A four-person panel on Friday discussed the strategic ramifications of the "Mr. Y" article, a report published under the pseudonym "Mr. Y" that argued the United States overspends on its military and underspends on its youth.
Col. Mark Mykleby and Capt. Wayne Porter authored the report, which was officially titled "A National Strategic Narrative." They chose their pseudonym after George Kennan's famous 1946 "Mr. X" Long Telegram, which outlined the United States' Cold War policy of containment.
The panel consisted of Mykleby and Porter themselves, as well as Lt. General Dirk Jameson and visiting Professor of Practice in International Politics and Law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy Antonia Chayes
The panel, moderated by EPIIC colloquium member AparnaRamanan, a junior, began with an evaluation of current United States foreign policy, which Mykleby and Porter argued remains consistent with Kennan's containment policy and is untenable.
"When you try to impose a closed system on an open system, you end up with entropy," Porter said. "We figured that basically a strategy that we would come up with had to be about our sustainability underpinned by the values that define us as Americans."
Mykleby and Porter said civic engagement is a key part of their new strategy for America, and encouraging discussion is a central component of that.
"What we're advocating is really a dialogue," Porter said. "If we can't have an open and honest dialogue about ourselves, about where we're going in the future, then we're in trouble. This country was founded on hope and the belief that with innovation and entrepreneurial spirit, we will go wherever we want to go."
Jameson, who was presented with a Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award, discussed the importance of focusing on a more robust and comprehensive energy policy.
"I think what we need is a timeline that goes with an element of what they have described: energy. On a global basis, we are far and away the bigger users," Jameson said. "Our national strategy really must deal with this."
Chayes remained unconvinced that the strategy outlined in the "Mr. Y" article would fundamentally change the basic notions underpinning U.S. national security. She argued that the current political structure of the United States combined with a weary older generation undermines the possibility of real change at a national level.
"I suppose the politics in the United States really prevents that dialogue at the present time," Chayes said. "It's very self-destructive and I don't know how we'd change that."
"We're not going to have a new grand strategy unless we have a political dialogue that looks at the interconnectedness of the subject and begins to talk in a sensitive way," Chayes said. "So, I remain very skeptical as to whether the notion of the grand strategy is going to happen."
