How the Army is adapting to great power competition

The U.S. Army is in a strong position following several years of defense budget increases, good recruiting and retention trends, and a somewhat more stable operating environment. The era of renewed great power competition continues, even as previous threats such as North Korea, Iran, and transnational terrorism, as well as biological, digital, and climate dangers intensify. In this context, the Army’s role in not only warfighting, but in deterrence and in competition with Russia and China, must be multi-faceted and robust. Existing initiatives like multi-domain operations, joint all-domain command and control, and the European Deterrence Initiative must be sustained even as new ones develop. Moreover, all this must happen in a period when the Department of Defense is unlikely to see further budget increases in the near-term, even while some are calling on the Army to help fund a U.S. Navy buildup.

On Thursday, March 25, Foreign Policy at Brookings hosted Army Chief of Staff General James C. McConville for a discussion on these and other issues with Senior Fellow Michael O’Hanlon. Questions from the audience followed the discussion.

Viewers submitted questions by emailing events@brookings.edu or on Twitter using the hashtag #FutureArmy.