JP 1, Doctrine for the Armed Forces of the United States - Defense ...

Chapter I
For more information on the functions of DOD, refer to Chapter III, “Functions of the
Department of Defense and Its Major Components.” For more information on joint
functions, refer to JP 3-0, Joint Operations.
SECTION B. FOUNDATIONS
“Pure military skill is not enough. A full spectrum of military, para-military, and
civil action must be blended to produce success. The enemy uses economic
and political warfare, propaganda, and naked military aggression in an endless
combination to oppose a free choice of government and suppress the rights of
the individual by terror, by subversion, and by force of arms. To win in this
struggle, our officers and [Service] men must understand and combine the
political, economic, and civil actions with skilled military efforts in the execution of
the mission.”
President John F. Kennedy
Letter to the United States Army, 11 April 1962
8. Strategic Security Environment and National Security Challenges
a. The strategic security environment is characterized by uncertainty, complexity, rapid
change, and persistent conflict. This environment is fluid, with continually changing
alliances, partnerships, and new national and transnational threats constantly appearing and
disappearing. While it is impossible to predict precisely how challenges will emerge and
what form they might take, we can expect that uncertainty, ambiguity, and surprise will
dominate the course of regional and global events. In addition to traditional conflicts to
include emerging peer competitors, significant and emerging challenges continue to include
irregular threats, adversary propaganda, and other information activities directly targeting
our civilian leadership and population, catastrophic terrorism employing weapons of mass
destruction (WMD), and other threats to disrupt our ability to project power and maintain its
qualitative edge.
b. The strategic security environment presents broad national security challenges likely
to require the employment of joint forces in the future. They are the natural products of the
enduring human condition, but they will exhibit new features in the future. All of these
challenges are national problems calling for the application of all the instruments of national
power. The US military will undertake the following activities to deal with these challenges:
(1) Secure the Homeland. Securing the US homeland is the Nation’s first priority.
The US homeland is continuously exposed to the possibility of harm from hostile states,
groups, and individuals. The Nation must be vigilant and guard against such threats.
Defense of the homeland is DOD’s highest priority with the goal to identify and defeat
threats as far away from the homeland as possible. Deterrence and security cooperation are
relevant to homeland defense (HD) and qualify as distinct security challenges.
(2) Win the Nation’s Wars. Deterring our adversaries is a US goal. Winning the
Nation’s wars remains the preeminent justification for maintaining capable and credible
military forces in the event that deterrence should fail. In the future, as in the past, war and
I-10 JP 1