Former Secretary of Defense and retired four-star General James Mattis is fond of saying that in his line of work, “the enemy gets a vote.” Vladimir Putin’s recent war of aggression against Ukraine proves this point. Even at a time of divisive politics and a public health crisis unseen in a century, the United States cannot afford to ignore the world, especially actors that seek to do us harm. The greatest of those challenges—the People’s Republic of China, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, and the Islamic Republic of Iran—are long-term, full-spectrum, and complex. We need “competition-minded” policy professionals to understand the nature of these challenges, identify areas of comparative advantage, and implement their ideas in our governing institutions.
Security and Strategy serves to kindle such thinking by providing a platform for a new generation of policymakers to express and expound on concepts and opportunities they think are critical to helping the United States win these competitions. Our Security and Strategy Seminar (SSS) Fellows, the contributors to this volume, spent a year studying an American adversary, forging relationships with eminent scholars and practitioners, sharpening analytical frameworks through written and oral arguments, and constructing a cohort with their peers. This volume is divided into three parts. First, it offers perspectives on what winning the competition means, including its potential lack of finalité. Second, it dives into the natures and motivations of our adversaries to understand their decision-making, a critical element in determining our response. Finally, it identifies instruments we can use to compete effectively – in the cyber domain, through economic pressure, and through demography.
While this volume was written prior to the Russian invasion, the authors of this volume all but predicted it by demonstrating a deep and wide-ranging understanding of the strategic competitions with our adversaries. Our fellows bring a new perspective to readers on the nature of the competition, the nature of our adversaries, and what U.S. policy ought to be. To emerge victorious in the long run, we hope this volume is merely the beginning of this exploration.
Dr. Gabriel Scheinmann is the Executive Director of the Alexander Hamilton Society.