Expires. Reporter with military time. The editor, host for defense and aerospace podcasts. On my left we have robert costa, chief election and Campaign Correspondent cbs news. David butler, Communications Advisor to the chairman, elizabeth miller, Washington Bureau chief with the new york times. John donnelly, Senior Writer at cq roll call. And max let, publisher for stars and stripes. I would like to acknowledge the presence today of the Ukrainian Ambassador to the u. S. Welcome back to the club. [applause] the United StatesNational Defense strategy is focused on a rising china which america views as its most consequential strategic competitor and russia, which has proven over the past year and a half that is a clear and present threat. Over nearly the past year and a half russia slaughtered ukrainians and ukrainians have fought back with everything they have. General milley said in his remarks last year that the best way to honor ukrainian sacrifice is continue to support its fight for freedom and stand against tyranny. While the fundamental character of war has not changed, he said, the way war is fought is changing, the weapons, technologies, organizations and doctrine of fundamental, profound, and significant. Were it will look very different in the 20 50s than it does now. He is the 20th chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the highest ranking military officer and principal advisor military to the president and National Security council. Prior to becoming chairman on october 1, 2019, general milley was the 39th chief of staff of the u. S. Army where he created a fourstar command focused on modernization of the force after the service struggled for decades to successfully secure modern capabilities. He also established the armys first major war fighting concept which is the multidomain operation doctrine. General milleys operational deployments include Multinational Force in egypt and just because panama, operation uphold democracy in haiti, joint endeavor in bosnia, iraqi freedom in iraq and enduring freedom in afghanistan. He also deployed to somalia and columbia. He is from massachusetts and holds a bachelor degree Political Science from princeton and masters degree from Columbia University and National Security studies from the naval war college. Climbing out of the years long pandemic were continuing to rage in ukraine, the u. S. Military has an added challenge to modernize. We are delighted to have the chairman today and look forward to hearing how he plans to set the stage for the joint force to usher in rapper Rapid Transformation while continuing to address the current ones. Welcome to the National Press club. The floor is yours. [applause] gen. Milley thank you. I appreciate those kind words. Jen, i know that everyone knows who jen is, but you may not know that although she is not from boston she wanted to be from boston. [laughter] she is a graduate of bu. She originally started out covering boston politics, which is always interesting. And then of course, she comes down here, but i know the bruins did not do great. I know the red sox are not where they should be. The patriots had a rough time. But we are going to get there so stick with boston. Thank you for that kind introduction. I want to thank everyone for being here. Particularly, i would like to thank donna to my right for running this and putting this together. Appreciate you doing that. Also, the ambassador. I have known her for quite some time and thank you for your leadership in the United States for representing ukraine in a challenging struggle. And so thank you. , [applause] and just by pointing out a certain date, tomorrow is the first of july. And it is the 50th anniversary of the u. S. Militarys volunteer force. So it is a force that i think is , capable, competent, lethal, and ready for whatever comes americas way. I am really honored to be here. In addition to the u. S. Military, you, the media, play a Critical Role in society to maintain a free and open and democratic country. And i want to take a moment to recognize the journalists who have risked it all to bring the facts from a wide variety of military conflicts. Like austin tice was been missing since the subduction in syria in 2012, a former marine infantry officer with combat deployments in iraq and afghanistan. He left a law career to be one of the first reporters on the ground covering the civil war in syria. Were Evan Gershkovich who was , arrested in russia earlier this year. He was the first journalist since the cold war ever arrested on espionage charges. And then, in german hall, who was seriously injured, near death, almost flatlined in ukraine last year covering russias illegal invasion and attack on a smaller country. They joined the ranks of so many others. They joined the ranks of Bernie Bernie pyle and rosenthal who filmed the flag raising at iwo jima. Admiral and bradley and joe galloway from the famous lz xray. Dan rather and kimco dozier and so many more. There are so many correspondents out there every single day in harms way risking their lives. That has been true throughout American History from the revolutionary war on. Journalists have help tell the story of our wars and i think that has made a huge difference. In colonial times, it was the newspapers that informed the American People of what was happening in that war and the various policies we are fighting for and the outcomes of battles. With the rise of the print media and the expansion of that and the penny press you get to the civil war and it became easier to provide continuous coverage on those wars and those battles that were extraordinarily bloody. Townspeople would rush to pick up the latest paper. Scanning down the list of the deceased, union or confederate, and