Pentagon completes Global Posture Review, additional assets, and military construction eyed for Indo-Pacific region

Pentagon leaders are, by and large, tight-lipped about their Global Posture Review (GPR) findings but are using the assessment to justify recent decisions, while also promising that more military assets will be sent into the Indo-Pacific region to ‘deter' China.

Several Department of Defense (DoD) officials briefed reporters on 29 November about the classified government-furnished property document, and said that early findings were the basis for several decisions this year including enhanced military co-operation between Australia and the United States; permanently moving an artillery headquarters unit within the US Army's 2nd Infantry Division to South Korea; and President Joe Biden's February decision to rescind the 25,000 US active-duty force cap in Germany.

“There are some immediate operational-level adjustments we have already announced and a couple of other changes that are still being developed, but in the first year of an administration, it's not the time when we would develop a major strategic-level change to our posture,” one senior DoD official told reporters during a background briefing. “The GPR provides the foundation of our global posture upon which future strategic-level decisions, informed by the forthcoming National Defense Strategy, can be made over the next several years.”

This official declined to detail forthcoming posture changes but said that China remains the “pacing challenge” in the Indo-Pacific region, and Washington is “fleshing out in real time with our allies” what the future US military posture will look like there.

“The GPR directs additional co-operation with allies and partners to advance initiatives that contribute to regional stability, and deter Chinese military aggression and threats from North Korea,” the senior DoD official added. “These initiatives include seeking greater regional access for military partnership activities, enhancing infrastructure in Guam and Australia, and prioritising military construction across the Pacific Islands.”