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The 2015 National Security Strategy: Authorities, Changes, Issues for Congress
7. analyze factors that may affect the intelligence community's performance in
pursuing the maj or national security missions identified in paragraph (2) during
the following 10-year period.24
The mandate further states that the Director of National Intelligence shall submit a report on the
congressional intelligence committees not later than 45 days after the date of the completion of
such strategy. Although there is no specified classification level for the report in legislation, due
to the sensitivity of the topics required by the report, it is likely to be classified.
Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR)/Defense Strategy Review
Quadrennial defense reviews, required by law, are internal DOD processes designed to formulate
national defense strategy and to determine the policies, approaches, and organization required to
achieve that strategy, in broad support of national security strategy. 25 The mandate for the QDR
was changed in the FY2015 NDAA, P.L. 113-291, which, among other things, renamed it the
"Defense Strategy Review." The change amended Title 10, U.S. Code, 118, and is effective
October 1, 2015.
The "Bottom-Up Review" to the Defense Strategy Review
Requirement. At the end of the Cold War, the Department of Defense conducted a number of
strategy reviews intended to assess the Department's plans and priorities in the wake of the fall of
the Berlin Wall and subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union. The first "Base Force" review was
mandated by then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell and presented in 1991. It
was intended to help shift the Pentagon away from planning for a global war with the Soviet
Union toward a strategy that focused more on regional threats and forward presence.26 The
second one, the "Bottom-Up Review," was initiated by Les Aspin in March 1993, as a response to
the continually evolving security environment after the collapse of the Soviet Union and in the
wake of the first Gulf War. As such, it served as a comprehensive review of the nation's defense
strategy, force structure, modernization, infrastructure, and foundations from the ground up.27 In
1997, Congress mandated a one-time Defense Review, which was intended to provide for a
strategy-based, balanced, and affordable defense program. It also established a panel of senior
defense experts to provide an external review of the QDR team. The requirement for the QDR
was made permanent in the 2000 National Defense Authorization Act by amending Title 10, US.
Code, 118, which directed that the QDR be conducted during the first year of each
administration. QDRs were subsequently conducted in 2001, 2006, 2010 and 2014, and have
become a regular mechanism through which DOD leadership reviews its plans and priorities and
reports them to Congress.
24 50 U.S.C. 3043a.
25 The QDR itself is a review process, while the QDR report is a written product produced by that process.
26 Eric V. Larson, David T. Orletsky & Kristin J. Leuschner, "Defense Planning in a Decade of Change: Lessons from
the Base Force, the Bottom-Up Review, and the Quadrennial Defense Review," The Rand Corporation. Available at
http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph-reports/MR1387.html.
27 Les Aspin, "Report on the Bottom-Up Review," Department of Defense, October 1993. Available at
http://www.dtic.mil.Congressional Research Service
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Lucas, Nathan J. & McInnis, Kathleen J. The 2015 National Security Strategy: Authorities, Changes, Issues for Congress, report, February 26, 2016; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc824490/m1/14/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.