H.R. McMaster, a distinguished military officer and former U.S. National Security Advisor, shares insights from his extensive career in strategy and leadership. He discusses the complex process behind crafting the 2017 National Security Strategy, emphasizing the importance of collaboration and clear communication. McMaster also highlights the evolving challenges of U.S. foreign policy, particularly with China, and the relentless pressure that strategic leaders face. His experiences in navigating bureaucratic dynamics provide a fascinating glimpse into the intricacies of national security.
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insights INSIGHT
Strategy Definition and Application
Strategy involves understanding ends, ways, and means, especially clarity on objectives.
Military and political strategies share similarities, with military actions needing political outcomes.
insights INSIGHT
Shifting Power Dynamics and US Strategy
The US National Security Strategy shifted from aspirational to reality-based, focusing on vital interests.
Recognizing a shift in global power balance necessitated an active approach to integrating national power.
insights INSIGHT
Strategic Framing and Assumptions
Start with assessing the challenge and identifying vital interests at stake.
Then, craft goals and objectives and identify assumptions, acknowledging others' influence.
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In 'Battlegrounds', H.R. McMaster identifies six significant arenas where the United States must compete: Russia, China, South Asia, the Middle East, Iran, and North Korea. He provides a historical diagnosis of the threats posed by each and proposes a framework for competition. McMaster argues that the U.S. has lost ground globally since the end of the Cold War due to a failure to understand adversaries' motives and interests. The book emphasizes the need for 'strategic empathy' and a clear-eyed approach to national security, critiquing past administrations for their naivety and advocating for a more resolute and coherent foreign policy strategy.
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In 'Dereliction of Duty', H.R. McMaster provides a thorough and well-researched account of how and why the United States became involved in the Vietnam War. The book is based on transcripts and personal accounts of crucial meetings and decisions, and it critiques the decision-making processes of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. McMaster argues that the war was lost due to the failures and deceptions of political and military leaders, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who he believes were derelict in their duty to advise the president honestly. The book is a compelling narrative that highlights the hubris, deception, and compromise among the political and military echelons during that period.
H.R. McMaster shares his extensive experience of strategy-making and strategic leadership as a military officer, academic and former United States’ national security advisor.
‘The Iconoclast General’, H.R. McMaster has a distinguished record serving his country. Commissioned from West Point into the armoured cavalry, he retired as a Lieutenant General after thirty-four years’ service, including operational service in Iraq and Afghanistan. His success in fighting counter-insurgency campaigns saw him involved in the development of the United States’ Army and Marine Corps’ counter-insurgency field manual (FM3-24). One of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in April 2014, he was described by Lieutenant General (retired) David Barno as ‘the 21st century Army's pre-eminent warrior-thinker’.
Appointed by President Trump, H.R. McMaster served as the 25th National Security Advisor between February 2017 to March 2018. His account of his time in the White House is described with typical balance and candour in At War With Ourselves. Consultation, bringing top leaders together and getting them to thrash out what the problem is and what one should do about it, and then to issue directives to a (sometimes) reluctant bureaucracy, that was his recipe. In this episode, he describes how the National Security Strategy of 2017 was negotiated during his time in office, the methodology, some of its main tenets, and how it was translated into policy making. And how an historical perspective offers lessons and consolation today.
A historian by training, he has a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on the flaws and inadequacies of U.S. strategy in the Vietnam War, and now lectures at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He hosts the podcast series Battlegrounds: Vital Perspectives on Today’s Challenges and is a regular on GoodFellows, both of which are produced by the Hoover Institution. He is a Distinguished University Fellow at Arizona State University.
Talking Strategy 
