White House Guidance for a 21st Century DoD

President Barack Obama has announced new strategic guidance for a 21st century Department of Defense that will sustain U.S. global leadership and protect its core national interests. As the United States transitions away from two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and confronts defense cuts mandated in the Budget Control Act of 2011, the President outlined defense priorities that will enable a Joint Force to “be smaller and leaner, but agile, flexible, ready and technologically advanced.”

Toward that end, the strategic guidance document highlights the key role space and cyberspace will play.

Modern armed forces cannot conduct high-tempo, effective operations without reliable information and communication networks and assured access to cyberspace and space. The United States will continue to work with domestic and international allies and partners and invest in advanced capabilities to defend its networks, operational capability, and resiliency in cyberspace and space …and continue to lead global efforts with capable allies and partners to assure access to and use of the global commons, both by strengthening international norms of responsible behavior and by maintaining relevant and interoperable military capabilities.

To read the document in its entirety, click here.

Further details about the new strategic guidance will be elucidated in the President’s FY 2013 Department of Defense budget request, to be released Feb. 6.
 

This article is part of Space Watch: February 2012 (Volume: 11, Issue: 2).