U.S. Army: Regaining Lost Ground

By Lieutenant General Guy Swan III (Ret.)

Lieutenant General (Ret) Guy C. Swan III currently serves as Vice President at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA). During more than 35 years of active service, he commanded at every level through Army Service Component Command. A career armor/cavalry officer, his general officer assignments included Commanding General of U.S. Army North (ARNORTH); Director of Operations for United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM); Commanding General of the U.S. Army Military District of Washington and Commander of the Joint Force Headquarters-National Capital Region; Commanding General of the 7th Army Training Command in Germany; and Chief of Staff and Director of Operations for the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I) during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, is a member of the Homeland Security Experts Group (HSEG) and the Council on Foreign Relations, and is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM).

By some analyses, the U.S. Army has fared the worst in terms of diminished readiness. Fifteen years of operations in the Middle East and budget sequestration have limited opportunities and resources for training and modernization. The Cipher Brief spoke with retired Army Lieutenant General Guy Swan about the state of readiness and the challenges to maintaining readiness.

The Cipher Brief: What is the Army’s state of readiness right now, and what are the key challenges—be they bureaucratic, technical or structural—that will be the hardest to overcome?

“The Cipher Brief has become the most popular outlet for former intelligence officers; no media outlet is even a close second to The Cipher Brief in terms of the number of articles published by formers.” —Sept. 2018, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 62

Access all of The Cipher Brief’s national security-focused expert insight by becoming a Cipher Brief Subscriber+ Member.

Subscriber+


Related Articles

How Safe Would We Be Without Section 702?

SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW — A provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that has generated controversy around fears of the potential for abuse has proven to be crucial […] More

Search

Close