Western defense companies need to have a rooting interest in the geopolitical competition between the U.S.-led democratic allies and authoritarian regimes, a top U.S. defense official warned.

“We want private-sector innovation to succeed; we need the private sector to feel the same way about democracy because neither can thrive unless the other survives, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks told a defense industry conference on the sidelines of the NATO leaders summit in Washington, D.C. “And, we want both to continue to long endure.”