战略复杂性Strategic Complexity.pdfVIP

Defense Programs Conference As Prepared Wednesday, 2 March 2011 for Delivery ~25 min. General Norty Schwartz Page 1 of 8 Introduction Thank you, Jim, for that kind introduction. And, thanks to Credit Suisse, and McAleese and Associates, for hosting this conference. To all: thank you for the opportunity to share some thoughts this morning. I am truly privileged to speak before this distinguished audience, and I am grateful for what you do to bolster our Nation’s productivity, and contribute to her security. Strategic Complexity You’re all very well aware of how our global interconnections are creating an increasingly elaborate geostrategic environment—economically, materially, politically, and militarily. This complexity can work to our benefit, but presents difficult challenges as well. We have both opportunities for cooperation and prospects for competition with rising powers like China, while we face potential aggression from erratic regimes like North Korea and Iran. And, as we carefully monitor decades-old tensions in the Middle East and North Africa, which have erupted into waves of protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Levant, we are reminded yet again of the impact that events halfway across the world can have on our Nation’s economy, from Wall Street to the local gas station or coffee shop. And in addition to nation-states, a growing number of non- and sub-state actors, increasingly empowered by the proliferation of highly-capable yet relatively inexpensive technologies, are becoming more able to shape the geostrategic environment that once was the exclusive domain of nation-states with substantial materiel and human resources. Amidst this complexity and expanding slate of