The 2022 National Defense Strategy (NDS) outlines the Department of Defense’s (DoD) roadmap for navigating the complexities of a rapidly evolving global security landscape. It is built on three pillars: integrated deterrence, campaigning, and building enduring advantages. These pillars represent a comprehensive approach to safeguarding U.S. national security interests and upholding a stable and open international system.  

The First Pillar: Integrated Deterrence

The first pillar of the 2022 National Defense Strategy (NDS), integrated deterrence, is a comprehensive approach aimed at deterring aggression against the United States, its allies, and partners. It involves the coordinated and synchronized use of all tools at the Department of Defense’s (DoD) disposal, including military might, diplomacy, and economic sanctions.  

Integrated deterrence is tailored to specific competitors and challenges, requiring close collaboration with counterparts across the U.S. Government and with allies and partners. The goal is to convey to potential adversaries that any form of aggression would be met with a unified and overwhelming response, thereby reducing the perceived benefits of such actions.  

The strategy emphasizes that integrated deterrence is not “business as usual.” It requires a deliberate effort to counter acute forms of competitor coercion, complicate their military preparations, and strengthen the U.S. military advantage. This involves day-to-day campaigning to counter competitors’ most consequential coercive measures and to disrupt their military preparations.  

The NDS underscores the importance of building enduring advantages for the future Joint Force, including undertaking reforms to accelerate force development, acquiring necessary technology quickly, and investing in the people of the DoD.  

In essence, the first pillar, integrated deterrence, is a proactive and holistic approach to national defense that seeks to leverage all available resources and partnerships to deter aggression and maintain a stable and secure international environment.   Sources and related content

The Second Pillar: Campaigning

The second pillar of the 2022 National Defense Strategy (NDS), campaigning, is a proactive and persistent approach to advancing U.S. defense and security goals. It involves the deliberate synchronization of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) activities and investments to counter competitor influence, disrupt their military preparations, and build the U.S. military advantage.

Campaigning is not “business as usual.” It requires a focused effort to shape the global security environment in favor of the United States and its allies and partners. This involves actively countering competitor activities that, if left unaddressed, would endanger U.S. military advantages now and in the future.

The NDS emphasizes that campaigning requires a disciplined approach, targeting the most consequential competitor activities. It begins with focused planning that specifies how each initiative supports defense priorities, establishes clear connections with the DoD’s resources, and incorporates feedback loops.

Campaigning aims to achieve several objectives:

• Gaining Military Advantage: This involves improving the U.S. understanding of the operating environment, shaping perceptions, disrupting competitor warfighting advantages, and enhancing interoperability and access.
• Enhancing Deterrence: Campaigning includes activities that bolster deterrence, such as building and exercising force elements needed in crisis or conflict, including infrastructure, logistics, command and control, dispersal and relocation, and mobilization.
• Addressing Gray Zone Challenges: The DoD will actively campaign to counter competitors’ gray zone activities, which are coercive actions that fall below the threshold of traditional military action. This may involve a range of options, including cyber operations, information operations, and working with allies and partners to expose and counter these tactics.

The second pillar, campaigning, is a proactive and persistent approach to shaping the global security environment in favor of the United States and its allies and partners. It involves a disciplined and focused effort to counter competitor activities, build the U.S. military advantage, and deter aggression.

The Third Pillar: Building Enduring Advantages

The third pillar of the 2022 National Defense Strategy (NDS), building enduring advantages, focuses on ensuring the long-term strength and resilience of the U.S. military. It aims to build a resilient Joint Force and defense ecosystem capable of adapting to emerging threats and maintaining a lasting military advantage.

The NDS identifies five key lines of effort for building enduring advantages:

1. Transform the Foundation of the Future Force: This involves overhauling the DoD’s force development, design, and business management practices. The goal is to create a more agile and responsive system that can rapidly incorporate cutting-edge technologies and adapt to new strategic demands.
2. Make the Right Technology Investments: The NDS emphasizes the importance of investing in the right technologies to maintain a technological edge. This includes:
   • Fueling research and development for advanced capabilities in fields such as directed energy, hypersonics, integrated sensing, and cyber.
   • Seeding opportunities in biotechnology, quantum science, advanced materials, and clean-energy technology.
   • Being a fast-follower where market forces are driving commercialization of militarily relevant capabilities in areas such as artificial intelligence, autonomy, and space.
3. Adapt and Fortify Our Defense Ecosystem: This line of effort focuses on strengthening the defense industrial base to ensure the production and sustainment of necessary capabilities. It also includes:
   • Bolstering support for research institutions, small businesses, and innovative technology firms.
   • Increasing collaboration with the private sector, especially with the commercial space industry.
   • Fortifying the defense industrial base and supply chains against disruption and compromise.
4. Strengthen Resilience and Adaptability: This involves building resilience into the defense ecosystem to adapt to emerging threats, such as climate change. This includes:
   • Strengthening the DoD’s ability to withstand and recover from climate events.
   • Integrating climate change into threat assessments.
   • Increasing the resilience of military installations and basing locations.
   • Reducing energy demand and adopting more efficient and clean-energy technologies.
5. Cultivate the Workforce We Need: This line of effort focuses on recruiting, developing, and retaining a highly skilled and diverse workforce. This includes:
   • Attracting, training, and promoting a workforce with the skills necessary to address national security challenges.
   • Streamlining hiring practices and offering competitive incentives.
   • Filling specific technology gaps in areas such as cyber, data, and artificial intelligence.
   • Encouraging personnel to gain deep expertise about key technologies, competitors, and the future of warfare.

Building enduring advantages is about investing in the future of the U.S. military. It is a comprehensive approach to ensuring that the DoD has the capabilities, technologies, and people necessary to maintain a strategic advantage and safeguard national security interests in the long term.