...Pentagon's massive $700 billion budget is unlikely to take deep cuts.
...Russia's meddling in elections in the United States and its allies, its development of advanced weapons and support for Bashar Assad in Syria continue to cause friction between the former Cold War enemies and nuclear powers.
...Biden is also more apt to seek military solutions like the attack on Soleimani.
"He believes strongly in collective security, and he believes in the stability that limits on weapons, especially nuclear weapons, can foster," Thompson said. "Biden is unlikely to sustain the level of intensity in relations with China and Iran that we have seen under Trump. He will tone down the rhetoric, and look for diplomatic solutions to confrontation.
...Biden could put a greater emphasis on other national security threats, O'Hanlon said, including pandemics, nuclear proliferation, cyber threats and climate change.
...Democratic lawmakers support the policy that had allowed transgender troops to serve openly, which had been developed by the Obama administration and likely would be reinstated in some form under Biden.
Biden would also likely end the veneration of the Confederacy. The Pentagon has clashed with Trump over the issue. Earlier this year, Pentagon leadership moved to ban the display of imagery throughout the military that honored the southern states that seceded from the Union and fought to defend slavery. Trump has resisted the changes, particularly the 10 Army bases named after Confederate generals, saying they honor history and heritage.
...Biden's choice for Defense secretary could be Michele Flournoy, who has been considered a prime candidate for the post. Flournoy, 59, served at the Pentagon in the Obama administration as under secretary for policy, the No. 3 post there. In 2007, she co-founded the Center for a New American Security, a bipartisan think tank. Flournoy would be the first woman to lead the Defense department.