America has become “somewhat ambivalent” about its defense at the same time that it faces “unprecedented” threats to the world order from Russia, China and Islamic extremists, retired Gen. David Petraeus told House lawmakers on Wednesday.
Petraeus, the former director of the CIA, testified before a House Armed Services Committee hearing that America can’t do “everything, everywhere,” but urged the country to step up when its interests are threatened.
“When the most egregious violations of the most basic principles of the international order we helped shape are tolerated or excused, that lack of action undermines the entire system — and is an invitation to further challenges,” he said. “Americans should not take the current international order for granted. It did not will itself into existence. We created it. Likewise, it is not naturally self-sustaining. We have sustained it. If we stop doing so, it will fray and, eventually, collapse.”
But even if America remains the most powerful country in the world, both Petraeus and John McLaughlin, a former acting director of the CIA who now works at John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, stressed that the U.S. must focus on improving alliances and building coalitions since even a world power can’t solve every problem by itself.
“The problems we’re dealing with are almost always problem we can’t solve on our own,” McLaughlin said. “In a competitive world, we’re still No. 1, but we have to have the ability to work well with others in order to lead.”
Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, stressed that the Pentagon’s bureaucratic acquisition system must also be prioritized to ensure the military can meet future threats.
“We cannot just pour more money into a system that may have served us well during the Cold War but does not have agility necessary to meet the wide array of complex challenges we face today and in the future,” he said.
