Strategic Plan

U.S. Department of Defense Strategic Plan | Fiscal Years 2015-2018 Version 1.0

Analysis

Competitive Environment

Competitors

Direction

Mission

To provide and support the military forces and capabilities needed to deter war and protect the security of our country.

Values

Courage

Duty

Honor

Ethics

Integrity

Loyalty

Goals

Deterrence & Defense

Goal Statement: Defeat our Adversaries, Deter War, and Defend the Nation

The nation's ability to project power is inextricably tied to the DoD's ready and trained forces, the ability to move forces rapidly from place to place, and operate anywhere around the world. The DoD will retain and strengthen its power projection capabilities to deter conflict, and if deterrence fails, to win decisively against any aggressor, anywhere in the world. U.S. power projection goes beyond defeating threats and includes the readiness and capabilities to respond to a wide range of crises, partnering with civilian authorities, and supporting humanitarian relief efforts by aiding when and where the DoD is needed most. Cooperative involvement with U.S. interagency in stabilization activities strengthens overall deterrence and defense.

Objectives:

• Concepts
• Missile Defense
• Evaluation
• Vulnerabilities & Threats
• Catastrophes
• Counterterrorism Partnerships
• Insider Threat and Security Clearance
• Civil Authorities

Readiness

Goal Statement: Sustain a Ready Force to Meet Mission Needs

The national security challenges are not only numerous and geographically disparate, but many are unconventional. Reflecting this diverse range of challenges, the DoD will implement strategies to facilitate a focused shift in the types of conflict for which the military forces are prepared to execute. After years of protracted, expensive military engagements throughout the Middle East, the Joint Force is currently out of balance. The DoD will set the personnel and readiness conditions to find the most efficient Active and Reserve force mix that ensures acceptable risk in military capabilities and capacity. This is provided through policies that promote a seamlessly integrated Total Force supporting national security at home and abroad. The ideal Total Force will be an efficient mix of a viable operational Active Component and a Reserve Component that can provide strategic hedge, predictable operational support as well as surge times extended need. Both the Active and Reserve Components need access to installations and training lands to maintain their readiness in order for these components to be available when needed. Turmoil around the world continues, ranging from the threat presented by ISIL in Iraq to the potential of an Ebola pandemic. Despite the continued high operations tempo, the DoD remains committed to ensuring deployed forces around the globe are trained, equipped, and ready to perform their assigned missions. Finding proper balance between maintaining readiness, force structure sizing, modernization, and future threats remains an important component of the Department's mission and the highest priority of the Department's leadership. In order to ensure appropriate Congressional oversight and reporting, the DoD will continue measuring and reporting Readiness via the Quarterly Readiness Report to Congress (QRRC), a comprehensive analytical product which is classified to safeguard sensitive matters.

Objectives:

• Joint Force
• Air Force
• Forces
• Secondary Inventory
• Navy
• Secondary Items
• Army

Workforce

Goal Statement: Strengthen and Enhance the Health and Effectiveness of the Total Workforce

People are the DoD’s most valuable assets and critical to achieving all aspects of the DoD mission. Taking care of DoD Service members, their families, and civilian staff, especially during the ongoing drawdown after more than a decade of conflict and in this fiscal landscape, is a commitment that DoD continues to honor. DoD will make the most efficient use of the Total Force by targeting areas such as transition and strategic human capital planning to remain agile and responsive regardless of the current fiscal challenge and to enable resilience with our workforce.

Objectives:

• Recovery Plans
• Disability Evaluation
• Transition Activities
• High School Graduation
• Disability Evaluation
• Service Members and Veterans Mental Health
• Facilities
• Foreign Language
• Transition Activities
• Civilian Hiring
• Skills
• Career Readiness Standards
• Family Housing
• Work Life
• Acquisition Positions
• Unaccompanied Housing
• Career Readiness
• Career Readiness
• People & Culture
• Separating Service Members
• Recovery Plans
• Career Readiness Standards

Capabilities

Goal Statement: Achieve Dominant Capabilities through Innovation and Technical Excellence

The nation's long-term security depends on whether the DoD can address today's crises while preparing for tomorrow's threats. Continued fiscal pressure reinforces the need for DoD to innovate to respond to long-term challenges. In order to overcome challenges to the DoD’s military superiority, the DoD must preserve those capabilities that give it a technological edge. At the same time, the DoD must prioritize investments that allow the nation to combat new technologies, national powers and non-state actors, as well as emerging asymmetric threats. The required speed of response is increasing every day, and processes and people must be in place to ensure continued technical superiority.

Objectives:

• Technological Superiority
• Capabilities
• Lab-to-Market
• Military Intelligence
• JCRAS
• Cycle Time, Cost & Competition
• Contracts
• STEM Education
• SM-3 Interceptors
• Acquisitions
• Strategic Sourcing
• MDAPs
• Innovation
• Demonstrations
• Cybersecurity

Reform

Goal Statement: Reform and Reshape the Defense Institution

The DoD will continue to experience downward fiscal pressure, forcing detailed consideration of trades among operations and maintenance, readiness, procurement, and modernization expenditures. This pressure is coupled with the imperative to remain focused on actual mission outcomes, thus continued attention to controlling and reducing the cost of overhead and management structures is essential. Any reduction to these costs will allow the Department to continue to sustain investments in readiness and modernization activities while ensuring that the reductions don’t negatively impact these activities. Collaboration across the DoD will occur to reform the Defense institution in an effort to reduce complexity and dramatically lower the cost of back-office business areas, including human resources, procurement, logistics, service contracting, real estate and property management, health care, and financial management. Creating the internal management capacities and capabilities to address these challenges will not only reduce costs, but create a 21st century corporate office better suited to support and resource the warfighter of the future. Improving the processes that drive the Defense institution will help the DoD better understand the costs and risks associated with mission outcomes. Instilling a strong cost culture across the DoD is critical to enabling the Business Mission Area to deliver value to the warfighter. Knowing what it costs to deliver business capabilities will allow DoD leaders to assess the return on investment leading to improved decision making across the organization.

Objectives:

• Valuation & Accountability
• Human Capital
• Infrastructure & Permitting
• Mission Critical Assets
• Benchmarking
• Financial Management
• Efficiencies & Effectiveness
• IT Delivery
• IT
• Climate Change
• Cost, Schedule & Performance
• Effectiveness, Efficiency & Security
• Buildings
• Facilities
• Audit Readiness
• Real Property
• Open Data
• Shared Services
• Contracting
• Financial Statements