Age of Danger

American taxpayers will be asked again this year to open their wallets and pay for a government national security machine that costs $1.25 trillion – yes, trillion – to operate. How is it possible that the United States Government gets it so wrong on so many critical issues, and so often? And if our expensive government national security machine is not working, what is to be done?   America needs a top-to-bottom overhaul of its national security system, rivaling major changes made at other critical time periods in history: the end of World War II, after the collapse of the Soviet Empire in 1989 and post-9/11. Enter bestselling author (and NYT editor), Thom Shanker, and RAND exec (and former Pentagon official), Thom Shanker, who not only have decades of national security between them, but access to every expert who has something valuable to say.   They will look at the major challenges facing America—including pandemics, food scarcity, China, cybersecurity, and drones—and reimagine the national security apparatus into something that truly keeps Americans safe. They describe why the United States must create an industrial strength life-saving machine out of a system that, for too long, was focused on how to be best at threatening lethal force to deter adversaries and carrying out military operations. A new focus is necessary to protect American lives from digits and microbes as much as planes, bombs, and bullets. This book is a timely and crucial call to action, offering remedies –  including  specific reforms to our military and intelligence, and a government-wide refocusing from the zoom on terrorism of the past two decades to a more panoramic assessment of risks to our nation.