Peter Lobner
Heritage Foundation recently released the subject report, which assesses the current ability of the U.S. military to provide for the common defense. Heritage Foundation notes: “This …. Index of U.S. Military Strength gauges the ability of the U.S. military to perform its missions in today’s world, and each subsequent edition will provide the basis for measuring the improvement or weakening of that ability.”
Source: Heritage Foundation
The report, edited by Dakota L. Wood, is organized as follows:
- Introduction.
- Executive Summary
- The Role of a Strong National Defense
- The Contemporary Spectrum of Conflict: Protracted, Gray Zone, Ambiguous, and Hybrid Modes of War
- Preempting Further Russian Aggression Against Europe
- Intelligence and National Defense
- America’s Reserve and National Guard Components: Key Contributors to U.S. Military Strength
- Assessing the Global Operating Environment
- Assessing Threats to U.S. Vital Interests
- An Assessment of U.S. Military Power
- Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations
- Methodology
- Appendix: Military Capabilities and Corresponding Modernization Programs
The Heritage Foundation notes that the, “2016 Index of U.S. Military Strength concludes that America’s ‘hard power’ has deteriorated still further over the past year, primarily as a result of inadequate funding that has led to a shrinking force that possesses aging equipment and modest levels of readiness for combat.”
You can download the complete report, or just individual sections or chapters, at the following link:
http://index.heritage.org/military/2016/resources/download/
I hope you will read this report and draw your own conclusions.