Good afternoon, everybody. Please be seated.
It is a great honor to return to the National Defense University. Here at Fort McNair, Americans have served in uniform since 1791, standing guard in the earliest days of the republic and contemplating the future of warfare here in the 21st century.
For over two centuries, the United States has been bound together by founding documents that defined who we are as Americans and served as our compass through every type of change.
Matters of war and peace are no different. Americans are deeply ambivalent about war, but having fought for our independence, we know a price must be paid for freedom. From the Civil War to our struggle against fascism, on through the long twilight struggle of