Wesley Clark, Ret. U.S. Army General; Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander; Author, Don’t Wait for the Next War: A Strategy for American Growth and Global Leadership

In conversation with Kori Schake, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Former Distinguished Chair in International Security Studies, The United States Military Academy at West Point

Can the U.S. have a real national strategy and move forward without the focus of war? In the 20th century, the U.S. became the "arsenal of democracy" and emerged from WWII as the greatest power in the world. After losing its adversary, the Soviet Union, critics complained that U.S. leaders failed to replace the Cold War strategic vision with something appropriate for a postwar role.

Modern global challenges, immune to military solutions, require intricate interdependence between government and the private sector. Terrorism, cybersecurity, financial system vulnerabilities, the rise of China, and accelerating climate change constitute a new class of national security challenges. Clark says that meeting these will require the U.S. to revisit hallowed mythologies and concert domestic and foreign policies in a way that has never before been achieved. Based on his experience at the highest levels in the military, politics and business, Wesley Clark offers a possible path forward.