Hi, I'm Ravi Agrawal, Foreign Policies Editor-in-Chief. This is FP Live. The United States and China are

constantly looking for a leg up in their rivalry for geopolitical primacy. But what if the real

advantage lies in adopting a bit of the other's culture?

A new book makes the case that while China has become an engineering state, obsessed with

building, America has become a lawyerly society, focused on procedures and blocking.

Put another way, China builds too much too fast. The United

States builds too little, too late. Can the two learn from each other? Author Dan Wong joins me this

week. But first, just one thing where I riff on a story in the news. The integrity of U.S. intelligence.

Last Friday, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Higgs had fired the Pentagon's intelligence agency chief,

Lieutenant General Jeffrey Cruz.

Details are sparse, but there is some history here.

Back in June, Cruz's office put out an early review of U.S.

strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities saying they had limited impact. That report was leaked.

The White House, which had said Iran's nuclear program was obliterated, described the report as

flat out wrong. Now, we can't be sure that Cruz

was fired for the contents of that report, or for the fact that it was leaked, or indeed for any

other reason that we don't and won't know about. But what we do know is this. Cruz had a long

career of non-partisan service.

And given what happened with the Iran report,

rumors are swirling that his firing was retribution for deviating from the White House line.

Regardless of whether or not those rumors are true,

the whole affair reduces confidence in the integrity and

...