School of War Ep 259: Christian Brose on Rethinking How We Fight
9 snips
Dec 23, 2025 
Christian Brose, President and Chief Strategy Officer at Anduril Industries and author of The Kill Chain, shares insights on the future of warfare. He discusses the alarming erosion of U.S. military advantage and the misconceptions hindering long-term preparedness. Brose emphasizes the need for innovative procurement processes and learning from Ukraine without simply copying its systems. He advocates for leveraging AI in defense while ensuring human oversight, and examines the importance of liberal arts in maintaining creativity in high-tech warfare.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Rapid Erosion Of U.S. Military Advantage
- U.S. military advantage has eroded rapidly since the 2000s and no longer guarantees short wars.
- Expect protracted conflict against near-peer rivals requiring different force designs.
Oversight Briefings Sparked Alarm
- Christian Brose recounts his time as staff director on Senate Armed Services seeing briefing after briefing.
- A single classified briefing consolidated those trends and galvanized action with Senator McCain.
Procurement Built For The Cold War Era
- Cold War–era centralized planning (PPBE) still dominates procurement and discourages rapid innovation.
- That process is mismatched to fast commercial-driven technological change and evolving threats.