Ted Stevens (R-AK) raised a series of questions this week on the Senate floor concerning unsettling developments in Russia's military force posture.

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Kerry said America's basic force posture wasn't up to debate.

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"You look at our force posture in the region -- you know, it is very strong and well positioned, " Flournoy told a Brookings Institution event on the candidates' foreign policy positions.

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Governments don't have a monopoly on it, and we can't -- you can't judge the intentions of another country by looking at its force -- like by looking at its force posture.

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At the same time, both the 2006 QDR and the 2008 National Military Strategy argued that additional risk could be taken in the conventional force posture and even in some areas of advanced technology in order to harvest the additional resources needed to win the current fights.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center for Security Policy | The Measure of a Superpower: A Two Major Regional Contingency Military for the 21st Century | Page: 2

"I share your concern about our Army's operational readiness and force protection posture, " Casey said in his reply to Sanchez.

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While their strategic force level will likely shrink as a consequence of resource limitations, the overall posture will continue to number in the thousands.

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Long before the new posture was announced last year, the Marine Corps was working closely with the Navy to assemble a force that could successfully wage amphibious warfare against well-equipped enemies.

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