As a matter of urgency, the U.S. military needs to 'offset' the investments that adversaries are making in anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) capabilities, particularly their expanding missile inventories, by leveraging U.S. advantages in unmanned systems and automation, extended-range and low-observable air operations, undersea warfare, and complex system engineering and integration. Doing so would allow the United States to maintain its ability to project power, albeit in novel forms, despite the possession of A2/AD capabilities by hostile forces. A new Offset Strategy must take account of America's fiscal circumstances but, at its core, it must address the most pressing military challenge that we face: maintaining our ability to project power globally to deter potential adversaries and reassure allies and friends despite the emergence of A2/AD threats. This report provides a preliminary outline for an offset strategy that exploits and builds upon existing enduring U.S. capability advantages to restore and maintain U.S. global power projection capability. This effort is essential in order to improve crisis stability, bolster allied confidence in U.S. security commitments, strengthen conventional deterrence, reduce operational risk in the event of war, and compete more efficiently over the long run.

Foreword. -- Executive summary. -- Introduction. -- Antecedents of a "third" offset strategy. -- Shortcomings with the current U.S. approach to power projection. -- Key elements of a new offset strategy. -- Implementing a new offset strategy: the global surveillance and strike concept. -- Conclusion. -- Glossary.