This issue focuses on the future of defence

The issue presents among other thingsfive articles by authors with different views on the future of national security, force structure, and defense strategy. Thus, RAND researchers Paul Davis and Peter Wilson discuss the nearterm crisis in defense planning and stress "the need for rigorous and competitive exploration and competition of ideas". Next, Douglas Macgregor offers an insightful concept that he believes would meet most of the constraints Davis and Wilson discuss. Mark Gallagher and Kent Taylor, suggest a new method to evaluate alignment of the DOD budget with combatant command operational requirements. Gallagher and Taylor provide insights on how their proposal could be implemented while identifying the advantages and risks in doing so.Next, two 2011 National War College graduates, Commander Peter Phillipsand Colonel Charles Corcoran provide a new approach to the U.S. national security structure that seeks to solve the continuing problem of achieving an efficient and effective coordinated executive branch response to a national crisis. The final article, by recent Naval War College graduate Colonel Sean Larkin takes on the issue of "tailored deterrence," arguing that this concept and our current joint doctrine are out of step with the canon of existing deterrence theory.