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The Military and Economic Security Challenges of the 21st Century

The Center for National Policy was fortunate to be able to host General Brent Scowcroft for an off the record lunch time discussion on the military and economic security challenges the United States will face this century. Speaking from a strategic perspective, General Scowcroft described the changes that accompanied the end of the Cold War and argued that the world we now live in is markedly different from the world that witnessed World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. The changes that have taken place (including the changing nature of war, hegemonic power of the United States, and globalization) in concert with the speed at which they have occurred, left the United States and the current international system largely unprepared and unequipped to meet contemporary challenges. Scowcroft suggested that we will likely need to reorient our institutions to better address pressing issues including low intensity conflict, international terrorism, nuclear proliferation, globalization, and climate change. He concluded by pointing out that although the issues we face today are largely more complex, more diffuse, and as a result more challenging than the issues of the Cold War, they are not unsolvable assuming we are able to put aside our differences and work together in the spirit of bipartisanship and cooperation.