Artful Balance: Future US Defense Strategy and Force Posture in the Gulf
A discussion with:
Barry Pavel
Vice President and Director, Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security
Atlantic Council
Bilal Y. Saab
Senior Fellow for Middle East Security, Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security
Atlantic Council
Moderated by:
Vago Muradian
Editor
Defense News
For more than four decades, the United States has had a robust web of partnerships with the states comprising the Gulf Cooperation Council. This system has helped to achieve common strategic goals, including securing the free and constant flow of oil from the region to the world at large; preventing the rise of a hostile regional power that could threaten Middle East security; and countering Islamist extremists that seek to violently transform politics and society. The relevance and importance of these goals in today's strategic and regional environment have only increased. However, such pillars face increasing pressures due to historic winds of change in the region, including a likely nuclear deal with Iran; new global trends in disruptive technology, demographics, and energy; and important shifts in Gulf politics. To continue to protect collective interests and strengthen security in the Gulf, the United States needs to revise its defense strategy, reshape its military presence, and recalibrate its level of political engagement in the Gulf.
Please join the Atlantic Council on Monday, March 23 from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. to launch a report by Bilal Y. Saab and Barry Pavel entitled Artful Balance: Future US Defense Strategy and Force Posture in the Gulf. In it, Saab and Pavel provide an in-depth, strategic review of existing US defense strategy and force posture in the Gulf and propose a set of recommendations for a more geographically distributed, operationally resilient, politically sustainable, and tactically robust force posture. The report draws on recent conversations held by the authors over a seven-month period with senior Arab Gulf and US officials in Washington, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Riyadh, and Muscat.
Light lunch will be served.