On February 11, Clementine Starling, deputy director of Forward Defense (FD) and resident fellow of the Transatlantic Security Initiative (TSI) at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, was interviewed by Government Matters on the next National Defense Strategy (NDS). The interview focused on the insights and recommendations of Starling’s and LtCol Matthew Crouch‘s latest op-ed on how the United States should regain its competitive advantage in the 2022 NDS. In the interview, Starling discussed the imperative to broaden the Department of Defense’s view of great-power competition, to include note only high-end, high-tech warfare, but also low-end hybrid threats below the threshold of conventional warfare. Specifically, a major pillar of this approach would involve a whole-of-government framework for multi-spectrum competition, in which the Departments of Defense, State, Homeland Security, and others would more clearly define their roles and resources to address different types of threats. Starling also addressed the importance of allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region for US defense goals, and argued that the United States needs to shore up existing alliances, turn partners like India and Indonesia into new allies, and convince them to better work with each other to counter China.

Former staff

Clementine G. Starling-Daniels

Director, Forward Defense

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Security & Defense NATO

Read Starling’s foundational op-ed and related FD commentary on the next NDS:

Seizing the advantage Feb 3, 2021

How the US can regain the advantage in its next National Defense Strategy

By Clementine G. Starling-Daniels, Matthew R. Crouch

To seize the advantage, the next US National Defense Strategy needs a paradigm adjustment, not a shift. In the next NDS, the Biden defense team must take a broader definition of competition if the United States is to succeed in deterring, defending, and shaping the strategic environment in its favor.

Conflict Defense Industry

Seizing the advantage Feb 4, 2021

Elevating ‘deterrence by denial’ in US defense strategy

By Erica D. Borghard, Benjamin Jensen, and Mark Montgomery

As the Biden administration reshapes foreign policy and makes decisions about how to invest in US military capabilities for the future, it should acknowledge the value of a denial-based approach to deterrence.

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Seizing the advantage Dec 2, 2020

America’s fleeting second-mover advantage is here

By Matthew R. Crouch

Though Chinese initiative has upset the status quo, their first move clarifies their vulnerabilities and exposes potential effective counterweights. By acting promptly to exploit these opportunities, the United States can take the second-mover advantage.

China Coronavirus

For more on the next NDS, check out FD’s latest project:

Seizing the advantage: The next US National Defense Strategy

The Atlantic Council’s Forward Defense practice advances leading-edge commentary and key recommendations to help chart the course for the United States’ next National Defense Strategy.

About Forward Defense

Forward Defense leads the Atlantic Council’s US and global defense programming, developing actionable recommendations for the United States and its allies and partners to compete, innovate, and navigate the rapidly evolving character of warfare. Through its work on US defense policy and force design, the military applications of advanced technology, space security, strategic deterrence, and defense industrial revitalization, it informs the strategies, policies, and capabilities that the United States will need to deter, and, if necessary, prevail in major-power conflict.

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Related Experts: Clementine G. Starling-Daniels

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