Greg Little; Lieutenant Artem Sherbinin, U.S. Navy; and Lieutenant Colonel Jack Long, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve
The story of David and Goliath is one of hubris and innovation. The Philistines’ mighty warrior, Goliath, faces off against the smaller David of the Israelites. Goliath towers over David in what seems to be a wildly lopsided fight. But the match ends with an upset—Goliath’s arrogance leaves him unprepared for David’s fighting style, while David’s cunning use of his sling allows him to win by avoiding Goliath’s strengths. This is an early example of a weaker side innovating in war to defeat a dominant power.
The Search for Asymmetry
For 80 years, the Department of Defense (DoD) has positioned the U.S. military as the world’s most formidable military force—a modern-day Goliath. But the United States’ overwhelming prowess in conventional military capabilities is driving today’s Davids to look for asymmetric weaknesses to exploit. And like Goliath, the DoD’s hubris plays right into their hands. U.S. overconfidence in traditional methods of warfare causes it to eschew the need to innovate and adapt, especially in the realm of artificial intelligence and digital capabilities. The United States risks being blindsided by more agile adversaries possessing smarter weapons, better awareness, and the ability to act faster. The United States risks suffering the same fate as Goliath. To avoid this, it is critical that the DoD shift its perspective and embrace digital technologies where they can have the best warfighting impact.
For more than 100 years, the U.S. strategy to win wars has been to outproduce the enemy. In World War II, America was the “arsenal of democracy”—producing the means to wage war not only for the U.S. military, but for its allies as well. The unmatched U.S. industrial base was crucial for the Allied military victory, as it churned out ships, tanks, planes, and ammunition at a rate that far outstripped Germany and Japan combined.
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