The Miller Center of Public Affairs will initiate a special forum series on the state of the U.S. military during the 2009-2010 academic year. The U.S. military is being stretched to confront multiple challenges in the Mid East region following six years of engagement in Iraq and increasing troop commitments in Afghanistan. In particular, the military faces a formidable task as conditions in Afghanistan deteriorate and as the security situation in Pakistan continues to complicate the landscape. President Obama's commitment to withdraw troops from Iraq by 2011 raises important political and strategic considerations. Add to this equation the possible need for a military response to rising tensions with Iran and North Korea. Together, these factors create a complex scenario for the U.S. administration and its military leaders and present an opportune time to examine the state and health of our military.
This forum series builds upon a groundbreaking study conducted by Foreign Policy magazine and the Center for a New American Security. Based on over 3,000 surveys of current and former military officers, the study reveals that over 60% feel that the military is weaker today than it was five years ago. The weakness primarily stems from the pace of troop deployments for the war on terror. The Miller Center forum series builds upon this study and examines the following issues:
- U.S. military strength, leadership, and strategy
- Status of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan
- The politics of war
- Sentiment within the ranks
- Military resources
Forums in Series
October 5, 2009
ASSESSING MILITARY PREPAREDNESS IN THE POST 9-11 ERA
General John Abizaid
General John Abizaid is a Retired General in the United States Army and former Commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM). Abizaid succeded General Tommy Franks in July 2003 and commanded U.S. forces in Iraq until his retirement from the military in the Spring of 2007. He currently serves as a fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, Distinguished Chair of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, and a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College.
November 6, 2009
Raffi Khatchadorian & Pete Hegseth
Did Colonel Michael Dane Steele, as General Peter Chiarelli the Army’s Vice-Chief of Staff believes, set the conditions for a massacre by cultivating reckless aggressiveness in his soldiers, and by interpreting the rules of engagement in a way that made the killing of noncombatants likely? Raffi Khatchadorian a staff writer for the New Yorker, interviews Pete Hegseth, a Princeton graduate and former platoon leader under Steele, about “The Kill Company: Did a colonel’s fiery rhetoric set the conditions for a massacre?” published in the July 6, 2009 issue of his magazine.
November 9, 2009
TRANSITION TO POWER: CHALLENGES FACING THE OBAMA ADMINSITRATION
General Barry McCaffrey
Barry McCaffrey is a retired General in the United States Army, former Commander of the United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM); Drug Czar under President Clinton. General McCaffrey will be introduced by Admiral Joseph W. Prueher, the Miller Center’s James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professor who served as Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China for Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush, after completing a 35-year career in the U.S. Navy.
April 23, 2010
THE GAMBLE: GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS AND THE AMERICAN MILITARY ADVENTURE IN IRAQ, 2006-2008
Tom Ricks
Author and journalist; Senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, Contributing editor for Foreign Policy magazine, and Special military correspondent for the Washington Post.
