The Pentagon outlined a new strategy on Thursday that called for more robust deterrence at an increasingly tense moment in international security.
The National Defense Strategy, which includes reviews of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, has been circulating on Capitol Hill for months.
It was the first time since the end of the Cold War that U.S. defenses had been focused on the twin powers of China and Russia. The document builds on that theme but distinguishes between describing China as a technological and military challenger and Russia as a decline in power.
Pentagon policy and budget decisions on a range of issues, such as what weapons to develop and the shape of the armed forces, are guided by it.
The last document issued by a Democratic president was stark. The first strategy issued by Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden was to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. defense. China and Russia were considered full partners in the effort to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons.
The new document doesn't give much detail about how the Pentagon will shift its weapons and personnel to fit a new era of increased competition.
If Russia were to lose a conventional war, it could use these forces to try to win a war on its outskirts or avoid defeat.
That is what the president of Russia has said.
According to the document, China is going to have about 1,000 strategic weapons in the next few years. It says that the current and growing salience of nuclear weapons in the strategies and forces of our competitors increases the risks.
New challenges, like global climate change, are emerging as threats from Iran, North Korea, and terrorist groups persist. China and Russia are the focus of the document.
The document said that the P.R.C. and Russia posed more dangerous challenges to safety and security at home. Both rivals have deployed space weapons that could disrupt gps and other space-based capabilities.
In March, the Pentagon sent a classified version of the defense strategy to Congress, as well as a bare-bone fact sheet that summarized the document's contents. The release of the unclassified version was delayed until the White House released its national security strategy.
In that document, Mr. Biden made it clear that he was more concerned about China's moves to "layer authoritarian governance with a revisionist foreign policy" than he was about Russia's decline.
Hypersonic weapons, advanced chemical and biological weapons, and emerging delivery systems for conventional arms and tactical nuclear weapons were cited in a Pentagon document.
There are signs that Mr. Putin may be preparing the ground for a sharp increase in fighting in the war in Ukraine. Mr. Putin said he would use nuclear weapons.
U.S. officials said that there had been no change in Russia's nuclear posture, and that they believed no decision had been made to use a tactical nuclear weapon, but they made clear that a move in that direction was their main concern.
The defense strategy calls Russia an acute threat due to its invasion of Ukraine.
According to the document, the department will focus on deterring Russian attacks on the United States, NATO members and other allies, reinforcing our ironclad treaty commitments, and including conventional aggression that has the potential to escalate to nuclear employment of any scale.
Several steps have been taken by the Pentagon to strengthen its deterrence. More than 20,000 troops have been added by the US since the beginning of the Ukraine war.
The United States will establish a military base in Poland. The country has only had a rotating troop presence on NATO's eastern flank until now.
The Pentagon will deploy two squadrons of F-35 aircraft to Britain, station additional air defense units in Germany and Italy, and increase the number of destroyers in Spain, among other things.
The strategy document said that if Russia was the Pentagon's immediate security challenge, China was its long term concern.
The document said that the Pentagon would work with the State Department to increase U.S. access in the region.
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said that the P.R.C. was the only competitor that wanted to change the international order.
The Nuclear Posture Review angered many arms control advocates because it suggested that the US would never use nuclear weapons in a conflict.
The purpose of the nation's nuclear arms should be to deter and to retaliate against a nuclear strike, according to an article written by Vice President Biden. He promised to put that belief into practice as president.
European and Asian allies were concerned that the protection of the American nuclear umbrella could deter an adversary like North Korea from mounting a conventionally armed invasion. The vice president relented.
The review did not change the Pentagon's usual language. The main purpose of the weapons was not deterring an attack.
It's possible that Washington could decide to use nuclear weapons first.
The executive director of the Arms Control Association said that the message was confusing. He said that the document has the Pentagon's fingerprints on it and that it should be de-emphasizing the role of nuclear weapons.
The new policy statement was criticized by a private group. Stephen Young, the group's senior Washington official, said that it keeps the world on a path of increasing nuclear risk.
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