Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

New U.S. naval strategy stresses aid over war

The goal is preventing conflicts, strategy says.

WASHINGTON - In the first major revision of U.S. naval strategy in two decades, maritime officials said Wednesday they plan to focus more on humanitarian missions and improving international cooperation as a way to prevent conflicts.

"We believe that preventing wars is as important as winning wars," said the new strategy announced by the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.

The strategy reflects a broader Defense Department effort to use aid, training and other cooperative efforts to encourage stability in fledgling democracies and create relationships around the globe that can be leveraged if a crisis does break out in a region.

"Although our forces can surge when necessary to respond to crises, trust and cooperation cannot be surged," says the 16-page document titled "A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower."

It also says forces will be concentrated "where tensions are high or where we wish to demonstrate to our friends and allies our commitment to security" - something the United States did earlier this year in sending an additional aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf region as a show of force toward Iran.

"Credible combat power will be continuously posted in the Western Pacific and the Arabian Gulf/Indian Ocean to protect our vital interests, assure our friends ... and deter and dissuade potential adversaries," the strategy document said.

Navy Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, said the Navy completed a two-year study to create the new strategy.

It represents the first time the Navy, the Marine Corps and the Coast Guard have collaborated on a single, common strategy for defending the U.S. homeland and protecting U.S. interests overseas.

The Sept. 11 terror attacks demonstrated how the Navy's last major strategy, released publicly in 1986, had become irrelevant, Navy Cmdr. Bryan McGrath said.

[Last modified October 18, 2007, 01:15:33]