Cpl . Paul Regotti , a squad leader with 3 rd Battalion , 7 th Marine Regiment , provides security for Marines exiting an MV - 22 Osprey during an air assault on a Military Operation on Urbanized Terrain town.
The training was part of the Marine Corps ' Combat Readiness
Evaluation Exercise, Jan . 16 , 2015 . ( U . S. Marine Corps photo/ Julio McGraw ) 18 JUL 2018
Military . com | By Gina Harkins
A Marine general has a blunt warning for the U . S. as it faces new threats from near - peer enemies : The military is not currently set up to take them on and win .
" If you acknowledge that we are , in fact , in a great power competition and you take a look at our competitors, our competitors are well -organized and we are not , "
Maj . Gen . John Jansen , commandant of the Dwight D . Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy , said Tuesday .
Jansen , who ' s been tapped to receive his third star and serve in the Marine Corps ' top budget job, warned specifically about China during a National Defense Industrial Association event .
China , he said, has taken the " best of capitalism and some of the bounties it brings and harnessed it and is making it work for them. "
That ' s all while continuing to maintain an authoritarian - - and sometimes ruthless - - control over its people , he added .
The U . S. , on the other hand , is not doing so well , Jansen said . There ' s been a breakdown between industry and the American common defense , he added .
To rebuild that divide , the Eisenhower School - - which trains military officers and industry fellows on national security and resource strategy - - recently brought together more than 100 experts and moderators to come up with a solution .
Jansen will present their findings to top military leaders in September , including Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen . Joseph Dunford.
" We just need to decide this as a nation , " Jansen said, " which is , ' Are we going to organize or are we not ?' Our most senior leaders need to make that decision .
Are we going to come together and figure out how to compete ? Because what we' re doing now is incoherent . "
He credited the National Defense Strategy , released in January , with helping to provide a framework for taking on sophisticated adversaries .
The strategy not only mentions threats the U . S . faces from China , but also Iran , Russia and North Korea.
Weapons capabilities are changing faster than ever . The U . S. could find itself in the midst of a high - end conflict very quickly , Jansen said, after nearly two decades of focusing on counterinsurgency operations in the Middle East .
That ' s left the U . S. " 15 years behind the problem, " he said. Technology has changed rapidly in that time , as troops took on terror groups in places like Iraq , Afghanistan and Syria .
Jansen compared it to the period between 1936 and 1940 when little was done to prepare for fighting in World War II. It wasn ' t until 1940 when the Battle of Dunkirk inspired change , prompting the defense industry to build up new military capabilities .
" We have so much work to do to figure out what the force of the future looks like , " he said. " . . .
And that could take 10 to 12 years and billions or trillions of dollars to reorient that force. "
- - Gina Harkins can be reached at
gina. harkins @ military . com . Follow her on Twitter at @ ginaaharkins .
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