China and Russia are the focus of the US' first new National Defense Strategy in a decade
China and Russia are the focus of the US' first new National Defense Strategy in a decade

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis presented his National Defense Strategy on Friday, outlining how the Department of Defense will carry out President Donald Trump’s National Security Strategy, which was released last month.

“Though we will continue to prosecute the campaign against terrorists that we’re engaged in today, the great power competition, not terrorism, is now the primary focus of US national security,” Mattis said in his opening statements at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. The new strategy is “fit for our time,” Mattis said, as reported by Business Insider.

Though he identified a number of threats to the US like North Korea, Iran, ISIS, Hezbollah, and Al-Qaeda, the NDS was focused more on China and Russia.

“We face growing threats from revisionist powers as different as China and Russia are from each other. Nations that do seek to create a world consistent with their authoritarian models,” Mattis said.

In the document itself, China and Russia are both mentioned by name in the introduction. “China is a strategic competitor using predatory economics to intimidate its neighbors while militarizing features in the South China Sea,” the document reads. “Russia has violated the borders of nearby nations and pursues veto power over the economic, diplomatic, and security decisions of its neighbors.”

The NDS will have three primary parts, Mattis said — building a more lethal force, strengthening alliances and attracting new partners, and a reformation of the DoD for greater performance and affordability.