On March 12, 2034, US Navy Commodore Sarah Hunt is on the bridge of her flagship, the guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones, conducting a routine freedom of navigation patrol in the South China Sea when her ship detects an unflagged trawler in clear distress, smoke billowing from its bridge. On that same day, US Marine aviator Major Chris “Wedge” Mitchell is flying an F35E Lightning over the Strait of Hormuz, testing a new stealth technology as he flirts with Iranian airspace. By the end of that day, Wedge will be an Iranian prisoner, and Sarah Hunt’s destroyer will lie at the bottom of the sea, sunk by the Chinese Navy. Iran and China have clearly coordinated their moves, which involve the use of powerful new forms of cyber weaponry that render US ships and planes defenseless. In a single day, America’s faith in its military’s strategic pre-eminence is in tatters. A new, terrifying era is at hand. Oscar Wilde once wrote, “To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect.” Disasters like Pearl Harbor, 9/11 and even the COVID pandemic, one could say, were failures of imagination – a failure to imagine what could happen and be prepared for it. Today we can’t dismiss any situation as out of the question, as we witness foreign interference in elections, a resurgence of xenophobia, and ransomware attacks on infrastructure. "2034: A Novel of the Next World War" looks at the plausible and dire consequences of what could happen. Co-authors Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis ask the reader evocative questions about how America may conduct war in the future. The book compels us to consider what warning signs we should notice, and where we might find security threats. Imagination is a national security imperative. As such, Ackerman and Stavridis have fired a warning shot for what could happen if current and future administrations do not anticipate future challenges. Learn more about WorldBoston's Chat & Chowder events: https://www.worldboston.org/chat-chowder
