Preparing for Asymmetry: as Seen Through the Lens of Joint Vision 2020

Since the mid-1990s, the concept of strategic asymmetry has begun to receive serious attention from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The 1997 Quadrennial Defense Review, for instance, stated, "U.S. dominance in the conventional military arena may encourage adversaries to use ...asymmetric means to attack our forces and interests overseas and Americans at home." But while American strategists and defense leaders sense the importance of strategy asymmetry, much analytical work remains to be done before it is fully understood. To help with this process, the Strategic Studies Institute has begun a Special Series on Strategic Asymmetry. The study that follows-Preparing for Asymmetry by Melissa Applegate-is the first of these. In it, the author assesses the revisions to Joint Vision 2020, DoD's roadmap to the future, that must be undertaken in order to prepare for asymmetric challenges.