Center for a New American Security

The State of the US Ground Forces, addresses the challenges our ground forces face after five years of engagement such as current deployment pace, recruiting standards and recommendations as we move forward.

In a critical election year, the debate over America’s national security strategy has been overwhelmed by a persistent focus on essentially tactical issues such as: the number of troops in Iraq; whether or not America should engage in diplomacy with Iran; and the status of the search for Osama Bin Laden. Important as such issues are, they do not address the more critical and fundamental arguments over America’s purpose and place in the world. Finding Our Way attempts to bridge the gap in the current national security debate by bringing together ideas from across the academic and policy spectrums in one accessible volume. Edited by Michèle Flournoy and Shawn Brimley, and including contributions from Robert Art, G. John Ikenberry, Barry Posen, Frederick Kagan, and Sarah Sewall, Finding Our Way provides a compelling and accessible snapshot of the current grand strategy debate. Readers will find essays advocating contrasting ideas on vital U.S. interests, key threats facing America, the utility of international partnerships and alliances, the use of military force, the implications of Iraq on American strategy, and the need to restore a positive view of American power. This volume is an ideal primer for scholars and students interested in the contemporary debate over American power and purpose in a changing world.

Years of debate over the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and the so-called “war on terror” have prevented Americans from grappling with the deeper challenges posed by changes in the international system.  Beyond the threats posed by terrorism, new great powers such as India and China are rising, the process of globalization is accelerating, and the challenges of climate change and energy security grow more ominous by the day. The absence of an overarching strategic framework beyond simple debates over wartime tactics has contributed to an erosion of America’s position in the world. The authors of Making America Grand Again argue that America’s leaders must broaden their strategic aperture and recognize the value in renewing their commitment to sustaining the pillars of the global system – common global goods such as stability in key regions, a vibrant global economy, and fair access to the global commons. Arguing that America’s Cold War strategy consisted of two parts – containing the Soviet Union while building and sustaining a resilient international system – the authors lay out a case for why sustaining America’s power and influence in the 21st century requires reinvesting in, and innovating within, the very global architecture that helped make America a superpower. 

American policy in Iraq will undergo two critical transitions throughout the remainder of 2008 and into early 2009: movement to a new U.S. posture in Iraq; and a wartime transition to a new administration. It is vital that both are handled in a way that best advances U.S. interests in Iraq and the region. Yet neither is being paid sufficient attention. Shaping the Iraq Inheritance outlines America’s interests in Iraq and the region, analyzes recent security and political trends, presents a framework for understanding U.S. strategic options, and makes recommendations for how the Bush administration, the military, and Congress can best prepare for the dangerous period ahead.

As Generals Petraeus and Odierno appear before Congress this week, CNAS has drafted several key questions we feel are among the most vital to ask. As the 2008 presidential election looms, the American people deserve hard answers to hard questions concerning Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and military readiness. CNAS experts are always willing to provide insight and comment on these and other issues.

This CNAS Congressional Testimony contains Michèle A. Flournoy's statement to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, given on April 2, 2008. According to Flournoy, "The only way to consolidate recent security gains in Iraq is to use our substantial political leverage to push various Iraqi actors toward political accommodation.  The Bush administration success or failure in so doing over the coming months will determine the options available to the next President.  When the next Commander in Chief takes office, he or she must put our Iraq policy on a new course that protects our vital interests there but also rebalances risk across our larger regional and global goals.  He or she must also take urgent steps to develop a new and more effective strategy toward Iraq, reduce the strains on our soldiers, marines and their families, free up more forces for other urgent priorities like Afghanistan, and restore the readiness of our military for the full range of possible future contingencies."

This CNAS Congressional Testimony contains Michèle A. Flournoy's prepared statement to the House Armed Services Committee, on Feb. 14, 2008. According to Flournoy, "the readiness of the U.S. military is just barely keeping pace with current operations. The fight to recruit and keep personnel, and the need to repair and modernize equipment, also means that building and regaining readiness is becoming increasingly costly."

This CNAS Congressional Testimony contains Michèle A. Flournoy's prepared statement to the House Armed Services Committee, on Feb. 14, 2008. According to Flournoy, "the readiness of the U.S. military is just barely keeping pace with current operations. The fight to recruit and keep personnel, and the need to repair and modernize equipment, also means that building and regaining readiness is becoming increasingly costly."

In testimony given to the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Flournoy writes that "In the last two decades, the United States has experienced some truly stellar military victories: rolling back Saddam Hussein’s aggression against Kuwait in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, establishing a secure environment for the implementation of peace accords in the Balkans, driving the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and toppling Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime in a matter of weeks."

America’s ground forces — the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, and Special Operations Forces (SOF) — are under severe strain. Sustaining a high operational tempo has required repeated deployments that have taken a substantial toll on readiness. The force we build today will safeguard our national security tomorrow. As disturbing and compelling as current strains may be, they cannot serve as a sound basis for force expansion. Determining whether and how to grow our ground forces is a matter of deciding how best to balance risk across a range of competing national security and defense priorities. Any proposed expansion must be based on an assessment of the future security environment and the types of demands it will likely place on U.S. forces.