Tough economic times are often met in Washington with calls for retrenchment. But for decades, write two former top Pentagon officials, long-term forward deployments of U.S. forces and robust alliances have guaranteed stability and uninterrupted trade, the very conditions the United States needs for economic prosperity. The Obama administration gets it.

Michele Flournoy, under secretary of defense for policy at the U.S. Department of Defense, discusses America's strategy in Afghanistan.

Michèle Flournoy, under secretary of defense for policy at the U.S. Department of Defense, discusses America's strategy in Afghanistan.

Michèle Flournoy, under secretary of defense for policy at the U.S. Department of Defense, discusses America's strategy in Afghanistan.

One day after the Defense Department released the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michèle Flournoy gives an assessment of U.S. defense policy over the short and long term.

Every four years, the U.S. Department of Defense conducts a congressionally mandated review of national defense strategy and priorities known as the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). As the Pentagon concludes its 2010 QDR-the second such review to be conducted in wartime and the first of the Obama administration-join Michèle Flournoy for an assessment of defense policy over the short and long term.