Today, the United States possesses military predominance, and American political and economic ideas have broad global appeal. Almost all of the economically capable nations are our allies. Yet the end of the Cold War has also brought an increase in disorder as a result of the rise in ethnic nationalism and the fragmentation of several states. And these are not the only complications in the current strategic situation. The old U.S. grand strategy--its stand against the Soviet Union--has become moot, and a new one must be devised in the face of a changing world. This book discusses this need and examines three possible strategies. It goes on to discuss the complexities of current geopolitical trends and describes the demands these situations might place on the U.S. military and, in particular, the Air Force.

This volume analyzes how the utility of various instruments of U.S. power has changed in recent years, primarily owing to the end of the Cold War. For that reason, we need to set forth our view of the changing international context within which the instruments are applied. Our perspective on the emerging new world order was set forth in the first chapter of Strategic Assessment 1995, which we summarize here with some changes in nuance to reflect developments during 1995 and with some additional material to extend the analysis beyond the realm of geostrategy. The essential characteristics of the present strategic environment are uncertainty and change. The world is going through several types of dramatic changes. For heuristic purposes, those changes can be grouped into three broad categories-geostrategic, information, and, less clearly defined than the others, character of government.

Change--in international relations, in technology, and in society as a whole--has become the idiom of our age. One example of these changes has been an increasing recognition of the value of air and space assets for handling nearly every contingency from disaster relief to war and, onsequently, increasing demand for such assets. These developments have created both challenges and opportunities for the U.S. Air Force. This, the fourth volume in the Strategic Appraisal series, draws on the expertise of researchers from across RAND to explore both the challenges and opportunities that the U.S. Air Force faces as it strives to support the nation's interests in a challenging technological and security environment.Contributors examine the changing roles of air and space forces in U.S.national security strategy, the implications of new systems and technologiesfor military operations, and the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. securitystrategy. Contributors also discuss the status of major modernizationefforts within the Air Force, and the bill of health of the Air Force, asmeasured by its readiness to undertake its missions both today and in thefuture.

Advances in information technology have led us to rely on easy communication and readily available information--both in our personal lives and in the life of our nation. For the most part, we have rightly welcomed these changes. But information that is readily available is available to friend and foe alike; a system that relies on communication can become useless if its ability to communicate is interfered with or destroyed. Because this reliance is so general, attacks on the information infrastructure can have widespread effects, both for the military and for society. And such attacks can come from a variety of sources, some difficult or impossible to identify. This, the third volume in the Strategic Appraisal series, draws on the expertise of researchers from across RAND to explore the opportunities and vulnerabilities inherent in the increasing reliance on information technology, looking both at its usefulness to the warrior and the need to protect its usefulness for everyone. The Strategic Appraisal series is intended to review, for a broad audience, issues bearing on national security and defense planning.