A Call for a New NSC-68 and Goldwater Nichols Reform | Policy Paper

Hostile actions by Russia, Iran, and China clearly show that the United States is struggling when it comes to shaping the national security environment and deterring adversaries. The U.S. military no longer has the capability and capacity to defend the rules-based international order that has long been the cornerstone of its foreign policy. Absent a reset, this failure of deterrence could very well lead to a war between the United States and China.

Deficiencies of the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Reform Act severely restrict the ability on the services to prioritize long-term strategic threats in favor of the immediate, non-combat demands of the combatant commands and civilian defense bureaucracy. Too often, long-term defense procurement strategies and requirements are neglected given these dynamics. The resulting failure of U.S. forces to prudently modernize and recapitalize have emboldened America’s adversaries to use violence to pursue their expansionist goals, setting the United States on a path toward a great power war. To prevent this and retain the current rules-based world order, it is time for a new vector.