In the competition for the twenty-first century, the United States has a large advantage over its authoritarian rivals: its vast network of allies and partners. Nowhere is this more important than the Indo-Pacific region, where the United States has done much in recent years to improve multinational coordination. However, these mechanisms are chiefly bilateral and informal. There is no dedicated multinational framework for conducting multinational strategic planning with allies and partners in the region.
This report reveals that improving multinational strategic planning will require a renewed focus on four fundamentals: strategic alignment from top to bottom, institutions that are multinational by design, enhanced interoperability at all levels, and enduring investment in the personal relationships that underpin the United States’ alliances and partnerships. It recommends adapting four existing regional frameworks along these lines to provide more options for Washington to conduct multinational strategic planning in the Indo-Pacific region.
_This research was made possible by the support of the Smith Richardson Foundation._