the names of their loved ones. A free press has been embedded in our constitution. In my oath, all of our old of those who serve in uniform today are to support and defend that document, the constitution. And you, the press, are part of that document. You are essential. You are fundamental to a democratic republic. And what you and your predecessors have done for 247 years, you have secured our freedom by reporting on it every single day regardless of risk to self. That is much like what we do as soldiers. Except you are doing it without a weapon. When this club was founded in 1908, we were only 43 years removed from the American Civil War and the world was in a period of very rapid and significant change. At the turn of the last century, give or take 10 years, there was a pivot point in the rapid innovation of technology, economics, communications, politics, and the military. There were major advancements in electricity and energy and transportation, food processing, canning, refrigeration, airplanes, cars. Communications all of that was , happening. At the same time other things were happening in the geopolitical world. During that period there were , many small regional wars. A lot of limited conflicts. But there was not a great power war. The last great power war was ended in 1815 with the end of the napoleonic wars. Continental wide war. At the turnofthecentury war seemed remote. And during that time, if you were living in paris or london or berlin, the average citizen would not think war was in the offering. Europe had seen many wars break out but again limit it. The francoprussian war, the austrian hungarian more. The italian wars of independence, the german wars of unification, but they were not global. They were regional and relatively limited. There were the two balkan wars in the moroccan crisis which narrowly averted beginning of a continental wide war. In norman angel published a book 1910, called the great illusion he argued economic costs of war in europe would be too expensive. He said the world was to interconnected and the interdependence made war illogical and counterproductive. The families of europe were all related somehow to queen victoria. Every emperor and czar and king and queen were descendeds of relatives that went on boats together and knew each other quite well. It was also the belief that war, if it did come, would be violent and quick. It would be short, not long. And yet four years after angel wrote his book, almost 100 years after the end of the previous great power war, in the summer of the world walked off into the 1914, edge of the abyss into world war i. Acidity is tells us that wars are fought primarily because of fear, pride, and interest, and amplified by ambition. These factors played a role when a single pistol shot cast the world in a cataclysm of global conflict in sarajevo, unleashing destruction on a scale yet unseen by humanity. That single terrorist event provided the spark that ignited the underlying tinder of militarism, nationalism, imperialism, and populism. The crisis took only about six weeks, six short weeks for decisionmakers and nation after nation launched into the fray. Between august 1914 when the war begins in christmas almost one , Million People were killed in the trenches of world war i as they spread from the English Channel to the alps. And the war resulted essentially in a stalemate by that time. And yet the psalm, gallipoli, we those came later and ethical in our ears today about mans folly and the horrible cost of war. For the United States, the battle in the largest battle in 1918, American History, 1. 2 million american troops fought inch by inch through forests. 26,000 americans were killed in action in six weeks. 120,000 total casualties all to advance 10 miles. By the end of the war the global , human cost of world war i had reached 20 Million People, by most estimates. Five empires collapsed and set the conditions for the rise of mussolini, hitler, the russian revolution, and more. In the u. S. , they turned inward. Just two decades later armies mobilized again in 1939 for the second world war, which would last six brutal years. By christmas of 1941, the United States was yet again in a great power war. Every family in the United States and europe and asia was somehow touched by world war i and ii. I had an uncle that was wounded in a hospital in london and that the only reason he is alive. Another was wounded from a gas attack. My mother and father both were part of the greatest generation in world war ii, along with many of your parents and grandparents. They each had brothers and sisters who were in the war. My father fought with the Fourth Marine Division and hit the beaches. My mother would take care of the wounded coming back from the Central Pacific at a hospital in seattle. 7000 marines and sailors were killed in action on iwo jima in only 19 days. 34,000 wounded. Almost 22,000 japanese perished on a tiny island that was only two miles by four miles. Over in europe my uncle was at , normandy where 26,000 u. S. Troops were killed between dday in the fall of paris eight weeks later. Another uncle i had was in the philippines. Incredibly, in the summer of 1944, 58,000 americans were killed across five theaters of war in only eight weeks. In all, during world war ii, we lost over 400,000. In italy, 150,000 casualties. At sea we lost 62,000 sailors. ,in the air we lost 40,000 , airmen. That is the human cost. That is the tragedy of great power war. Between 1914 and 1945, the beginning of world war i and the end of world war ii, it is estimated by most historians that approximately 150 Million People were killed in the most violent three decades ever recorded in human history. All in the conduct of the great power war. Two world