One of the Defense Department’s top officials says the military is at an inflection point when it comes to readiness: shifting from immediate needs to a more strategic, long-term strategy.
That approach will be helpful as the department tries to keep its competitive advantage against near-peer competitors like China and Russia, said Shawn Skelly, DoD assistant secretary for readiness and force management during a Tuesday Professional Services Council event.
“It’s understandable and it’s easy to prioritize near-term readiness when urgent demands arise in the situation of today,” Skelly said. “The future feels far away, but as Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown and Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger have noted, we need to better balance the risks and tradeoffs between immediate requirements and availability, and future availability and readiness and modernization.”
Skelly said that while operational readiness is a key component of strategic readiness, it is not the only lens through which the department can view readiness.
“The department recognizes that they need to broaden…
