THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

I recently conducted a 3.5-week condensed pilot of the Hacking for Ministry of Defence (H4MoD) at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst (RMAS). Based on the observations captured during this pilot, I am proposing here that the United States, in collaboration with our Five Eyes (FVEY) should consider establishing an Allied Innovation Base (AIB).

Debt ceiling, default, and democracy. Many in our country would add another “D”– dysfunction.

The recent debt ceiling debate in Washington DC had many lamenting it as “crazy” and a mis-guided process. In fact, the concern about the debt ceiling and the political process surrounding it is not new. You can go all the way back to 2006 when then-Senator Barack Obama opposed raising the debt ceiling during a Senate floor speech:

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. government can’t pay its own bills. ... I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.”

The Department of State (DOS) is considering enhancements to its data architecture thanks to the work of a Hacking for Diplomacy (H4Diplomacy) student team from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Earlier this year, four RIT students worked with DOS cybersecurity specialists to find a way to more effectively streamline and analyze the massive amounts of event data - such as network log-in attempts and operating system information - created by United States domestic and overseas offices.

Well, it appears the aliens have landed…

The aliens I am referring to are not in the form of little green beings in flying saucers. Rather, I am referring to human-created artificial intelligence (AI). Given what some have described as a revolution in AI with ChatGPT and other generative AI platforms, AI may now represent a new, intelligent being on planet earth.

But how does AI stack up against humans?

There is hard power, soft power, and even smart power. But what is also needed to meet the challenge of China is innovation and entrepreneurship as a form of national power.

The strategic challenge of the Chinese Communist Party has been a wake-up call for politicians and the public alike. In fact, the newly formed Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party in Congress has begun to wrestle with the challenge of strategic competition – to include, just last week, conducting a wargame with committee members to open their eyes to the acute issues we face as a nation and Western society. Such a wargame with the representatives of the people in Congress is both practical and needed because, to date, the exact nature of the challenge from China has been abstract within the public dialogue.

But what is missing from these wargames, and our national-level conversation in general, is a dialogue on national power. That is to say, how should we organize as a nation and what are the technologies and resources required to meet the challenge from China?

“It’s the end of the world as we know it…and I feel fine…”

This is how Michael Stipe, the lead singer of REM, in a deadpan style and something of a call-and-response pattern frames his knotty, raggle-taggle stream of consciousness about the state of the world in REM’s popular 1987 song, “It’s the end of the world as we know it.”

These days, this song too often seems to play in the back of my mind as I intellectually and emotionally navigate our complex, 21st century world.

Russia invading Ukraine: “It’s the end of the world as we know it.”

COVID and Omicron: It’s the end of the world as we know it?”

My New York Giants: “It’s the end of the world as we know it!”

This state of mind and the associated events have become part of the soundtrack of our lives. A soundtrack that has come so hard, so fast, and so seemingly unrelenting that I do sometimes wonder: Is this the end of the world as we know it? But the next thing I always say to myself is: “I feel fine…” Why?

A policy debate is unfolding in Washington DC. A debate that is framed as a choice between supporting the war in Ukraine versus deterring and/or denying the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in any action it may take against Taiwan.

On the one hand, there’s no doubt the United States’ support to Ukraine has significantly depleted US stockpiles and other war reserves. On the other hand, there is equally no doubt China is the pacing actor for US national security. China is not only building its military to challenge the United States but also has the second largest economy in the world. In fact, according to a recent report by Goldman Sachs, China’s gross domestic product is poised to surpass that of the United States by 2035. We have never faced this kind of strategic challenge – even during the Cold War with Soviet Union.

This Washington debate suggests that our strategic competitors – Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin – make similar distinctions in their strategic objectives.

Well…they do not.

Much ink has been spilled and angsty activity has unfolded over the last 5-10 years around defense innovation. Indeed, we have witnessed this seemingly histrionic behavior through steering committees created; new small business websites launched; new policies established; new DoD innovation offices stood-up; commissions formed; task force reports published; think tank articles tweeted; and LinkedIn selfies backgrounded by nitro coffee bars, bean bags, and swag unleashed into our social media feeds.

And yet (and perhaps unsurprisingly), the Department of Defense continues to operate in a paradigm of “business as usual” – from the way it writes requirements, to the way it acquires new technology. Why?