March 10, 2020
The Case for a Pacific Deterrence Initiative
When war broke out in Ukraine in 2014 the Department of Defense moved swiftly to invest billions in near-term enhancements in Europe to address growing military-operational shortfalls. The European Reassurance Initiative, later renamed the European Deterrence Initiative, invested $22 billion since then in increased presence, exercises, prepositioning, infrastructure, and partner capacity efforts all focused on ensuring the U.S. military and its NATO partners have the right capabilities in position to deter Russia. The Defense Department requested an additional $4.5 billion for the initiative in its new budget request for 2021.
No similar initiative, or urgency, exists for the Indo-Pacific.
Read the full article in War on the Rocks.
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