Live Online Policy Forum 

# Building a Modern Military 

Date and Time 

June 4, 2020 1 - 3 PM EDT 

Location 

Live Online 

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##### Featuring 

Featuring **Wendy J. Jordan**, Senior Policy Analyst, Taxpayers for Common Sense; **Christopher A. Preble**, Vice President, Defense and Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute; **Lauren Sander**, External Relations Manager, Defense and Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute; **Thomas X. Hammes, PhD**, Distinguished Research Fellow, Center for Strategic Research, National Defense University; **Eric Gomez**, Director, Defense Policy Studies, Cato Institute; **Brandon Valeriano**, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute.

1:00-1:45PM 

**Panel I** 

**Wendy J. Jordan**, Senior Policy Analyst, Taxpayers for Common Sense 
**Christopher A. Preble**, Vice President, Defense and Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute 
**Lauren Sander**, External Relations Manager, Defense and Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute

2:15-3:00PM 

**Panel II** 

**Thomas X. Hammes, PhD**, Distinguished Research Fellow, Center for Strategic Research, National Defense University 
**Eric Gomez**, Director, Defense Policy Studies, Cato Institute 
**Brandon Valeriano**, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute

COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on every facet of American life. The impact will reverberate for generations. The global pandemic—and the U.S. government’s response to it—has threatened the lives and liberties of Americans as well as the United States’ standing in the world.

This disaster is a call to action. The rate of U.S. military spending was unsustainable long before the COVID-19 pandemic. The threat posed by nontraditional security challenges, including pandemics, climate change, and malicious disinformation, should prompt a thoroughgoing reexamination of the strategies, tactics, and tools needed to keep the United States safe and prosperous.

In Cato’s new report, [ *Building a Modern Military: The Force Meets Geopolitical Realities*](https://www.cato.org/publications/white-paper/building-modern-military-force-meets-geopolitical-realities), authors Eric Gomez, Christopher Preble, Lauren Sander, and Brandon Valeriano identify the most effective and efficient means for advancing Americans’ safety and prosperity. The report prioritizes ending the forever wars, terminating needless military spending, rethinking the fundamentals of strategic deterrence, and focusing the entire defense establishment on innovation and adaptation.

Please join the authors and two distinguished guest speakers as they discuss some of the key findings and policy recommendations of the report.

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