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Today's Military MilitaryCover 10/21/10 3:12 PM Page 1 TODAY’S MILITARY: Its Challenges, Mission, and Future MILITARY: TODAY’S THE CENTER ON LAW AND SECURITY AT THE NYU SCHOOL OF LAW TODAY’S MILITARY: Its Challenges, Mission, and Future Military Book No Charts 10/22/10 12:04 PM Page 1 Military Book No Charts 10/22/10 12:04 PM Page 2 The transcripts herein have been edited – the original audio from the conference is available for free download via the Center on Law and Security’s podcast series on iTunes. The speakers herein do not represent the Center on Law and Security. Cover image: Department of Defense photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Jerry Morrison Image accompanying Executive Director’s introduction by Guido Mannucci copyright © 2010 by the Center on Law and Security Military Book No Charts 10/22/10 12:04 PM Page 3 THE CENTER ON LAW AND SECURITY AT THE NYU SCHOOL OF LAW TODAY’S MILITARY: Its Challenges, Mission, and Future April 24, 2009 Editor in Chief: Karen J. Greenberg Editor: Jeff Grossman Copy Editor: Danielle Haas Lead Research: John Viola Research: Jack Berger, Danielle Haas, Liz Oliner, Maggie Reeb, Dominic Saglibene Design: Wendy Bedenbaugh Special thanks to Vincent Viola and Virtu Management for making this conference series possible Military Book No Charts 10/22/10 12:04 PM Page 5 While much of the public discussion of the U.S. military in recent years has focused on U.S. strategies and encounters in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are broader – and equally urgent – issues concerning the future of our armed services that warrant examination not only by our uniformed and civilian leaders but by the nation as a whole. The Center on Law and Security convened its conference “Today’s Military: It’s Challenges, Missions, and Future” as a step towards raising public awareness of these momentous debates. At issue are the matters of mission and method, of composition and goals. Who serves in our military and how the military interfaces with civilian society and with other governmental departments are as important to understand as the likely long-term consequences of transforma- tions in the military’s resources. Ultimately, it is essential for civilians to understand the unique challenges that face those who serve in the military and for the military to understand the importance of establishing a dialogue with civilians, both those in government and those in the private sector. The answers to these questions for present-day America are intimately related to the many policy choices that lie on the horizon in considering the funding, staffing, and training of the armed services. For example, in pursuing counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, how does the ideal division of labor between the military, the State Department, and nongovern- mental organizations differ from what is realistically possible? Further, to what extent should we anticipate that future conflicts will also entail a counterinsurgency mission? What are the roles of the National Guard and Reserves? Are the current educational opportunities available for the U.S. military in need of reform? These questions can only be answered through informed debate, requiring public attention and participation. The conference’s participants have generously shared their thoughts, their doubts, their hopes, and the challenges they foresee. We hope that the proceedings herein will serve as a starting point for a better understanding of the challenges that confront both the U.S. military and American society as a whole as it enters the 21st century. Karen J. Greenberg, Executive Director Military Book No Charts 10/22/10 12:04 PM Page 7 Table of Contents TODAY’S MILITARY: Its Challenges, Mission, and Future Participant Biographies 8 Keynote Address, by Gen. John Abizaid, U.S. Army (ret.) 14 Civilian/Military Relations Now Panelists: Lt. Gen. David Barno, U.S. Army (ret.); Phillip Carter; W. Patrick Lang; Suzanne Nossel Moderator: Karen J. Greenberg 20 The Military’s Makeup: Who Serves Today Panelists: James Jacobs, Timothy Nichols, Kathy Roth-Douquet, Frank Schaeffer, Shanea Watkins Moderator: Elizabeth Rubin 34 Iraq, Afghanistan, and the U.S. Military: How the Wars Have Shaped the Armed Services Panelists: Eric Greitens, Mark Jacobson, Fred Kaplan, John Nagl Moderator: George Packer 46 About the Center on Law and Security 61 Military Book No Charts 10/22/10 12:04 PM Page 8 Participant Biographies; April 24, 2009 Gen. John P.Abizaid retired from the United and Coalition forces in Combined Forces States Army in May 2007 after 34 years of Command-Afghanistan as part of Operation active service. After graduating from the Enduring Freedom. For 19 months in this United States Military Academy at West Point, position, he was responsible to U.S. Central he rose from second lieutenant of infantry to Command for regional efforts in Afghanistan, four-star general. At the time of his retirement, most of Pakistan, and the southern parts of he was the longest-serving commander of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Gen. Barno