Are We Ready? | America's Next Battlefield, With Thomas Shugart

The President’s Inbox

Council on Foreign Relations

Politics, News:politics, News

4.4 • 734 Ratings

🗓️ 30 October 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Thomas Shugart, founder of Archer Strategic Consulting and adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss how the tools and tactics of warfare have changed in the past decade and whether the U.S. military is adapting fast enough to deter a great power war. This is the second episode in a special series from The President’s Inbox, bringing you conversations with Washington insiders to assess whether the United States is ready for a new, more dangerous world. Mentioned on the Episode: Thomas Shugart, "Blue Planet, Red Planet: A New World of Contested Maritime Power," The Shugart Update Thomas Shugart, "Concrete Dome: It's Past Time for an Emergency Anti-Drone Hardening Program," The Shugart Update Thomas Shugart, "Forging Ahead: The PLA Shows Us What It Wants Us to See," The Shugart Update Thomas Shugart, "Has China Been Practicing Preemptive Missile Strikes Against U.S. Bases?" War on the Rocks Thomas Shugart, "Mind the Gap, Part 2: The Cross-Strait Potential of China’s Civilian Shipping Has Grown," War on the Rocks Thomas Shugart, "There Are No Magic Beans: Easy Options to Deter China Militarily Do Not Exist," War on the Rocks Thomas Shugart, "The United States Can’t Afford to Not Harden Its Air Bases," War on the Rocks Thomas Shugart, "Trends, Timelines, and Uncertainty: An Assessment of the Military Balance in the Indo-Pacific," Center for a New American Security Timothy A. Walton and Thomas Shugart, "Concrete Sky: Air Base Hardening in the Western Pacific," Hudson Institute We Are China, "Forging Ahead - Episode 1: Orders Are Sacred 第一集《军令如山》," Youtube.com For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/tpi/are-we-ready-americas-next-battlefield-thomas-shugart

Transcript

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0:00.0	The world has turned dangerous.
0:04.0	Is the United States prepared to meet the new challenges it might face?
0:08.0	In this special series from the President's inbox, we're bringing you conversations with Washington insiders
0:13.0	to assess whether the United States is ready for a new, more dangerous world.
0:20.0	In the three days, more dangerous world.
0:31.6	In the three decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States focused on deterring rogue states and defeating terrorist groups. The U.S. military used its vast technological superiority to oust first a Taliban and then Saddam Hussein from power and to hunt down
0:39.8	al-Qaeda in ISIS. We're in the middle of a great power competition with an authoritarian regime
0:45.0	in Beijing that seeks global primacy. And the truth is, Beijing's well on its way to accomplishing
0:51.0	these goals. Today, however, the United States faces the renewed prospect
0:54.6	of major power war. America's once daunting technological edge will be far smaller if it
1:00.4	exists at all against peer competitors and the scale and intensity of operations possibly far greater.
1:06.4	Meanwhile, artificial intelligence, along with advances in drone, sensor, missile technology,
1:11.4	are remaking the face of warfare. And does that mean that the U.S. is really in catch-up mode?
1:16.2	I think the U.S. is in catch-up mode, certainly depending on who you're comparing the U.S. to.
1:21.9	The U.S. military is now rethinking its force structure, its doctrines, and its deployments.
1:26.6	Is it moving fast enough in making
1:28.1	the right decisions? The answers to these questions will determine whether the United States
1:32.0	will be able to deter or, if necessary, win a great power struggle that may span the globe.
1:38.4	From the Council on Foreign Relations, welcome to the president's inbox. I'm Jim Lindsay.
1:43.3	Today I'm joined by Thomas Schuert, founder of Archer Strategic Consulting and Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for New American Security. Thank you very much for joining me, Tom. Thank you, Jim. Great to be here. Thanks.
1:54.9	Okay, I want to start with a bit of your bio. And you served for 25 years in the United States Navy.
2:01.4	That's right.
	...

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