Welcome to KAOS THEORY — a new podcast series that Grant Williams and I are collaborating on that focuses on the intersection of Macroeconomics and Geopolitics in an increasingly disorderly world.
10/15/23: Episode 4 — Elbridge Colby
In 2021, Elbridge Colby wrote a prescient book entitled The Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict. Part strategy manifesto and part history of warfare, the book is a fascinating introduction into how those within the halls of power at the Pentagon think about how best to protect our nation.
One of the great challenges Elbridge foresaw was the possibility of belligerent action from Russia in Europe happening before belligerent action from China in the Indo-Pacific and how that would challenge our ability to focus economic and political resources to the greatest challenger to the US since its founding — China.
With a second front opening up in the Middle East now between Israel and Hamas, this conversation and the concerns it raises becomes even more topical and relevant. (Note that we recorded this session on 10/3/23.)
Elbridge Colby is a self-described “Policy Entrepreneur,” having spent his career at various national security think tanks including the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and his own Marathon Initiative. During the Trump Administration, Elbridge served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Force Development for the Department of Defense.
His book, The Strategy of Denial, can be found here:
Kaos Theory Episode 4: Elbridge Colby