Hello, everyone. I'm Chuck Todd. Meet the press is preempted today for NBC's continuing

coverage of the Summer Olympics from Tokyo. So we're going to share a special show with you from

Meet the Press reports. That's our streaming show on NBC News Now and Peacock. Today's episode focuses

on how the military is evolving to fight the next war.

Later in the show, I'll be joined by Bettina Boxoff, staff writer at the L.A. Times covering water and the environment.

We hope you enjoy.

Music Hello there. I'm Chuck Todd. And welcome to meet the press reports. This is the program where we spend a half hour taking a deep dive into a single issue.

This special episode, we are going to take a look at the U.S. military and whether it is ready for America's next war. George Washington once said

that being prepared for war is one of the best ways to preserve peace. There is no doubt that the

military is prepared to fight terror groups in the Middle East.

But the Pentagon says that the biggest national security threats today come from China and Russia.

And war with either of those countries is likely to be far different from anything we've ever seen before.

In this episode, we will talk to former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen,

about whether the U.S. military is ready for the conflicts to come. We will also check in with Paul Rykoff, founder of

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, about the toll that the 21st century wars have taken

on our U.S. service members. But we're going to begin with NBC's Courtney Kuby and a look at how

the Pentagon is getting ready for a war on Earth that could end up beginning in cyberspace or even

outer space. After nearly 20 years of fighting, for many Americans, these are the images of war.

American troops battling terror groups, al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the mountains and caves

of Afghanistan, ISIS in Iraqi towns and villages, and throughout the Syrian desert.

But the way that we fight the next major war is going to look very different from the way

that we fought the last ones.

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