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The New Rules of War
3/12/2020
6:30 PM - 9:00 PM

Event Description
The U.S. continues to develop defense policies based on the last “good war,” World War II, a conventional mind-set that has numbed America’s ability to compete again much less powerful adversaries. This Salon's expert, Sean McFate, contends that the U.S. must redirect its emphasis on hard power away from conventional weapons systems and develop a nuanced comprehension of the implications of the multidimensional nature of war in a contemporary context. This Salon will look at hard power or the role of the military and whether we need to rethink our approach to the use of the military in defending our country, its values, and interests in the world.

Key Questions:
  • Why might we need to develop “new rules of war?” Has our strategy since the end of WWII and the Cold War served us well? Is there a need for change? Does the current threat environment necessitate an overhaul of strategy and restructuring of our forces?
  • Do we need to fight our wars better or go to war less? Do we need rules for whether as well as how to go to war? What role is there for the military in relation to other elements of national power – traditional diplomacy, public diplomacy, US trade and investment? 
  • Is there, as some historians suggest, an “American way of war?” How has going to war related to key American values? How should America’s commitment to democracy, equal rights, and the rule of law influence our decisions as to war and peace?
Readings: Sean McFate is a foreign policy expert, author and novelist. He is a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, and a professor of strategy at the National Defense University and Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Additionally, he serves as an Advisor to Oxford University’s Centre for Technology and Global Affairs.
 
McFate’s career began as a paratrooper and officer in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. He served under Stan McChrystal and David Petraeus, and graduated from elite training programs. McFate then became a private military contractor, dealing with African warlords, raising armies for US interests, rode with armed groups in the Sahara, conducted strategic reconnaissance for the extractive industry, transacted arms deals in Eastern Europe, and helped prevent an impending genocide in the Rwanda region.
 
In international business, McFate was a Vice President at TD International, a boutique political risk consulting firm. Additionally, he was a program manager at DynCorp International, a consultant at BearingPoint (now Deloitte Consulting), and an associate at Booz Allen Hamilton.
 
McFate writes fiction based on his own para-military experiences. His books have received high praise from James Patterson and Mark Greaney, among others. He also writes serious non-fiction. The New Rules of War: Victory in the Age of Durable Disorder (Morrow), or the British edition Goliath: Why the West Doesn't Win Wars. And What We Need to Do About It (Penguin) has been called “The Freakonomics of modern warfare.” It was named a “Book of the Year” by The Economist, The Times [UK], and The Evening Standard, and is included on West Point’s “Commandant’s Reading List.” Max Hastings wrote in The Sunday Times: “[This] iconoclastic book is being hailed by radicals as a wake-up call to governments and armed forces everywhere.” Admiral Jim Stavridis, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, said: “Stunning. Sean McFate is a new Sun Tzu.” McFate also authored The Modern Mercenary: Private Armies and What They Mean for World Order (Oxford University Press), which The Economist called a “fascinating and disturbing book.”
 
McFate holds a BA from Brown University, MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a Ph.D. in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He was also a Fellow at Oxford. McFate lives in Washington, DC. For more information, see www.seanmcfate.com.

?Reviews of his book Goliath
*“[An] iconoclastic book .... If we go on fighting our wars the old way, we shall go on losing them.” – Max Hastings in The Sunday Times [UK]
*“A lively and provocative way to think about modern warfare.” – Lawrence Freedman in Foreign Affairs
*“The sharpest account of the dilemmas of war and peace I’ve read in years....A wonderful read.” – Evening Standard [UK]
*“Stunning. Sean McFate is a new Sun Tzu.” – Admiral Jim Stavridis (retired), the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander.
 
War is timeless. Weapons, tactics, technology, leadership, and objectives may change, but our desire to go into battle does not. We are living in the age of “durable disorder”—a period of unrest created by China’s rise, Russia’s resurgence, America’s retreat, global terrorism, international criminal empires, climate change, dwindling natural resources, and bloody civil wars.

Sean McFate has been on the front lines of deep state conflicts and has studied and taught the history and practice of war. Here he calls upon the legends of military study—Carl von Clausewitz, Sun Tzu, and his own experience—and presents new rules of military engagement, the ways we can fight and win in an age where corporations, mercenaries, and rogue states have more power and nation-states have less. With examples from the Roman conquest, World War II, Vietnam, and Afghanistan, he tackles the differences between conventional and future war, the danger in believing that technology will save us, the genuine leverage of psychological warfare, and more.