Gen. Wesley K. Clark, former Supreme Allied Commander of Europe, said there are many challenges facing the Obama administration and discussed future military rolls and missions at a luncheon in Umphrey Lee ballroom Friday afternoon.
“We are at the end of an era,” Clark said. “The defense sector grew at 4-5 percent a year regardless, we are in two wars and have armed soldiers all around the world. But you are about to see some cannibalism within the defense department.”
Clark discussed the previous history of the defense department, telling anecdotes of the overlapping of branches and the military’s solutions to such problems. He said there are many new problems facing today’s military and he expected them to be addressed under an Obama administration.
Clark said the Pentagon has turned into a requirements generator and the raising-the-bar mentality the Pentagon currently has will be reined in for more efficiency.
“If the tank can go 200 miles without refueling they always want it to go 400 miles,” Clark said. “Or if a plane can fly 1,500 miles per hour, the Pentagon wants 1,800 miles per hour. They never cease with raising the bar. But now they are going to have to budget out their bar raising and be more selective.”
Clark said the current conflicts that we are involved in Iraq and Afghanistan are not the types of conflicts that the U.S. military is currently designed to fight.
“We were always really good at throwing the first punch and throwing it hard. We could always bring the shock and awe,” Clark said. “What we aren’t designed for is this extended occupation, and you can see it is a struggle.”
Clark said that even though he is not a representative of the Obama camp, in light of the many military and domestic challenges facing the new administration, you can “trust them to be thorough, diligent, patriotic, hard working, they want us to succeed in Iraq, they want our troops to be safe and make sure we have a military able to meet the challenges that lie ahead.”
Lessons that should be learned by recent experiences are “national defense needs a broader definition,” Clark said. “It is not about national defense, it is about national security. It starts with a strong economy, use of diplomacy, international law; it is really about heading off international conflicts before they begin. The best war is the one that you never have to fight.”
The days of open range conflict are over, according to Clark.
“The next war will be a war among the populace,” Clark said. “The days of fighting in the desert with tanks are over as our enemies know that stands no chance against the technology of the U.S. military.”
Clark said that the future of the military is back at home in the U.S. with the partnership of the vast pools of talent not in uniform, in the civilian U.S. citizens.
“Theodore Roosevelt once said that the greatest prize life has to offer is to work hard at work worth doing,” he said. “Well ladies and gentlemen, together we are here with the future of our nation, and you are going to work hard and it is definitely work worth doing.”
