Abstract The next president should elevate the role of U.S. defense strategy and planning in the next administration toward the goal of developing a new strategic framework that assumes a long-term defense competition with both Russia and China. This goal will require a thorough overhaul of the resource assumptions of the Obama defense budget and future years defense program. The next Administration should also seek the removal of the resource constraints imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011. To support a new strategic framework, the United States will have to sustain defense spending at a higher, yet affordable level, for the long term.