Future of American Landpower: Does Forward Presence Still Matter? The Case of the Army in the Pacific   [open pdf - 3MB]

"The time has come for a reappraisal of the U.S. Army's forward presence in East Asia, given the sig¬nificantly changed strategic context and the extraor¬dinarily high, recurring costs of deploying U.S. Army forces from the 50 states for increasingly important se¬curity cooperation activities across the Indo-Asia-Pa¬cific theater. For economic, political, diplomatic, and military reasons, the Indo-Asia-Pacific theater con¬tinues to grow in importance to the United States. As part of a broad, interagency, multifaceted approach, the U.S. military plays a critical role in the rebalancing effort now underway. The U.S. Army in particular has a special role to play in bolstering the defense of allies and the deterrence of aggression, promoting regional security and stability, and ameliorating the growing U.S.-China security dilemma. In particular, military security cooperation pro¬grams are becoming increasingly important for achiev¬ing U.S. security goals. These military-to-military pro¬grams and activities are designed to shape the security environment; prevent conflict through deterrence, as¬surance, and transparency; and build operational and tactical interoperability. As wartime requirements decrease in the coming year following the end of ex¬tensive American involvement in Afghanistan and as the U.S. military undergoes a dramatic yet historically typical post-war drawdown, security cooperation activities will comprise the primary way in which a leaner U.S. military contributes to broad American national security objectives in the next decade."