Analysis: Pentagon has a Pacific posture predicament

On Feb. 4, roughly two weeks into office, U.S. President Joe Biden ordered Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to lead a Global Posture Review of all American forces deployed overseas.

The aim was to make sure that the military's footprint fit the administration's foreign policy and national security priorities -- in other words, China. The review was widely expected to conclude around the summer, but deep into October, it is still underway inside the walls of the Pentagon.

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"It sure seems like a funny way out of the gate, when we say China is the biggest challenge in the Pacific, and it's mostly a maritime challenge, and then go cut the number of warships they are buying. That doesn't make a lot of sense," said Tom Shugart, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and an expert on the Chinese military threat.

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