Mahnken asserted that the military needs more resources for both readiness and modernization. He noted the uniqueness of the recent drawdown in that it is the first one to occur “all the while the United States has been at war.” Mahnken said “the risk calculus has changed” with the return of great-power competition, citing Russia and China as challenging U.S. power in certain theaters. He recommended investing in capabilities in the high end of warfare. “We need a truly global strategy that also deals with regional challenges,” he said. He cautioned that the capacity of the Defense Department to effectively and rapidly absorb a large infusion of capital is limited, and that rebuilding the military — such as increasing the Navy’s battle fleet to 340 or 355 ships — will take time and cannot be completed in four or eight years.
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