On March 13, a friend of mine in Washington sent me an email saying the Pentagon had announced a surprising statement that said, ¡°As part of the Department¡¯s ongoing commitment to strengthening our national defense, the secretary of defense has directed the disestablishment of the Office of Net Assessment (ONA).¡±
Although the Japanese media hardly reported on this momentous decision on an obscure office that focused on long-term strategic planning and analysis for the Department of Defense, it must have been a big shock for Washington¡¯s national security community.
I instantly replied to him, ¡°So it¡¯s finally come.¡± Recently, I stopped hearing from friends in the ONA, so I wasn¡¯t surprised ¡ª I had already prepared for the possibility that it might get the axe. March 13 will be remembered as a funeral of sorts for America¡¯s practitioners of strategic analysis, though I don¡¯t think this will immediately have a major impact on U.S. strategy toward China.
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