The willingness to use a large standing, modern military as a show of strength. That is because military strength or the use of force to come to terms with another country is considered hard power. An example of it was the Cold War. A military action (hard power) is a foreign and defense policy option. A nation - most likely - use military force to defend territory, to support allies and to protect economic interests.
Hard power can be used as a policy of taking action first before the US is attacked (rather than waiting for provocation if another country constitutes a very serious threat).
