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Late last month, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to the Philippines to meet with their counterparts and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. Their visit was the latest in a series of top-level diplomatic meetings between the two countries highlighting, among other factors, their shared interest in security and a free and open Indo-Pacific region. As the officials emphasized, this trip was also a reaffirmation of each country’s concerns about Chinese actions that threaten maritime security in the region.
Marcos did not mention China by name in his state of the nation address on July 22, but it was clear who he was talking about when he said the Philippines “cannot yield . . . cannot waver.” Marcos then continued, “The West Philippine Sea”—meaning the portion of the South China Sea that the Philippines claims as its exclusive economic zone—“is not merely a figment of our imagination. It is ours. And it will remain ours as long as the spirit of our beloved country, the Philippines, burns brightly.” As a demonstration of this resolve, Philippine armed forces continued their work to resupply the BRP Sierra Madre on the Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal in the days that followed Marcos’s speech.
After a year of working alongside Philippine Marines and servicemembers, I can say that the attitude of national resolve to defend their homeland and surrounding waters is widely shared in the country. It is reflected in Balikatan, for example, arguably the most well-known Joint-Combined exercise in the Philippines, which translates as “shoulder to shoulder.”
This cross-cutting sense of purpose is important because the true strength of US and Philippine efforts—and the efforts of both with other countries in the Indo-Pacific—lies not simply in diplomacy among top officials and leaders. It also rests on what is happening on the ground among US and Philippine servicemembers and officials—the action officers. It’s in the day-to-day communication, coordination, planning, and relationship-building that is required to establish deterrence. This work is part of what the US Department of Defense calls “integrated deterrence,” an important but often misunderstood concept.
Taking integrated deterrence from concept to reality
In 2022, when the current National Defense Strategy was released with its “primary focus on the need to sustain and strengthen US deterrence against China,” I was working as an operations analyst for the Department of Defense, contributing toward the development of the Joint Warfighting Concept. As concept writers do, my fellow officers and I dismantled, debated, and explored what the words on screen meant and how they should be translated into action at each echelon of command within the Department of Defense—particularly the new idea of “integrated deterrence.” The idea was often met with skepticism early on. Some people asked: How is this different from what the United States has always done? At the same time, there was a shared belief in our discussion group that making deterrence a reality required a new conceptual approach.
After this experience, I wanted to take what we had done conceptually and see it implemented in practice. The Indo-Pacific seemed the most logical place for this, and I asked for my next assignment to return me to the tactical level, a regiment in the Marine Corps, hoping to take ideas discussed in wargames and within the walls of the Pentagon and do my small part to help see them realized at the forward edge of the first island chain. My request was granted, so I write this while in the Philippines, deployed with one of the most lethal, modern US military formations. We are manned by some of the smartest and most capable humans I have ever met and equipped with cutting-edge technology that has yet again changed the character of warfare. But, with each month of being here and working with our allies in the Philippines, especially as a logistician, it becomes clearer to me that integrated deterrence is not simply a product of measured combat power born of sheer numbers of postured tanks and ships; there is something more to getting deterrence right.
Preparation is essential. It is hard to imagine today, but during World War II, the United States wrote and trained its military leaders on plans written to contend against many of the credible military powers of the day: Japan, Mexico, Latin American countries, and even the British empire. These plans prepared military leaders for a multitude of scenarios that may require action from them. Hearkening back to the spirit of these color-coded plans, the Joint Staff continues to develop concepts for employment and wrestle with what it would take to win. To be ready for a potential conflict, the United States and its allies and partners must find innovative ways to implement the capabilities and tools they have developed. This leads to another essential requirement: integration.
All the components contributing to defense need to work together to be effective. Traditional measures of military strength, such as the number of servicemembers, ships, and tanks available, count for little if they cannot operate together and be sustained. This integration must happen across several areas, including:
- Integration to reinforce and balance Joint Force and ally capabilities. Host nations are ready to defend their homelands, and US international partners and allies are eager to contribute; the United States must be ready to stand by them as leaders. That means knowing what everyone brings to the table. As the Joint Force, the world will look to the United States to provide the structure. A combat-credible force must have clear command relationships, a clear understanding of available combat power, and be ready to exercise decision-making authority quickly and effectively. Forces must be ready to find commonalities and overlaps that can mutually benefit each other’s maneuver and sustainment.
- Integration across multiple spectrums of conflict to sustain military operations posturing. The spectrum of conflict ranges from competition to crisis to armed conflict. To integrate across this spectrum, senior leaders must attain a greater understanding of what stakeholders bring to the table. How do nations in the competition phase strengthen their militaries, develop new technologies, and deter hostilities? Educating all parties on the gruesome realities of war and the amount of resources required to sustain open conflict could be just as important as the technology required to wage such a war.
- Integration of capabilities across terrestrial with non-terrestrial domains. Even today, tanks, piloted airplanes, and battleships appear to many people as national power realized. It is one of the reasons why Hollywood remains obsessed with World War II movies. And while the terrestrial domains of land, air, and maritime remain important, before these weapons are wielded, there are tools that have already been at work, clearing a path. It is important to understand how the information environment, cyberspace, and space contribute toward integrated deterrence and how they will aid in the rapid decision-making needed to execute warfare.
Deterrence is and will continue to be a team effort. The United States and its allies and partners must work together across all levels, from meetings among top-level officials to servicemembers on the ground helping teach close-quarter battle tactics. Success will be measured by maintaining order, under a structure agreed to by multiple nations as equals, benefiting as many peoples as possible.
Kevin M. Wheeler is a nonresident fellow in the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. Wheeler is an active-duty US Marine Corps Major serving as the regimental logistics officer for the 3d Marine Littoral Regiment. He was previously assigned to the Joint Staff J-7, focusing on assessments and analysis for future employment of the US military Joint Force. His comments are his own views, and do not represent those of the Department of Defense, the United States Marine Corps, or any other US government or military organization.
Further reading
Fri, Jun 28, 2024
Dispatch from Taipei: Why Taiwan’s survival may depend on deterrence through resilience
New Atlanticist By Markus Garlauskas
A repeated theme in recent discussions in Taipei was Taiwan’s ability to withstand Chinese coercion and to adapt and sustain its defenses while under attack.
Thu, Apr 11, 2024
Experts react: Biden pursues an ambitious global agenda with Japan and the Philippines. Can they deliver?
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The US president met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. this week in Washington.
Wed, May 29, 2024
The Philippines’ domestic politics are the wildcard in its trilateral partnership with the US and Japan
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Fractured domestic politics and China’s influence operations in the Philippines make that country’s participation in a trilateral partnership with the United States and Japan questionable.
Image: US Marines with Battalion Landing Team, 2d Battalion 5th Marines, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and Philippine Marines with the Philippine Marine Corps, occupy a defensive position during a combined-arms, live-fire exercise, at Colonel Ernesto Ravina Air Base, Philippines during KAMANDAG 6, Oct. 13, 2022. International armed forces participated in a bilateral amphibious assault focused on increasing interoperability and shared understanding of tactics. KAMANDAG is an annual, bilateral exercise between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and U.S. military designed to strengthen interoperability, capabilities, trust and cooperation built over decades of shared experiences.