has United States Central Command, with respon- recently been appointed as the Chairman of sibility for an area spanning 27 countries in the Advisory Committee on Operation Iraqi the Middle East, Southwest Asia, and the Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom Horn of Africa. Units under his command Veterans and Families by Secretary of have included the 1st Infantry Division, a Veterans Affairs James Nicholson. He holds brigade in the 82nd Airborne Division, and an M.A. in national security studies from two Ranger companies. Gen. Abizaid worked Georgetown University and is a graduate of on the Joint Staff three times, the last as the U.S. Army Command and General Staff Director. He studied at the University of College and the U.S. Army War College. Jordan in Amman, holds a master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard Phillip Carter is an attorney practicing gov- University, and is widely considered to be an ernment contract and national security law expert in the field of Middle Eastern affairs. with McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP. Prior, Gen. Abizaid serves as the Distinguished he served as an officer in the U.S. Army, Chair of the Combating Terrorism Center at including nine years of active and reserve West Point. Through his consulting company, service with military police and civil affairs JPA Partners LLC, Gen. Abizaid advises small units. In 2005-‘06, he deployed to Iraq with businesses through Fortune 500 companies the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, where he nationally and internationally, and serves as a served as an advisor to the Iraqi police. He is board member for both USAA and RPM, Inc. a founding member of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and recently served as Lt. Gen. David Barno, U.S. Army (ret.) is the National Veterans Director for the Obama director of the Near East South Asia Center presidential campaign. His national security for Strategic Studies at National Defense practice includes appellate work in the land- University. Subsequent to his selection to mark cases FAIR v. Rumsfeld and Hamdan v. Major General in 2001, he served as Rumsfeld, in which he authored amicus briefs. Commanding General, United States Army Carter has contributed articles to Slate, The Training Center and Fort Jackson. During this New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and assignment, he deployed to Hungary in 2003 Washington Monthly, among others, and has as the Commanding General of Task Force also appeared as an expert on CNN, MSNBC, Warrior with the mission to train the free Iraqi National Public Radio, and PBS’s The forces in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Gen. Barno deployed to Afghanistan in October 2003, commanding over 20,000 U.S. 8 TODAY’S MILITARY: Its Challenges, Mission, and Future Military Book No Charts 10/22/10 12:04 PM Page 9 Karen J. Greenberg is the Executive Director the Center for the Study of Ethics and Human of the Center on Law and Security. She is the Values at Washington University, where he author of The Least Worst Place: teaches on public service, ethics, and leader- Guantanamo’s First 100 Days (Oxford ship. University Press, 2009), co-editor with Joshua Dratel of The Enemy Combatant Papers: James Jacobs is the Warren E. Burger American Justice, the Courts, and the War on Professor of Constitutional Law and the Terror (Cambridge University Press, 2008) Courts and Director of the Center for and The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Research in Crime and Justice at the NYU Ghraib (Cambridge University Press, 2005), Law School. His doctoral dissertation, editor of the books The Torture Debate in Stateville: The Penitentiary in Mass Society America (Cambridge University Press, 2006) (1977), a classic in penology, is still assigned and Al Qaeda Now (Cambridge University in classrooms around the country. Since com- Press, 2005), and editor of the NYU Review of ing to NYU, Prof. Jacobs has convened the Law and Security. She is a frequent writer, monthly Hoffinger Criminal Justice commentator, and lecturer on Guantanamo, Colloquium. He has published fourteen books detention, torture, terrorism trials, and other and more than 100 articles on such topics as issues related to the war on terror. Her work prisons and imprisonment, drunk driving, has been featured in The Washington Post, The corruption and its control, hate crime, gun Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco control, and labor racketeering. Prof. Jacobs Chronicle, The Nation, The National Interest, frequently involves law students in his Mother Jones, TomDispatch.com, and on research projects. For example, he co-authored major news channels. Busting the Mob: U.S. v. Cosa Nostra (1994) with law students Christopher Panarella and Eric Greitens has worked as a humanitarian Jay Worthington III and co-authored Gotham volunteer, documentary photographer, and Unbound: How NYC Was Liberated from the researcher in Rwanda, Cambodia, the Gaza Grip of Organized Crime (1998) with law Strip, and elsewhere.
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