Congress and Franklin Roosevelt’s administration passed the Two-Ocean Navy Act in 1940, during World War II. Since then, the nation’s domestic military defense has been based on a simultaneous naval defense on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. But with the announcement Thursday of an eight percent decrease in U.S. military spending, there was also the tacit understanding that naval fleets will be redirected to the Pacific Ocean to act as a buffer between China and the United States West Coast. James Holmes is associate professor of strategy and policy at the US Navy War College and author of “Theodore Roosevelt and World Order.” He explains the past, present, and future of the two-war strategy.