This text first appeared in West Level’s Trendy Battle Institute.
We simply had our first week of our new nationwide safety class at Stanford – Expertise, Innovation and Nice Energy Competitors. Joe Felter, Raj Shah and I designed the category to cowl how expertise will form all the weather of nationwide energy (our affect and footprint on the world stage).
Nationwide energy is the mixture of a rustic’s diplomacy (tender energy and alliances), data/intelligence and its navy and financial power. The devices of nationwide energy delivered to bear on this “entire of presidency strategy” had been lengthy identified by the acronym DIME (Diplomatic, Data, Army and Financial) and lately have expanded to incorporate “FIL”- finance, intelligence and regulation enforcement-or DIME-FIL.
Final yr, the category centered completely on the influence of recent expertise on the navy. Given the broadened scope this yr, we’ve tweaked the course content material and title to Expertise, Innovation and Nice Energy Competitors to raised mirror the “entire of presidency” strategy mandatory for long-term strategic competitors.
The course is cross listed with Stanford’s Masters in Worldwide Coverage program and the Administration Science and Engineering division. The scholars becoming a member of this struggle come from a various vary of disciplines at Stanford together with laptop science, political science, enterprise, regulation, public coverage, economics, and engineering. If the previous is a prologue, they’ll go off to senior roles in protection, overseas coverage and to the businesses constructing new disruptive applied sciences. Our targets are to assist them perceive the complexity and urgency of the problems, provide them a mannequin to grasp the obstacles and path ahead, and to encourage them to assist lead how the U.S. leverages all devices of nationwide energy to satisfy twenty first century challenges.
On this yr’s class, we wish to:
- Assist our college students perceive how every part of our nationwide safety and devices of nationwide energy are actually inexorably intertwined with industrial expertise. We’ll discover the complexity and urgency of the influence of the twenty first century onslaught of economic applied sciences (AI, machine studying, autonomy, biotech, cyber, industrial entry to area, et al.) in all elements of the federal government — from State to the Division of Protection to Treasury and plenty of extra.
- Give them hands-on expertise on the way to deeply perceive an issue on the intersection of DIME-FIL and dual-use expertise. First by creating hypotheses about the issue; subsequent by getting out of the classroom and speaking to related stakeholders throughout authorities, business, and academia to validate their assumptions; and eventually taking what they realized to suggest and prototype options to those issues.
Class 1 – Required Readings
Overview of Nice Energy Competitors
- Thomas F. Lynch III & Frank Hoffman, “Chapter 2 | Previous Eras of Nice Energy Competitors: Historic Insights and Implications” Division of Protection: Strategic Evaluation 2020.
- Stephen Kotkin, “Realist World: The Gamers Change, however the Recreation Stays” Overseas Affairs, 2018
- Nadia Schadlow, “The Finish of American Phantasm. Trump and the World as It Is.” Overseas Affairs Sept/Oct 2020
- Elbridge A. Colby and A. Wess Mitchell, “The Age of Nice-Energy Competitors: How the Trump Administration Refashioned American Technique,” Overseas Affairs, January/February 2020
- Nice Energy Competitors Timeline MITRE, 2020
- “Ought to U.S. Overseas Coverage Give attention to Nice-Energy Competitors? Overseas Affairs Asks the Specialists” Overseas Affairs, Oct. 13, 2020
- Michael J. Mazarr, “This Is Not a Nice-Energy Competitors: Why the Time period Doesn’t Seize At this time’s Actuality”
- Emma Ashford, “Nice Energy Competitors is a Recipe for Catastrophe” Overseas Coverage, April 2021.
- Matthew Kroenig, The Return of Nice Energy Rivalry: Democracy versus Autocracy from the Historic World to the U.S. and China
U.S. Nationwide Safety Technique
Class 1 Dialogue Questions
- Is nice energy competitors an correct option to describe the U.S. relationship with China? With Russia? Is doing so productive for U.S. pursuits? Why or why not?
- What are the dangers of casting the US relationship with China and/or Russia as a whole-of-government competitors? What are the dangers of not viewing these relations as aggressive?
