This independent assessment is a comprehensive study of the strategic benefits, risks, and costs of U.S. military presence overseas. The report provides policymakers a way to evaluate the range of strategic benefits and costs that follow from revising the U.S. overseas military presence by characterizing how this presence contributes to assurance, deterrence, responsiveness, and security cooperation goals.

Maintaining that enhanced national security and successful foreign policy depend on the capacity to sustain military forces abroad, this book provides a framework for dealing with the tough decisions about overseas basing that will emerge during the remainder of this century. The author argues that what is most important to national security and the optimum performance of individual bases is the capacity of the full basing system to move and employ military forces. Presenting a global, systems perspective for all overseas basing, he demonstrates that the value of individual bases depends on their ability to interact with each other. This system describes the bases as points in an integrated network and defines the utility of a given base not only in terms of the functions that base performs for the region in which it is located, but also in terms of how it fits with and contributes to the entire basing system. The book begins with a brief history and overview of the current basing system. Then, moving beyond the basic questions regarding overseas basing in the future--How much basing is enough? Where should overseas bases exist? Which ones are most vital?--the author looks at the current crises in the basing system and reviews practical solutions that might be applied for better use of the bases. Students and scholars of foreign policy, as well as policy makers and military strategists, will find valuable ideas in this important new book.

A decade and a half of exhausting wars, punishing economic setbacks, and fast-rising rivals has called into question America's fundamental position and purpose in world politics. Will the US continue to be the only superpower in the international system? Should it continue advancing the world-shaping grand strategy it has followed since the Cold War? Or should it focus on internal problems? America Abroad takes stock of these debates and provides a powerful defense of American globalism. Since the end of World War Two, world politics has been shaped by two constants: America's position as the most powerful state, and its strategic choice to be deeply engaged in the world. But if America disengages from the world and reduces its footprint overseas, core US security and economic interests would be jeopardized. While America should remain globally engaged, it has to focus primarily on its core interests or run the risk of overextension. A bracing rejoinder to the critics of American globalism-a more potent force than ever in the Trump era-America Abroad is a powerful reminder that a robust American presence is crucial for maintaining world order.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld arrived at the Pentagon in 2001 with an agenda that included the transformation of the American armed forces. His intent was to modernize the existing force while simultaneously developing high-tech innovations to revolutionize the military of the future.The primary architect of transformation, Arthur Cebrowski, conceived what is known as network-centric warfare—a concept to leverage advances in military technology that will influence the U.S. Armed Forces for many decades to come. The basis of this work was Arthur Cebrowski's autobiographical history of the development of network-centric warfare. He passed away, however, before he could complete his account. Blaker has used much of the material gathered by Cebrowski to craft a history based on the former naval officer's own writings, testimony, and interviews of Cebrowski conducted by a variety of individuals in the media and military during his time in Washington, D.C. Transforming Military Force is also an examination of the successes and failures of this new form of warfare, analyzing what has been done in the past and offering suggestions on the future direction of this form of conflict.

Some vols. include supplemental journals of "such proceedings of the sessions, as, during the time they were depending, were ordered to be kept secret, and respecting which the injunction of secrecy was afterwards taken off by the order of the House."

Overseas military bases have been the bedrock of the United States’ ability to project military power, exert political influence and deter potential adversaries since the Second World War. But fatigue with America’s ‘forever wars’, as well as more nuanced financial and strategic reasons, has inclined the public and policy community to favour reducing US global military activities and overseas presence. In this Adelphi book, Jonathan Stevenson argues that this desire does not necessarily translate into sound strategy. Overseas bases are a key element of the reassurance required to resurrect and bolster America’s reputation among its allies and adversaries. Meanwhile, strategic imperatives and geopolitical realities impose restraints in every theatre. The fluidity prevailing in the Middle East and Indo-Pacific counsels maintaining forward-deployed forces there at roughly the current level. Russia’s confrontational posture towards NATO and invasion of Ukraine, as well as NATO’s short- and medium-term reliance on US capabilities, require the American presence in Europe to increase and expand eastward. The US should not commit itself to a foreign policy that is heavy on forward-deployed military power and light on diplomacy. But paradoxically, reducing forward military presence may not be consistent with a policy that is less focused on military power as a means of achieving stability and security.

From Italy to the Indian Ocean, from Japan to Honduras, a far-reaching examination of the perils of American military bases overseas American military bases encircle the globe. More than two decades after the end of the Cold War, the U.S. still stations its troops at nearly a thousand locations in foreign lands. These bases are usually taken for granted or overlooked entirely, a little-noticed part of the Pentagon's vast operations. But in an eye-opening account, Base Nation shows that the worldwide network of bases brings with it a panoply of ills—and actually makes the nation less safe in the long run. As David Vine demonstrates, the overseas bases raise geopolitical tensions and provoke widespread antipathy towards the United States. They also undermine American democratic ideals, pushing the U.S. into partnerships with dictators and perpetuating a system of second-class citizenship in territories like Guam. They breed sexual violence, destroy the environment, and damage local economies. And their financial cost is staggering: though the Pentagon underplays the numbers, Vine's accounting proves that the bill approaches $100 billion per year. For many decades, the need for overseas bases has been a quasi-religious dictum of U.S. foreign policy. But in recent years, a bipartisan coalition has finally started to question this conventional wisdom. With the U.S. withdrawing from Afghanistan and ending thirteen years of war, there is no better time to re-examine the tenets of our military strategy. Base Nation is an essential contribution to that debate.