Recently, Air Force Gen.Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described how the U.S. military is planning on countering the numerous threats presented by the nation’s potential adversaries, especially Russia and China.
In his remarks, he called attention to the military’s “third offset strategy.” That is something that not many people have ever heard of. Basically the intent of this strategy is to determine how the military can effectively use the plethora of technology, operational concepts, and the organizational capabilities that the military has at its disposal to engage and defeat the offensive, long-range precision strike systems advantages of our adversaries.
The big question is how best can the U.S. mute the advantages our adversaries may have?
That is a huge undertaking given the advanced technologies our adversaries are using today, the pace of technological advancement, as well as the modern weaponry that is in their arsenals. The nation’s defense forces operate in a different environment, one of persistent conflict and hybrid multi-dimensional wars. That is why the Defense Department’s innovation initiatives (DII) are essential to addressing the changing face of conflict. DII are what creates new ways to address the changing asymmetric capabilities that continue to rapidly evolve worldwide.
Some military strategists point to multiple promising technologies that include anonymous systems, advanced manufacturing, big data and analytics, and robotics. All of these heavily rely on computers; and therefore, while not specifically mentioned, the cyber capabilities (offensive and defensive) of the United States are surely an integral part of this strategy. Given today’s technology intensive threat environment, cyber security must be built in, not bolted on later.
