In this Q&A session, Gen. HR McMaster lays out how American strategic thinking has often been plagued by false assumptions. Americans tend to look forward – towards change – incorrectly predicting future conflicts will be different while ignoring the continuities of war across history. Similarly, politicians and policymakers often hold optimistic and inaccurate assumptions about our adversaries and their intentions, from Ho Chi Minh to Vladmir Putin, rather than taking them at their word. To successfully address these and other failures, the United States must first see adversaries as they are, not as we wish them to be, and then simultaneously maintain the will and capability to project sustained power rather than seek technological shortcuts or easy exits.
H.R. McMaster is a retired Lietenant General in the United States Army, former National Security Advisor, and the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also the host of Battlegrounds: Vital Perspectives on Today’s Challenges and is a regular on GoodFellows, both produced by the Hoover Institution.
Watch more discussions from H.R. McMaster:
- On Battlegrounds with Secretary of National Defense of the Philippines, Gilberto Teodoro: https://youtu.be/Sx7ZRPA9m9A
- On Goodfellows: https://youtu.be/dqAh3rRqu1U
- On BBC Newsnight with Andrew Marr: https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/andrew-marr/tonight-with-andrew-marr-133-02-watch-again/
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