NORTHCOM Links Chinese Hypersonic Glider to Nuclear Program
By Steve Trimble, Aviation Week: "All the U.S. military’s previous assessments of China’s nuclear arsenal included a mix of ICBMs, with silo-based DF-4 and DF-5 rockets, along with road-mobile DF-31, DF-31A and the recently unveiled DF-41 missiles. The warheads for each missile are known to include several multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles, with maneuverable reentry vehicles also believed to be in development or already deployed."
China’s Modernizing Military
By Lindsay Maizland, Council on Foreign Relations: "The People’s Liberation Army is aiming to become the dominant force in the Asia-Pacific, strengthening China’s hand toward Taiwan and international disputes in the South China Sea.
By Rod Lyon, The Strategist (ASPI): "China increasingly finds itself depicted as the bête noire of nuclear arms control. The U.S. government has said the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty collapsed because of Chinese actions outside the treaty and not merely Russian violations inside it."
China’s Growing 5G Dominance Is a Disaster for U.S. Security
By Charlie Kirk, The Hill: "China’s influence over the fifth generation of wireless technology, more commonly known as 5G, is a lot more important than some TV commercials might have you believe."
Is the U.S. Public Sleepwalking Into a Sino-Centric World Order?
By Lulio Vargas-Cohen, RealClearDefense: "While the U.S. is at a cros sroads in navigating the most important foreign policy issue of the century, the U.S. public remains unengaged about the importance of getting U.S.-China relations right."
By Loren Thompson, Forbes: "The United States outspends every other nation on defense, and as a result has the best trained, best equipped military in the world. The joint force regularly undertakes missions that no other country's military would be capable of executing. However, there are existential defense threats for which the nation is not prepared . . ."
By Jack Bowers, Strategy Bridge: "The narrative of great-power competition relies largely on a realist discourse reflected in the well-known plot of the Thucydides Trap."
Options for a Joint Support Service
By Jason Hughes, Divergent Options: ". . . without dynamic modernization solutions the DoD will be unable to sharpen the American Military’s competitive edge and realize the National Defense Strategy’s vision of a more lethal, resilient, and rapidly innovating Joint Force. While DoD’s strategic guidance has evolved, its force structure has not."
The State Department’s Dysfunction Predates Pompeo
By Kori Schake, Bloomberg Opinion: "Bad as he is, the Secretary of Swagger isn’t entirely to blame for the crisis of American diplomacy."
If the United States cannot better align its actions, messaging, and strategy and do it in a unified fashion — as it did during the Cold War — it risks reductions to military readiness and our ability to effectively compete with adversaries.