the U.S. and potential rivals

RKM-

I read the strategic journals too.  What you're missing is the level the
analysis is pitched on.  The U.S. can't very well talk too loudly about
its allies potentially turning into rivals, now can it?  (It's understood,
they spy on one another, but do not speak openly about such things.)

It's the other "advanced capitalist countries" that could pose a
technological threat, not China, at least not any time soon.  The RMA is
therefore more necessary to stay ahead of hypothetical threats that
combine economic and military/technological power than any actually
existing threat, none of which have power in all the dimensions it would
take to become a plausible rival to the U.S.

RH