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In 2023, David Ochmanek and Andrew Hoehn wrote, “Inflection Point: How to Reverse the Erosion of U.S. and Allied Military Power and Influence,” where they argued that the American military needed to find innovative ways to deter adversaries without possessing overt dominance of capabilities. Two years later, in light of growing military cooperation among America’s adversaries, we asked them to revisit their arguments.Image: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Matthew J. BraggIn your 2023 report, “Inflection Point: How to Reverse the Erosion of U.S. and Allied Military Power and Influence,” you argued that America’s ability to effectively deter adversaries from starting wars has eroded and that a new approach to the conduct of large-scale military operations, which you termed “defense without dominance,” is required. What is your updated assessment of both the status of American influence abroad and the strategy you argued for two years ago? We judge that U.S. influence abroad, along with this nation’s ability to shape events and deter aggression, is being challenged by the continued growth of adversary military capabilities, static U.S. defense budgets, and insufficient innovation in the capabilities, posture, and operating concepts of U.S. armed forces.That said, we do see progress with the Department of Defense toward the development of a new and more robust approach to power projection, along the lines that we advocate. That approach — while not yet formally codified or adopted — features a re-posturing of U.S. forces for more rapid response to aggression, enhanced forward basing arrangements, the ability to impose a resilient sensing and targeting grid on contested battlespaces, and expanded inventories of standoff and survivable stand-in weapons.You argued the posture of U.S. forces in Europe and the Western Pacific is inadequate to defeat aggression by China and Russia. Is there a possibility that building a stronger posture in one of