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Commander’s Guidance to the Fleet

The Indo-Pacific is DoD’s priority theater, and the U.S. Pacific Fleet is the largest force in our Nation’s front line against revisionist actors in the region. Working as one team, we will support the international community, protect U.S. national security, and defend our fundamental values.

Security Environment

Strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) will determine whether the region continues to thrive under the rules-based international system that has been a pillar of security and well-being for the past century, or whether a zero-sum authoritarian model replaces it. Russia’s threatening military force in its near abroad and undermining of legitimate governments and institutions, North Korea’s nuclear weapons development and unpredictability, and attacks by violent extremist organizations further complicate the security environment.

Mission Statement

U.S. Pacific Fleet builds and persistently employs dynamic naval combat power, supported by the Joint Force in the maritime domain, in order to defend U.S. interests throughout the lndo-Pacific Region and the homeland, demonstrate advantage in the maritime domain, and enhance U.S. alliances and partnerships. On order, U.S. Pacific Fleet will conduct decisive combat operations in order to defeat any adversary.

Commander’s Intent

We will meet these great responsibilities with strength, resolve, and confidence. We will induce doubt, fog, friction, and fatigue upon our adversaries by maximizing our strengths of knowledge, speed, maneuverability, seamanship, airmanship, and the collective capabilities of joint and combined forces to disrupt the adversary decision cycle — presenting a hard and unpredictable target. We will tirelessly pursue and leverage opportunities through innovative naval integration, creative force employment, and assimilation of information operations in everything we do. We will operate with a sense of urgency while always assessing our enemy, our environment, and ourselves. We will constantly assess risk to force, risk to mission, risk of unintended escalation, and the risk of inaction. Our emphasis on risk management and operational safety will manifest in operational excellence.

The specific goals we will undertake are articulated in my Strategic Assessment and Operational Design. It is informed by DoD’s “Integrated Deterrence” approach, the Tri-Service Maritime Strategy, CNO’s NAVPLAN, and the guidance provided by COMUSINDOPACOM. By fulfilling those goals, the Fleet will stand as the pre-eminent Naval Force in the Indo-Pacific. We are a force that is capable of complex joint and combined maritime operations across the continuum from competition to large-scale conflict, and are recognized as such by both our partners and adversaries. While difficult challenges and profound tasks lay ahead, I have confidence in the bold determination and distinct professionalism of our people. I have confidence in you. You, in turn, must be confident in each other.

S. J. PAPARO
Admiral, U.S. Navy

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