Reading Russia's Playbook.

* A conflict with China is "neither imminent [nor] inevitable," said Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategies, Plans and Capabilities Mara Karlin.

The National Defense Strategy is "pretty clear" in the urgent need to sustain and strengthen deterrence regarding the People's Republic of China, but it's "not a challenge folks are anchoring towards a specific timeframe," she told reporters.

"No one has a crystal ball along those lines," she added.

While the strategy's focus on China is "really clear," it also diagnoses the Russia problem correctly, she said.

"We were helped, frankly, by the...