On November 19, the Jackson School’s Blue Center for Global Strategic Assessment hosted a discussion on the implications of the 2024 U.S. presidential election for American defense priorities with Thomas Mahnken, president and CEO of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

Mahnken, in conversation with Blue Center executive director Phil Kaplan, offered a comprehensive overview of the evolving U.S. defense landscape.

“We’re a global power,” Mahnken explained, “and that means we have to be involved in at least three key regions — the Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East.”

Drawing on his recent term as a commissioner on the Commission on the National Defense Strategy, Mahnken analyzed how the election outcome might shape the Department of Defense’s objectives in the years ahead. Throughout the conversation, he underscored the need for the U.S. to remain engaged with its allies across the world.

The discussion also touched on the war in Ukraine, competition with China, and the interplay between budgeting, procurement, and strategic planning.

Early in his career, Mahnken worked in the DOD’s Office of Net Assessment, an assignment that instilled in him a belief in the importance of “doing the really rigorous intellectual work” to answer hard policy questions. He went on to serve as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning and was a member of U.S. Navy Reserve for 24 years.

The event was co-sponsored by the Yale chapter of the Alexander Hamilton Society.