Industry, government: Enduring partners.

AuthorCarlisle, Hawk
PositionPresident's Perspective

The National Defense Industrial Association is a world-class organization with nearly 100 years of exemplary service to the nation.

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I cannot express how much of an honor and privilege it is for me to become part of the leadership team of this fantastic organization and to serve as its next president and CEO. As a member of the U.S. military for the past 39 years, I have watched and been the benefactor of the incredible support NDIA has given to the warfighter. It is part of what makes the U.S. military the greatest the world has ever seen.

I want to thank retired Air Force Gen. Craig R. McKinley for the tremendous leadership he has provided NDIA over the past few years and tell every member of the association that I will continue moving forward in everything that he has been working on.

One only needs to read an article or watch the news for a few minutes to see that it is clearly evident that we live in very challenging times. I spent my first 12 years in the Air Force fighting the Cold War. Over the last 27 years, I have spent a great deal of time and thought on the post-Desert Storm environment we live in and the national defense strategy needed to deal with the threats and environment we face.

There are no easy answers, quick fixes or single game-changing solutions. The threats we face include the high-end, near-peer potential adversaries such as an aggressive and evolving China as well as a potential restart of the Cold War with Russia. We also face potential adversaries such as Iran and North Korea and a continuous and worldwide violent extremism and terrorism threat--not to mention natural disasters that require humanitarian response and disaster relief.

Developing a strategy to deal with the spectrum of potential threats and the range of military operations that the armed forces could be called upon to conduct is an incredibly challenging task.

How to best use the nation's limited resources is a constant factor in developing the strategy. Whether one is in government or industry, there is only so much money, manpower and time available, so we must get the most capability and capacity that we possibly can for the warfighter with the resources that we have.

As the saying goes, "every challenge is an opportunity." I believe together we can continue to be the best military in the world and have the capacity to deal with whatever threats we face. However, we can only accomplish this if we are all in this together...

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