President Donald Trump has instructed Defense Secretary James Mattis to perform a 30-day review of the U.S. military’s readiness in the war against the Islamic State militant group, the Washington Post reported Friday.Dan Lamothe writes Trump also asked Mattis to create a plan to boost readiness by fiscal year 2019 within 60 days from the issuance of the executive order.
The report said the plan will cover strategies to address maintenance backlogs, training range availability, manpower shortages and time management related to military training.
The order also calls for reviews of the Defense Department‘s nuclear arsenal and ballistic missile defense.
Lamothe reported the president wants DoD to evaluate operations against unspecified near-peer competitors.
Trump proposed to grow U.S. Army troops to 540,000; expand the U.S. Navy‘s fleet size to 350 ships; increase the U.S. Marine Corps‘ infantry battalions from 24 to 36; and add approximately 100 U.S. Air Force fighter or attack aircraft during the presidential campaign.
