We Must Build a Talent Innovation Base – For the 21st Century and Beyond

Strategic competition with China – and its authoritarian fellow travelers: Russia, North Korea, and Iran – is a contest for the future of the world order. Yet, the United States has yet to fully commit to this generational competition – not only in terms of ships, planes, munitions – but also talent.

This debate over the United States’ commitment to this strategic competition for the future of the world order further unfolded late last week during the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) mark-up. SASC Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-MS) offered an amendment that would bring the overall authorized national defense topline to a notable $923.3 billion – consistent with his recent op-ed in which he asserted “America’s military is not prepared for war – or peace.” While this amendment was adopted as part of the SASC-marked National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025, its inclusion catalyzed bipartisan support – both for and against the bill – in its final passage out of committee.

While fiscal considerations have been part of the dialogue, the bulk of the discussion in Washington has focused on preparing the United States from an innovation and technological perspective to effectively compete China – what the US Department of Defense’s National Defense Strategy describes as the pacing challenge. This focus on innovation and technology, in part, stems from China’s Xi Jinping generational effort to modernize China’s military. Xi’s “Made in China 2025” is focused on elevating China to the forefront of key technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence, and aerospace. Meanwhile, Russia's investments in hypersonic weapons and cyber capabilities reflects an alignment with Xi to challenge Western dominance.

These efforts around technological superiority by China and Russia reflect an attempt to achieve an envisioned alternative world order. This vision was further elucidated during a recent state visit between Xi and Putin in which through a 7000-word treatise they doubled down on their “no limits” strategic relationship (announced just weeks before Russia conducted a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022), casting it as a “new era” partnership to deepen the defense and trade engagement between China and Russia – the two most powerful rival states to the United States. Moreover, with Putin’s recent state visit to North Korea – the first in 24 years – a new strategic partnership was forged between Russia and North Korea, aimed at mutual protection in the event of attack, further solidifying a coalition of countries aligned to Xi and Putin’s envisioned alternate world order.

It is reasonable for US policymakers to focus on technological competition as part of this broader strategic competition against the quadruple hydra rivals of the West of China, North Korea, and Iran. Technological innovation is certainly one of the key strengths of democracies. Yet, an exclusive focus on technology misses perhaps an even great superpower of democracies: talent.

Strategic competition with China and Russia might be best characterized by a relentless pursuit of technological superiority. But, in reality, it is a relentless pursuit of talent. In strategic competition with China and Russia and their cronies, talent is the lifeblood that will drive technological breakthroughs and fundamentally determine whether we have a China-led world or a US-led world.

By making a national commitment to build a national infrastructure of talent to solve the critical public problems of our time – from the local to the global – through innovation and entrepreneurship, the United States will not only be building a “talent innovation base” for the 21st century.

We will be ensuring the United States remains the global leader in the 22nd century – and beyond.



Dr. Alex Gallo is a US Army Veteran and author of “Vetspective,” a RallyPoint series that discusses national security, foreign policy, politics, and society and highlights the analysis of thought-leaders, policy analysts, and scholars. Alex is a Senior Vice President with NobleReach Foundation. He also serves as a fellow with George Mason University’s National Security Institute and an adjunct professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University. Follow him on Twitter at @AlexGalloUSA.

Sources:
https://breakingdefense.com/2024/06/sasc-breaks-spending-cap-by-25-billion-in-fy25-defense- policy-bill/

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/29/opinion/us-military-war.html

https://media.defense.gov/2022/Oct/27/ [login to see] /-1/-1/1/2022-NATIONAL-DEFENSE-
STRATEGY-NPR-MDR.PDF

https://www.reuters.com/world/putin-visit-chinas-xi-deepen-strategic-partnership-2024-05-15/

https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/made-china-2025-threat-global-trade

https://www.wsj.com/articles/russias-vladimir-putin-meets-with-chinese-leader-xi-jinping-in-
beijing [login to see] 3

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/kim-jong-un-putin-north-korea-russia-mutual-defense-pact-rcna157903