WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A nearly 10-month Pentagon review released on Monday provided few details on the future of the military’s global posture but said that President Joe Biden’s administration would make decisions by working with allies and looking at long-term objectives.
The review is an attempt to move away from how former President Donald Trump made major decisions that impacted the military and allies – often on Twitter and with little discussions within his own administration that caught officials by surprise.
During his tenure Trump announced that U.S. troops would be leaving Syria on several occasions and at one point ordered a large troop cut from Germany, which Biden reversed.
“We sought to re-establish a strategy-informed, coherent decision-making process,” said a senior U.S. defense official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity.
The review did not lead to any major changes in the distribution of U.S. troops around the world, official said.
The official added that the review called for improving U.S. military infrastructure in Guam and Australia but declined to provide details on other potential moves because the report has mostly been classified.
“On the Indo-Pacific, we’re moving the needle a bit,” Mara Karlin, a senior Pentagon official, told reporters.
Karlin said the review did not look at whether the military could fight two major conflicts at the same time or at the space, cyber or nuclear domain.
The Biden administration, much like Trump, has sought to focus efforts on moving away from the Middle East and focusing on countering China.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Sandra Maler)
