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Obama's strategy envisions 'innovative' US military role in Africa, Latin America
President Obama’s new defense strategy calls out China and Iran by name, but it also subtly sends a message to America’s foes in Africa and Latin America.
The strategy vows that Washington will "invest as required" to field the kinds of combat systems that allow U.S. forces to enter and operate where "states such as China and Iran" have weapons intended to deny such access. It notes Beijing’s secretive military buildup. And it says the Pentagon will spend whatever it takes to keep access to and the ability to “operate freely” in China’s backyard.
All of that was expected from an administration that has made no secret of its ongoing shift of America’s foreign and national security policy focus toward the Asia-Pacific region.
Obama’s new strategic blueprint is subtly muscular in places, including a paragraph signaling more U.S. military focus on two regions that often go overlooked: Africa and Latin America.
“Across the globe," it reads, "we will seek to be the security partner of choice” — an apparent signal to China an Iran, which have been increasing their military, economic and diplomatic efforts in Africa and Latin America, respectively.
“Whenever possible, we will develop innovative, low-cost and small-footprint approaches to achieve our security objectives, relying on exercises, rotational presence and advisory capabilities,” according to the strategy.
At several points during a Thursday Pentagon briefing unveiling the strategy, Defense Department officials referred cryptically to “innovative” partnerships and “small deployments.”
Those typically are terms reserved for special-operations forces, and the Obama plan makes clear it will expand the military’s special-operations forces.