wars in 30 years, two continents destroyed, more refugees than any point in history, systemic genocide of an entire ethnic and religious community, and of course the , dropping of two Nuclear Weapons. It was a global slaughterhouse by any measure in the world collectively said in 1945, never again. A few years ago, i was at normandy and i talked to a sergeant from the 82nd airborne division. He was in a wheelchair and he parachuted into dday ahead of the amphibious forces. I leaned over and asked him what his biggest lesson was from world war ii. I expected him to give me some sort of tactical advice on maneuver and shooting. But he didnt. He looked up at me and tears welled up in his eyes and he said, general, never let it happen again. And he repeated it, never let it happen again. In the leaders of the day 1945, established the socalled rules based International Order in order to make sure it never happens again. And the piece was established by this framework that has been in existence for eight consecutive decades. Today, right now, that rules based International Order is under great stress. In particular, russias unprovoked and illegal invasion of ukraine is a direct frontal assault on that rules based International Order. We are now well over a year into this invasion. The bravery and resilience of the ukrainian people are truly an inspiration to us all. The collective support of most of the world has helped enable ukraine in its fight for its own sovereignty and freedom. And we, the United States, will continue to do so. Our Political Leadership is committed to that as well as the Political Leadership of europe. We have said multiple times that our task is to ensure that ukraine has the support it needs to remain free and independent. And we are doing that in order to make sure that rules based International Order holds. In addition, china is looking to rewrite those rules, revise them. Chinas economy has grown rapidly for the last four decades and is now leveraging their financial power to build up an incredibly powerful military. And they are well into doing that. Chinas actions in public speeches make it clear they are not ambiguous. China wants to be the regional hegemony in asia within the next 10 years, and they want to see global u. S. Military power by mid century. The strategic history of the century will likely be determined by the United Stateschina relationship and whether it remains in competition or tips into the great power war. In addition to the geostrategic challenges, there is rapidly advancing technology that has put us in the midst of what i think is the most significant fundamental change in the character of war ever recorded in history. The nature of war is not likely to change. It is a human interaction. It is a political act where one side is trying to impose its political will on the other side to the use of organized violence. It involves fear, friction, confusion and death, and is a dynamic relationship between the people, the government, and its military. And its outcomes are never certain and always bloody. That is the nature of war. But the character of war changes often. But it only changes fundamentally once in a while. The character of war refers to how, where, when, and with what weapons you fight. That changes fundamentally every so often. Right now, currently, we are in that midst. The most recent one before was between world war i and world war ii with the introduction of the wireless communication the , radio, airplane, and mechanization of vehicles. That changed how world war ii was fought and every country had access to those technologies prior to the onset of world war ii. But one country combined them in a unique way of war, trained their people, and that was germany. It overran europe in only 18 months. The war ended differently because of the industrial might and mass of the soviet union and the United States but they did overrun europe in 18 months. We are in a similar period today also driven by technology. The basics of war have not changed. You have to see and shoot and move and protect and sustain and communicate. So today unlike at any time in , history we are in an age of , incredible ability to surveilled. We can see and sense the environment like no previous time. We have the ubiquitous ability to see anywhere in the globe at any moment in time and we can do that with incredible precision. Think about all of the sensors that are in this room right this minute. Every gps, watch, iphone, fitbit, all of them are sensors. Our ability to see and sense the environment is unprecedented. What you can see, you can shoot and hit with precision munitions. You can hit at great range and with great accuracy. In addition, you have the ability to move now in new ways with vehicles using robotics. For example, unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned maritime vessels surface and subsurface, are becoming an important component of every military. In fact, in the next 10 or 15 years we are likely to see at least one third of the advanced industrial militaries of the world likely will be robotic. Think of a pilotless air force or a sailor less maybe ouray crewless tank, or at least one third, in 10 to 15 years. The battlefield of the future will require rapid and Constant Movement and the ability to remain relatively invisible just to survive. Perhaps the biggest change is the rapid onset of Artificial Intelligence and quantum computing. One philosopher tells us see yourself and you see the enemy and you win a thousand battles. Artificial intelligence and quantum computing are going to do that. We will be able to see ourselves and see the enemy in much more significant ways than we can now. In fact i would suggest that the , combination of th