You are listening to the Warren Rocks podcast on Strategy, Defense, and Foreign Affairs.

My name's Ryan Evans. I'm the founder of Warren the Rocks. In this episode, we have a pretty

fun debate about some big issues related to strategy,

priorities, diplomacy, and more.

I hope you enjoy this discussion with Wes Mitchell of the Marathon Initiative, Stacey

Petty John of the Center for New American Security, and Justin Logan of the Cato Institute.

So, Wes, you wrote this op-ed that appeared in the print edition of the Washington Post,

at least about what, like a week ago. And I read it while I was getting some coffee, and I thought

it was very interesting and thoughtful. And it made me want to get this group together. So just

tell us briefly what the argument was. Sure. Well, first of all, Ryan, thanks for putting this

together. It's an important topic and great to be with you guys. So my position, first of all, Ryan, thanks for putting this together. It's an important

topic and great to be with you guys. So my position, and this is what is argued in the op-ed,

is that the most serious strategic challenge facing the United States is what military guys

call the simultaneous problem. And this is the problem of a potential multi-front

war that would outstrip current U.S. military resources.

So we have three major adversaries, China, Russia, Iran, and several smaller ones.

We have basically a one war military, one major war military.

So we have two national defense strategies have said that very bluntly.

I'm assuming the next national defense strategy will say that. So my starting point national defense strategies have said that very bluntly. I'm assuming the next

national defense strategy will say that. So my starting point is that's the organizational problem. We

don't have enough resources. We have too many enemies. So the question then becomes, how do we

handle this? And so my argument is the optimal strategy would be a sequencing strategy or sequential

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