Once, war was a temporary state of affairs—a violent but brief interlude between times of peace. Today, America’s wars are everywhere and forever: our enemies change constantly and rarely wear uniforms, and virtually anything can become a weapon. As war expands, so does the role of the US military. Today, military personnel don’t just “kill people and break stuff.” Instead, they analyze computer code, train Afghan judges, build Ebola isolation wards, eavesdrop on electronic communications, develop soap operas, and patrol for pirates. You name it, the military does it. In her new book, How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything, Rosa Brooks traces this seismic shift in how America wages war and its consequences.
Rosa Brooks is a senior fellow at New America and part of New America and Arizona State University’s Future of War project. A professor at Georgetown University Law Center, Ms. Brooks served as Counselor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and as Special Coordinator for Rule of Law and Humanitarian Policy in the Pentagon from 2009-2011. During the Clinton Administration, she also served as a senior advisor at the US Department of State. Ms. Brooks spent four years as an opinion columnist for The Los Angeles Times, and currently writes a weekly column for Foreign Policy. She is a frequent contributor to other print and TV media outlets as well. Brooks received her A.B. from Harvard, a master’s degree from Oxford, and a J.D. from Yale Law School.
New America is pleased to welcome Ms. Brooks for a discussion of her book and how the expanding definition of war is changing our society.
Follow the discussion online using #FutureofWar and following @NewAmericaISP.
Copies of the book will be available for purchase.
Participants:
Rosa Brooks @brooks_rosa
Senior Fellow, New America International Security Program
Author, How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything
Moderator:
Peter Bergen @peterbergencnn
Director, New America International Security Program
