"The United States maintains a military force to protect the homeland from attack and to safeguard its interests abroad. There obviously are other uses—for example, to assist civil authorities in times of emergency or to deter enemies—but this force’s primary purpose historically has been to make it possible for the U.S. to physically impose its will on an enemy in defense of our nation and its vital interests.
It is therefore critical that the American people understand the condition of the United States military with respect to America’s vital national security interests, threats to those interests, and the context within which the U.S. might have to use “hard power” to protect them. Because changes can have substantial implications for defense policies and investment, knowing how these three areas change over time is likewise important. Of the three, however, the condition of the military is the one that we most need to understand because it is the only one over which the U.S. has complete control, and it underwrites the ability of all other aspects of national power to flourish or fail."
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