Is the United States in a
New Cold War?
If so, how do we win?
The first answer is simple: absolutely yes.
Giving the second answer is what this book is all about.
We asked fifty of the nation’s leading experts in national security, military intelligence, and global politics to give their insights and expertise. All had left public life and were free to completely speak their minds. And speak their minds they did!
Their answers to those two simple, straightforward questions involved pursuing their analyses in any direction they wished, uninfluenced by even the work of their fellow writers. They did not see one another’s essays until we collected them all, so everyone gave his or her own unvarnished opinion. The result is a book that is not a single, carefully word-smithed document followed by a bunch of signatures. It’s also not a collective report that conceals individual author contributions. It is a compilation of individual ideas. Exceptional ideas.
The results are impressive, compelling and surprisingly diverse in thinking. Each writer has contributed at least one unique take on the problem posed to him or her. Not that anyone doubts America is under threat from our four principal adversaries: the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Democratic Republic of (North) Korea. No disagreement about that. Rather, the diversity lies in the recommended approaches to victory.
Some offer highly technical and precise strategies, while others urge broad reforms that promise to, as the saying goes, create the rising tide that lifts all boats. And some warn that the biggest threat of all facing our country exists not from outside adversaries but from the wide gulf currently dividing the two main political parties and our citizenry.
Whatever the differences in content, however, the group shares a staunch belief in the character and resilience of America and its people, and our capacity to overcome even the most serious and dangerous challenges. Every one of the writers represents an outstanding example of that character. And their work clearly displays their devotion to duty and love of this country. Despite the enormous challenges facing America from the specter of a New Cold War, there is a single, recurring and unifying theme woven into the mix of commentaries. It is hopefulness — hopefulness in the American people and the American spirit. And from that hopefulness, these accomplished individuals have created an effective strategy to, indeed, IMAGINE that we can win the New Cold War.
Highlights and Testimonials
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![Major General Arnold Fields]()
“We want to believe that a so-called New Cold War will have no side effects or enduring challenges to our nation. This … could be a false and dangerous assumption.”
Major General (ret.) Arnold Fields
former Deputy Commander USMC forces in Europe, former Director USMC General Staff and former Inspector General U.S. Central Command -
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"These fifty authors—many of whom I know personally—have made a major contribution to American national-security thinking. What is most important is not where the majority view lies, nor where there is agreement or disagreement. Their unique contribution is the wide-ranging, thoroughly professional discussion of the diverse threats we and our allies face. In a time where pure politics, often personal and unpleasant, dominate the national policy debate, this volume is a critical antidote. Congratulations and many thanks to all the participants."
Ambassador John R. Bolton
former National Security Advisor -
![Julie Bentz]()
“I see the New Cold War forming around the intense ideological rivalry right here, within the United States itself.”
Major General (ret.) Julie A. Bentz
former NSC staffer and former Deputy Director of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization -
![Chuck Brooks]()
“The emergence of digital technologies has national security implications and heralds a change in basic assumptions about how countries will approach military conflicts.”
Charles Brooks
former Legislative Director for Science & Technology, Department of Homeland Security -
![Jon Olson]()
“America’s new leaders must refocus our national security thinking, incorporating a mindset that considers where we should be at the end of the next quarter-century rather than trying to influence the next fiscal quarter.”
Commander (ret.) Jon Olson
author, national security lecturer and former host of the radio program National Security This Week -
![David Gioe]()
“America must regain a common reality and a shared sense of purpose, in united accord, to endure and once again shine as an example to the world. If we do not, we will have no foreign enemy to blame.”
Dr. David V. Gioe
former Navy commander, instructor military strategy at West Point and at King’s College London -
![Dave Deptula]()
“Today, we face more consequential threats to our nation’s security than at any time in our history. Simultaneously, our military is in serious decline.”
Lieutenant General (ret.) David A. Deptula
Dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Power Studies -
![Tom Mahnken]()
“The United States and China are more economically interdependent than was the case with the Soviet Union. That said, history can and should inform us, even if the past does not repeat itself.”
Dr. Thomas G. Mahnken
Senior Research Professor at the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins University, member National Defense Strategy Commission, and member Army Science Board
