1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 In the new international scene, full of challenges and opportunities, it is necessary to promote the development, in Brazil, of its own modes of flexible and creative strategic thinking, capable of meeting the defense needs of the country.

1.2 The transformations that have occurred both domestically, as well as in the regional and global contexts, make it necessary and timely to formally issue a national defense policy, established at the highest level of the Government, which refletcs the aspirations of society and serves as a reference point for the strategies arising out of that policy.

1.3 The National Defense Policy, which is aimed at threats from abroad, has as its primary purpose to establish the objectives for the defense of the Nation’s capabilities at every level and in every sphere of power, with the involvment of the military and civilian sectors.

1.4 The National Defense Policy, a topic of interest to Brazilian society as a whole, is premised on the fundamental principles and objectives stipulated in the Federal Constitution, and is in harmony with the country’s international posture, which is based on seeking peaceful solutions to disputes and strengthening international peace and security.

1.5 The dimensions of Brazil – simultaneously continental and maritime; equatorial, tropical and subtropical; sharing extensive land borders with almost all the countries in South America, as well as lengthy coasts; an exclusive economic zone and a continental shelf – endow the Nation with a geostrategic depth and complicates the task of overall defense planning. Brazil’s broad demographic and territorial characteristics, as well as the availability of natural resources, set firmly upon its diversified physical geography, generate a variety of scenarios that call for a comprehensive and integrated policy, along with a specific approach for each instance.

1.6 The implementation of a sustainable defense policy, with the aim of gradually modernizing self-defense capabilities, will depend upon the construction of a development model that strengthens democracy, reduces both social inequalities and regional imbalances, and establishes priorities in the political, social and economic and military sectors compatible with defense and foreign policy requirements.

1.7 In the process, defense needs should be adjusted to match the availability of resources, by means of the approval of funds by the National Congress and, whenever possible, with the involvment of the country’s academic, scientific, technological and industrial sectors.