*WASHINGTON : Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday that America isfacing “growing threats” from China and Russia, and warned that the USmilitary’s advantages have eroded in recent years. Mattis’s assessment cameas he unveiled the Pentagon’s vision for the future detailed in a documentcalled the national defense strategy. *
“We face growing threats from revisionist powers as different as China andRussia, nations that seek to create a world consistent with theirauthoritarian models,” Mattis said as he unveiled the unclassified sectionof the document.
“Our military is still strong, yet our competitive edge has eroded in everydomain of warfare — air, land, sea, space and cyberspace — and iscontinually eroding,” he added. President Donald Trump and hisadministration worry that the vast US military force is feeling the effectsof years of budget shortfalls and atrophy, and needs a full reboot torestore it to an idealized strength.
Part wish list, part blueprint for the coming years, the Pentagon’snational defense strategy seeks to increase the size of the military,improve its readiness and work with allies — all while operating acrossmultiple theaters including in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
“This strategy establishes my intent to pursue urgent change at significantscale,” Mattis wrote in the introduction to the strategy.
“We must use creative approaches, make sustained investment and bedisciplined in execution to field a Joint Force fit for our time, one thatcompetes, deters and wins in this increasingly complex securityenvironment.” – AFP