Reagan National Defense Forum – Peace Through Strength (From RealClearDefense)

The annual Reagan National Defense Forum (RNDF) will be held this weekend at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. This is the first meeting in the Trump era. Hence, it will serve as something of a barometer of how the Trump agenda is impacting national defense policies, plans and investments. The theme of the 2017 Forum, Reinvesting in Peace Through Strength, is particularly significant both because of its connection to President Reagan and because President Trump has made this idea a central tenet of his national security strategy. If the U.S. is to be great again, the national security strategy must be America-centric, it must embrace and defend this nation’s traditions, beliefs and values, it must ensure that American companies and citizens can engage freely with the rest of the world and, most importantly, the strategy must be grounded in an American military of such strength and capability that no other nation will dare threaten us. I have written more on the challenge of achieving peace through strength for RealClearDefense here.