Sins of omission

The Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) of the United States Department of Defense purports to be a “strategy based” document that will help the United States “shape the international security environment.” This article evaluates the QDR in those terms. Although the QDR proposes some concepts that might become the basis for grand strategy, it fails to explain how policy makers might put those ideas into practice. Although the QDR calls for a proactive approach to foreign policy, it portrays U.S. options in a reactive way. Furthermore, the QDR fails to connect specific military contingencies with their larger strategic and political significance. Therefore, this article concludes that although the QDR may be valuable as a summary of American defense capabilities, it offers little in the way of strategic thought

Foreign policy · Grand strategy · National security · Operations research · Political science · Politics · Defense, Military, and Policy Studies · Engineering · European and Russian Geopolitical Military Strategies · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law

• Clausewitzian Friction and Future War

  Eliot A Cohen, Barry D Watts•Foreign Affairs•1997

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