Class 1 – Visitor Speaker
Our speaker for our first-class was former Secretary of Protection Basic Jim Mattis who gave an inspiring discuss technique, the Division of Protection’s pivot to nice energy competitors that he led throughout his tenure as Secretary, and the significance and rewards of service to the nation. Basic Mattis joined the Marine Corps in 1969, and he has led Marines after which later joint forces at each degree from platoon commander as a Lieutenant all the best way as much as combatant commander of US Central Command as a four-star normal. He lately led our whole US Protection Division as our nation’s twenty sixth Secretary of Protection. We’re lucky to now have him again right here at Stanford on the Hoover Establishment.
Lecture 1
For those who can’t see the slides click on right here.
After introducing the educating workforce and sophistication logistics (slides 1-13) we briefly overviewed the quarter (slide 17)
We arrange the category with a dialogue of the return of nice energy competitors. This isn’t a problem of which nation is available in first, it’s about what the world-order will appear like for the remainder of the century and past. Will or not it’s a rules-based order the place states cooperate to pursue a shared imaginative and prescient for a free and open area and the place the sovereignty of all international locations massive and small is protected below worldwide regulation? Or will an alternate imaginative and prescient for an autocratic and dystopian future be coerced and imposed by revisionist powers set on disrupting the U.S. led worldwide order – an order that has introduced the world unprecedented peace and prosperity for the reason that finish of the Second World Battle? Slide 19.
After which we mentioned the pivot within the U.S. Nationwide Safety Technique (which outlines the key nationwide safety issues of the US and the way the U.S. plans to cope with them) and 2018 Nationwide Protection Technique (which identifies the priorities and capabilities required by the warfighters to implement the Nationwide Safety Technique.)
These paperwork reoriented the U.S. from its give attention to counter terrorism to nice energy competitors with Russia and China (Slides 23-27). Slides 34-38 expanded on the three traces of effort within the Nationwide Protection Technique: 1) Construct a Deadly Drive, 2) Strengthen Alliances and Construct New Partnerships, 3) Reform the Protection Division. Slides 41-42 summarized the competing visions of the U.S. and China. The Biden Administration’s Interim Nationwide Safety Steerage was launched which emphasizes continuity in its evaluation of the challenges posed by China and Russia and the anticipated enduring period of nice energy competitors. (the White Home is now referring to the strategy towards China as “strategic competitors” quite than Nice Energy Competitors. (The White Home is now referring to the strategy towards China as “strategic competitors” quite than Nice Energy Competitors.)
Slides 45-55 launched seven devices of nationwide energy and the idea of DIME-FIL. We mentioned that the nationwide energy of a rustic (its affect and footprint on the world stage) is extra than simply its navy power. It’s the mixture of a rustic’s diplomacy (tender energy and alliances,) data, and its navy, financial, monetary, intelligence and regulation enforcement power. (This idea is understood by its acronym, DIME-FIL.) We identified that in lots of of those areas we’re now not the chief (the DoD has a well mannered euphemism for this – “we’re overmatched” – that means second place.)
Slides 57 and 58 reminded the scholars that this class is not only in regards to the studying and lectures. 50% of their grade is a gaggle mission on the intersection of DIME-FIL and dual-use applied sciences (AI/ML, quantum, semiconductors, entry to area, cyber, biotech, et al.)
Subsequent week – China, China, China
Classes Realized
- The U.S. is engaged in a Nice Energy Competitors – and in lots of areas we’re not successful
- A number of elements, not simply navy power make up a nation’s energy
- Diplomacy, Data, Army, Financial, Monetary, Intelligence, Legislation
- Acronym is DIME-FIL
- Twin-use expertise, that’s expertise that has each industrial and navy use, has modified the calculus for nationwide energy
- AI/ML, autonomy, quantum, semiconductors, entry to area, cyber, biotech, et al
- Advances in these applied sciences are now not pushed by authorities directives however by shopper demand.
- College students will work on workforce nationwide safety tasks, challenges on the intersection of DIME-FIL and dual-use expertise
- We’re educating the subsequent technology of leaders who won’t simply talk about coverage however will create options
Filed below: Educating, Expertise Innovation and Trendy Battle and Nice Energy Competitors |