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Ronald Reagan collapsed the Soviet Union, liberated the captive nations of Central Europe and restored “Europe Whole and Free.” But what happened after that haunts the Free World to this day.
Former Navy U.S. Seal and founder of the private military company Blackwater Erik Prince declares “We are fighting wars the wrong way.”
Stephen Bryen, known as the “Yoda” of the Arms Trade, is a former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense and founder of the Defense Technology Security Administration.
Time Magazine writes that “He knows every sinkhole in the regulatory swamp. Ignore him at your peril."
Recently Erik Prince wrote, “Too Big to Win: How the Military and Industrial Complex and the Neocons Keep America Losing.” Prince believes that our defense establishment is, in fact, “the embodiment of socialism where when you divorce cost from spending. It's the Sovietization of what I thought was supposed to be market-based decision-making.”
One of the central questions posed by Prince –
How has America descended from a post-Cold War era of dominance to its current state of disarray and ineffectiveness?
“The US” explains Erik, “has the most expensive military in three thousand years of human history, yet Washington costs more. Using the wrong strategies, wrong weapons and technology, and continuing to wage futile wars makes America vulnerable.”
Bryen believes that the US could actually lose a war in Europe if it tries to defend Ukraine at this point: “The American army is mostly an expeditionary army; it's not on our territory or near our territory. It has to be fed from the outside. It's much smaller in terms of fighting force than if you had a national land army facing another national land army. It is inconceivable that people think it would be a good idea for us to engage in a land war.”
Prince believes that “the ‘go-slow, measured response people’ in Washington should have their children drafted and sent to frontline combat units so that they can live – their families, their children can live with the decisions they're making.”
We're talking about the American culture and a changing culture that has badly impacted our ability to wage war effectively and we're not willing to do what's necessary. So, then the question is, should we be fighting these wars at all? Or if we do fight, understand we have to win and we're not ready to do that.
The juxtaposition of the exorbitant costs of the U.S. military with the lack of strategic effectiveness raises questions about defense spending. Why is there a mismatch between expenditures and outcomes? Here, the discussion delves into the broader issues surrounding the military-industrial complex and the influence of vested interests on defense policy – and sheds light on how strategy and technology can lead to either increased national power or a weakened military.
Walton: “So, for the US military to try to say, ‘We're going to be dominant everywhere all the time…’”Prince: "Not possible."Bryen: “Not possible. We need to bring real innovation into our defense thinking. It's not going to come from the system, because the system responds to directives that come from the Pentagon, which says, ‘Build this this way, these are the requirements, meet the requirements,’ and then they always favor the big companies.”
This is a fascinating conversation with two top military minds on war tactics, weapons and technology, military history, and the consequences of our failed foreign policies - where we’ve been, where we are, where we should be, and how to get there.
