What the Next President Faces

Posted: September 15th, 2015

By General Jack Keane

General Keane, a four-star general, retired after 37 years of service which culminated in his appointment as acting Chief of Staff and Vice Chief of Staff of the US Army. General Keane is president of GSI Consulting and serves as chairman of the Institute for the Study of War, and a former and recent member of the Secretary of Defense Policy Board. In 2018, General Keane was the first military leader to be honored with the Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Award and in 2020, he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Trump at the White House.

The U.S. is confronting global security challenges on a scale it has not seen since the rise of the Soviet Union to super-power status, following WWII. Radical Islam is morphing into a global terrorist movement, revisionist powers Iran, Russia and China are seeking regional domination and advanced countries, and yes, eventually terrorist organizations, are developing cyber capabilities that can cripple a modern country’s financial, banking, transportation and utility systems.

What makes this such a dangerous situation is that unlike previous security challenges, the U.S. and Europe are failing miserably to meet these threats, so much so that our adversaries are emboldened and our friends no longer trust us. Anyone who travels the world knows that respect for America has diminished dramatically.

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