5. National Security, Supply Chains, and Critical Technologies (feat. Nadia Schadlow)
Sep 13, 2023
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Nadia Schadlow, principal author of the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy, discusses national security, supply chains, and critical technologies. She highlights the US' technological competition with China, solutions for operational challenges, creating favorable conditions like those of the 1950s, munitions campuses, industrial policy, and the importance of metrics for success in national security and critical technologies.
Consider time as an input into strategy to avoid strategic paralysis.
Address the challenges in defense systems by prioritizing national security over economic profits and ensuring visibility and accountability in supply chains.
Deep dives
The Risk of Paralysis in National Security Strategy
Dr. Nadia Shavlow discusses how the failure to consider time as an input into strategy can lead to strategic paralysis. This paralysis occurs when the inability to move fast enough hinders the accomplishment of strategic objectives. She emphasizes the need for policymakers to ask how long certain tasks will take and highlights the importance of operational efficiency.
Lessons from the 1950s on Timely Accomplishment of Goals
Dr. Shavlow compares the strategic picture of the 1950s to the present, highlighting the differences in bureaucracy, decision-making speed, and coordination. She emphasizes the need to recreate some of the conditions from the 1950s to enable faster and more effective accomplishment of goals in the present.
Challenges in Modern Defense Systems and Industrial Policy
Dr. Shavlow discusses the challenges in modern defense systems, particularly in the production of components and the intricacies of supply chains. She highlights the disconnect between national security imperatives and economic profits, and the need for a clearer role for the government in ensuring national security and economic competitiveness.
The Path to Solving Supply Chain Vulnerabilities
Dr. Shavlow underscores the importance of understanding the intertwined nature of supply chains, visibility into components' origins, accountability in managing dependencies, and mitigation of supply chain vulnerabilities. She suggests breaking down the problem into manageable categories and calls for concrete timelines and reduced bureaucracy to drive progress.
Nadia Schadlow joins Arsenal of Democracy to discuss the intersection of national security, supply chains, and critical technologies. The principal author of the Trump administration’s 2017 National Security Strategy, Nadia discusses key considerations in formulating strategy, the United States’ technological competition with China, how the US government can solve problems, and specific technologies of importance to US national security.