General (RET) James L. Jones joined Lincoln Bloomfield,
Jr., Stimson’s chairman of the board, on Tuesday for the eighth installment of his series,
the Chairman’s Forum.  Gen. Jones and Ambassador
Bloomfield covered issues that ranged from the nonmilitary aspects of national
security to New START and NATO during a one-hour discussion. (Read the complete transcript).

Gen. Jones offered thoughts on:

• Revising the 20^th
  century national security establishment for the 21^st century: “We have a system that
  worked well in the 20^th century, when we were the unquestioned
  global leader in so many areas. We need
  to take another look at ourselves in order to be competitive. …Some of our
  institutions and elected representatives are living in a different century,
  they’re not living in the environment.
  It’s time to really take a look at our laws, our regulations, our policies,
  and to empower the greatness of America. When we face challenges, we always overcome
  them. And we are definitely being
  challenged.”
• Revolution and the
  future in Egypt: “You can be sure that,
  just as 30 years ago, when Iran
  fell, there was a cry for openness and transparency of government and better
  lives for the people, and look what we got.
  It didn’t quite work out that way.
  You can be sure that underneath the radar, forces that do not want this
  democratic movement, or do not want Egypt to emerge with this type of
  government and this type of society, are hard at work on us. Egypt is one of the pivotal
  countries that we really have to watch.
  And it’s an opportunity for us to lead in a different way, to bring
  economic incentives. I think that the
  administration has already shown a little courage here in terms of an economic
  package, but it needs to be bigger than that, and it needs to be international
  in scope.”
• Partisan Politics and
  New START:
  “We have to get back to a more civil political dialogue … On issues of national
  security, different opinions are fine, but partisanship shouldn’t play a role. I’ll use the example of the START treaty. …At
  the end of the day, the United
  States was relegated to watching one of the
  most important treaties of our time, relegated to a lame-duck session in
  Congress that was purely partisan. … It diminished us in the eyes of the
  world.”
• On NATO moving forward: “One of my favorite
  sayings is ‘a vision without resources is a hallucination.’ NATO has wonderful
  intentions. … The aspirations of the alliance are very good, but the realism
  that backs up those aspirations doesn’t really stand the test.”
  

To view the Chairman’s
Forum with Gen. James L. Jones in its entirety, go to: https://www.stimson.org/video/chairmans-forum-general-james-jones/

About the Chairman’s Forum:

The
Chairman’s Forum is a strategic conversation, featuring respected opinion
leaders in the foreign and security policy arena. Bloomfield holds these informal discussions
about eight times a year to address the most relevant global issues we face
today.  Recent guests include Alain Le
Roy, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping; Elon Musk, co-founder of
PayPal, and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors; and Senator Lindsey Graham (R – SC).