Making Total War a Given
The Hudson Institute:s "Re: Building Defense"
The Hudson Institute’s “Re: Building Defense” series epitomizes the dangerous effort to overcome the lack of technological and industrial capacity in the United States that resulted from the failure to invest in science in the United States, the destruction of education so as to dumb down the population, and the moving of domestic production overseas as part of the free trade regime designed to use cheap labor from abroad as a means of destroying the working class at home by planning for world war. War seems to be the answer to all America’s problems these days and this series of papers makes it clear that war is no longer a possible threat that must be avoided, but a given that must be prepared for.
In short it is only possible to “restore America’s position as a global manufacturing leader” by waging war with China. The reason is simple. Within the bankrupt economic system, economic and political ideology in which consumption as the driving force for improving the economy (wherein frugality, durability, and the development of intellectual, artistic, and spiritual aspects of human experience have no value) and a market economy is the only acceptable model for macro and micro economics (even though humans have existed for most of the last two million years without a market economy) war, world war, is the only solution to the horrific contradictions that are emerging in society. The problems cannot be solved in any other way than war because the masters of the universe cannot question their assumptions, the rules of the game.
For example, the Hudson Institute declares:
“The Pentagon’s depleted weapons magazines don’t look like those of a military preparing to fight China in two years.”
That is to say that fighting China in two years is not a possibility, but the explicit goal of the military. The assumption is false, but it is repeated so often in think tanks that it is becoming real. This insane logic is now common sense.
The report continues:
“With their custom components and bespoke integration, the DoD’s preferred munitions are more like the artisan products featured on Etsy than the mass-produced weapons that came off assembly lines during World War II. The Arsenal of Democracy turned auto plants into aircraft and bomb factories by designing—or redesigning—military hardware for producibility. To prepare for protracted conflict, the DoD needs to think like a manufacturer and pursue weapons that leverage existing parts and elastic production facilities.”
That is to say that mass assembly for total war, like during World War II, must be the goal of the United States to revive its economy. The assumption is wrong and is dangerous, but again, It has become a political reality in DC.
What these reports are about, as are so many other studies floating around Washington, is creating a war economy in the United States. That is the real danger we face, not a crazy Donald Trump, or the stupidity of generals, or the ignorance of MAGA supporters. The American economy demands consumption but it does not make anything that for which there is a demand except weapons.
The House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on December 11 that officially made $895 billion available for the military, but in fact means that over a trillion dollars, the greatest amount in history, will be dedicated to the military by the United States. This budget is not only being funded with debt. The spending of the government in all other fields other than defense are being cut to the bone. Americans will have no way, the plutocrats hope, but to launch a world war if they want to put food on the table.
The Hudson Institute
Re: Building Defense
The list of to-dos facing Congress and the Pentagon to rebuild America’s defense industrial base is comprehensive but imperative for American security in this great power competition. The next step is to implement and scale these ideas. Below are three top items for the Department of Defense’s 2025 checklist to achieve this.
The To-Do List
1. Rebuild comprehensively.
2. Adopt a mass production mindset.
3. Focus on joint experimentation to develop real-world solutions.
Sketching Out the Details
1. Take a comprehensive approach.
Reindustrialization is not all about additional government spending. It is about incentivizing new supply and demand opportunities and unleashing American capital and ingenuity. The second Trump administration could redefine America’s industrial future by focusing on six lines of action. These are the underlying conditions required to make the progress that Donald Trump is driving toward:
Focus on strategic sectors.
Reform regulations.
Make energy abundant and reliable.
Develop the US industrial workforce.
Mobilize capital.
Reexamine trade policies.
This comprehensive approach would not only bolster national security but also ensure long-term economic prosperity, restoring America’s position as a global manufacturing leader.
Read Nadia Schadlow’s op-ed “Reindustrialization: A Strategy for American Sovereignty and Security.”
