert a cultural influence
globally that no other state can match.2 Yet, while its hard power assets remain
unrivaled and its cultural appeal remains extensive, its political appeal, if
not influence, is significantly diminished from where it was in the decade after
the cold war’s end; its image as a positive force in world politics is at low ebb;
and the legitimacy of its international actions in the eyes of other states has
reached its lowest point since the end of World War II.3
Why is the gap so large between America’s hard power assets and cultural
appeal, on the one hand, and its legitimacy, image, and general standing in the
eyes of others, on the other? Has the country been pursuing the wrong interests,
or has it been pursuing the right interests but in the wrong way? Does its grand
strategy need major adjustment and if so, in what ways? To answer these questions,
I first lay out U.S. interests in the current era; then I set forth the grand
strategies available to it, together with the one I believe best suited to realizing
these interests; and finally, I highlight a key task for the next administration,
whatever its political complexion.