Issuing a warning regarding the limits of US military power, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has called for renewed focus on conventional and strategic forces.
In a 29 September speech at the National Defense University, Gates emphasised the "limits about what the United States ... can do" militarily.
"The power of our military's global reach has been an indispensable contributor to world peace - and must remain so, but not every outrage, every act of aggression, every crisis can or should elicit an American military response, and we should acknowledge such."
His speech comes weeks after the Russian Federation's swift defeat of Georgia, a NATO aspirant. That conflict demonstrated both the resurgence of Russian conventional military power and exposed divisions within the alliance about how to respond. Gates said the crisis underscored the importance of restoring 'balance' to US defence policy.
"The images of Russian tanks rolling into the Republic of Georgia last month was a reminder that nation states and their militaries do still matter," he said. "Both Russia and China have increased their defence spending and modernisation programmes to include air defence and fighter capabilities, that in some cases, approach our own."
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