2. Behave like a titan of industry, not an art connoisseur.
The Pentagon’s depleted weapons magazines don’t look like those of a military preparing to fight China in two years. Facing shortages for training and future contingencies, Washington has constrained weapons shipments to Ukraine. At home, industry is unable to keep up with demand and the changes needed to counter GPS jamming. But the uncomfortable truth is this—today’s scarcity is self-imposed. With their custom components and bespoke integration, the DoD’s preferred munitions are more like the artisan products featured on Etsy than the mass-produced weapons that came off assembly lines during World War II. The Arsenal of Democracy turned auto plants into aircraft and bomb factories by designing—or redesigning—military hardware for producibility. To prepare for protracted conflict, the DoD needs to think like a manufacturer and pursue weapons that leverage existing parts and elastic production facilities.
3. Pursue joint experimentation to solve real-world problems at scale.
The traditional approach of developing requirements first and then demonstrating individual systems struggles to address the new reality that warfighting advantage is increasingly derived from hyperconnected kill chains that cross service boundaries. Joint experimentation provides a way to discover how systems can be combined in novel ways, to understand the interactions between new technologies like uncrewed systems and legacy platforms, and to rapidly evolve concepts of operation alongside technical capabilities. Joint experimentation enables the rapid learning and adaptation needed to deploy cross-service operational capabilities in this dynamic environment. The potential for joint integration is not just about creating new concepts; it is also about finding ways to implement them, experiment with them, refine them, and scale them into the deployed force.
Read Bryan Clark and Dan Patt’s report “The Value of Experimentation, Not Demonstration.”
The list of to-dos facing Congress and the Pentagon to rebuild America’s defense industrial base is comprehensive but imperative for American security in this great power competition. The next step is to implement and scale these ideas. Below are three top items for the Department of Defense’s 2025 checklist to achieve this.
The To-Do List
1. Rebuild comprehensively.
2. Adopt a mass production mindset.
3. Focus on joint experimentation to develop real-world solutions.
Sketching Out the Details
1. Take a comprehensive approach.
Reindustrialization is not all about additional government spending. It is about incentivizing new supply and demand opportunities and unleashing American capital and ingenuity. The second Trump administration could redefine America’s industrial future by focusing on six lines of action. These are the underlying conditions required to make the progress that Donald Trump is driving toward:
Focus on strategic sectors.
Reform regulations.
Make energy abundant and reliable.
Develop the US industrial workforce.
Mobilize capital.
Reexamine trade policies.
This comprehensive approach would not only bolster national security but also ensure long-term economic prosperity, restoring America’s position as a global manufacturing leader.
Read Nadia Schadlow’s op-ed “Reindustrialization: A Strategy for American Sovereignty and Security.”
2. Behave like a titan of industry, not an art connoisseur.
The Pentagon’s depleted weapons magazines don’t look like those of a military preparing to fight China in two years. Facing shortages for training and future contingencies, Washington has constrained weapons shipments to Ukraine. At home, industry is unable to keep up with demand and the changes needed to counter GPS jamming. But the uncomfortable truth is this—today’s scarcity is self-imposed. With their custom components and bespoke integration, the DoD’s preferred munitions are more like the artisan products featured on Etsy than the mass-produced weapons that came off assembly lines during World War II. The Arsenal of Democracy turned auto plants into aircraft and bomb factories by designing—or redesigning—military hardware for producibility. To prepare for protracted conflict, the DoD needs to think like a manufacturer and pursue weapons that leverage existing parts and elastic production facilities.
Read Bryan Clark and Dan Patt’s op-ed “The Pentagon Must Build Weapons Differently to Mobilize for the Information Age.”
3. Pursue joint experimentation to solve real-world problems at scale.
The traditional approach of developing requirements first and then demonstrating individual systems struggles to address the new reality that warfighting advantage is increasingly derived from hyperconnected kill chains that cross service boundaries. Joint experimentation provides a way to discover how systems can be combined in novel ways, to understand the interactions between new technologies like uncrewed systems and legacy platforms, and to rapidly evolve concepts of operation alongside technical capabilities. Joint experimentation enables the rapid learning and adaptation needed to deploy cross-service operational capabilities in this dynamic environment. The potential for joint integration is not just about creating new concepts; it is also about finding ways to implement them, experiment with them, refine them, and scale them into the deployed force.
Thank you Emmanuel. Excellent writing. Have you presented your ideas or thoughts to anyone in the political world?
Extremely important. Thank you, Emanuel.