NATIONAL DEFENSE STRATEGY military capabilities the Department will deepen its relations with regional countries that contribute military capabilities to shared regional and global security challenges. sting bilateral and  rrorist threats that ast. We will focus degrade terrorists; ng, trans-national limit the malign Support relationships to address significant terrorist threats in Africa. We will bolster existing bilateral and multilateral partnerships and develop new relationships to address significant terrorist threats that threaten U.S. interests and contribute to challenges in Europe and the Middle East. We will focus on working by, with, and through local partners and the European Union to degrade terrorists; build the capability required to counter violent extremism, human trafficking, trans-national criminal activity, and illegal arms trade with limited outside assistance; and limit the malign influence of non-African powers. Reform the Department for Greater Performance and Affordability zing risk above all The current bureaucratic approach, centered on exacting thoroughness and minimizing risk above all erformance where else, is proving to be increasingly unresponsive. We must transition to a culture of performance where re leadership can results and accountability matter. We will put in place a management system where leadership can ve a responsibility harness opportunities and ensure effective stewardship of taxpayer resources. We have a responsibility trust of Congress to gain full value from every taxpayer dollar spent on defense, thereby earning the trust of Congress and the American people. t develops a new Deliver performance at the speed of relevance. Success no longer goes to the country that develops a new fighting. Current technology first, but rather to the one that better integrates it and adapts its way of fighting. Current onal performance processes are not responsive to need; the Department is over-optimized for exceptional performance ter. Our response at the expense of providing timely decisions, policies, and capabilities to the warfighter. Our response lar upgrades. We will be to prioritize speed of delivery, continuous adaptation, and frequent modular upgrades. We in uncompetitive must not accept cumbersome approval chains, wasteful applications of resources in uncompetitive means we will shed space, or overly risk-averse thinking that impedes change. Delivering performance means we will shed ness innovation. outdated management practices and structures while integrating insights from business innovation. t written in stone, Organize for innovation. The Department’s management structure and processes are not written in stone, ment and support they are a means to an end–empowering the warfighter with the knowledge, equipment and support es to best support systems to fight and win. Department leaders will adapt their organizational structures to best support performance, it the is Joint Force. If current structures hinder substantial increases in lethality or performance, it is or restructure as expected that Service Secretaries and Agency heads will consolidate, eliminate, or restructure as ng of waivers, and needed. The Department’s leadership is committed to changes in authorities, granting of waivers, and securing external support for streamlining processes and organizations. effective financial Drive budget discipline and affordability to achieve solvency. Better management begins with effective financial all its operations, stewardship. The Department will continue its plan to achieve full auditability of all its operations, mprove cost. We improving its financial processes, systems, and tools to understand, manage, and improve cost. We n procurement of will continue to leverage the scale of our operations to drive greater efficiency in procurement of contracts in areas materiel and services while pursuing opportunities to consolidate and streamline contracts in areas e efforts to reduce such as logistics, information technology, and support services. We will also continue efforts to reduce minate duplicative management overhead and the size of headquarters staff. We will reduce or eliminate duplicative vices, travel, and organizations and systems for managing human resources, finance, health services, travel, and ucture, providing supplies. The Department will also work to reduce excess property and infrastructure, providing Congress with options for a Base Realignment and Closure. 10 10