The Solarium

Col. Mark "Puck" Mykleby and CAPT Wayne Porter speak with the Hon. Jane Harman, April 8, 2011

America should “pursue her enduring interests of prosperity and security through a strategy of sustainability that is built upon the solid foundation of our national values.” These are the conclusions of Navy Captain Wayne Porter and Colonel Mark “Puck” Mykleby of the Marine Corps, in a paper released last month by the non-partisan Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars.

At a time when Washington seems barely capable of agreeing to even just a year-long Federal budget, Porter and Mykleby’s ideas speak to the coming decades of the 21^st Century. What is more interesting, however, is where these two officers work: they comprise the core of a small ideas shop within the under the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen.

And it was that combination of good ideas and high-ranking interest that spurred a refreshing show of bi-partisan of unity. Former Congresswoman Jane Harman, the new head of the Wilson Center, invited two-time national security advisor Brent Scowcroft to lead off a discussion that featured, among others, Anne-Marie Slaughter, who just left the Obama State Department and Steve Clemons, publisher of the Washington Note. New York Times columnist Tom Friedman moderated the event.

The paper, entitled, “A National Strategic Narrative,” argues that the challenges and opportunities faced by the United States in the 21^st Century require a major shift in America’s strategic thinking, away from the remnants of the Cold War mindset that still shape Washington’s approach to global engagement.

Unlike during the Cold War, America’s challenge is not a single enemy. Rather, the challenge is an international system whose present-day economic dynamics are simply unsustainable. Today’s world, in contrast, requires the use of “smart power” abroad and “smart growth” at home.

Captain Porter, a Navy officer with 25 years of service including experience in the energy-rich Persian Gulf, explained what he means by smart growth at home: “America cannot lead the world without leading by example. A path to sustainable prosperity is the top strategic issue on the minds of leaders in Europe, Japan, China and India. We talk about sustainability, but we don’t do anything. Now it’s time to follow through and become, no-kidding, sustainable.”

A few years back, the Princeton Project on National Security, led by Dr. Slaughter, looked for some kind of central organizing principle for U.S. global engagement. The ‘Global War on Terror’ was too narrow, they all agreed. But the world, according to their findings, was too complex for a singular grand strategy. Climate change was just one of many pressing issues they considered.

Today, Slaughter, who just completed two years as the head of policy planning for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is seeing the world through different eyes. “We need a story with a beginning, middle, and projected happy ending that will transcend our political divisions, orient us as a nation, and give us both a common direction and the confidence and commitment to get to our destination,” she writes in a preface to the paper.

The sustainability task is daunting. America is four percent of the global population and the largest single national economy. We produce approximately 25 percent of the global goods and services while consuming 25 percent of global energy and resources. In the 21^st Century, the rapid urbanization of China and India, which together are a third of the world, is going to mean we have to decouple energy and material consumption from wealth and well-being.

That’s where Porter and Mykleby believe there is a great opportunity for innovation and healthy competition, not the zero-sum “great game” of empires past. “We think of competition as a healthy thing in our domestic markets, but when prices get high internationally, instead of competing through innovation, all too often, we securitize the issue,” Mykleby explained. “That doesn’t make sense.”

Indeed, the authors seem to be in broad agreement with their Commander-in-Chief. In his first National Security Strategy, published almost one year ago, the president wrote, “Our strategy starts by recognizing that our strength and influence begins with the steps we take at home.” Just last week, the president reaffirmed his call for a clean energy economy in order to “win the future.”

Nevertheless, uniformed discussion of national sustainability has been rare. While the Army last week announced it’s “Net Zero” program for a number of bases overseas operations, a call for a strategy of sustainability from serving military officers might not sit well with some in Washington. In today’s highly-charged environment, the right wing is just as likely to call sustainability socialist while those on the left often see a uniform and start talking about the military-industrial complex.

Porter and Mykleby are not worried. “We’re writing from our experience,” Mykleby, a combat-tested fighter pilot, told me. “From where we sit, what we’re doing is just not sustainable in the long run.” At the end of the day, they both believe Americans are ready to take on the next great challenge.

--Patrick Doherty