Then-incoming U.S. Army Pacific commander, Gen. Robert Brown, left, receives the command flag from Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Daniel Allyn during a change of command ceremony at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, Wednesday, May 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy) ** FILE **
Then-incoming U.S. Army Pacific commander, Gen. Robert Brown, left, receives the command flag from Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Daniel Allyn during a change of command ceremony at Fort Shafter, Hawaii, Wednesday, May 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy) ** …
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — The former commander of U.S. Army Pacific says he thinks that China’s attitude toward America and its military has taken a dangerous turn, one that could inadvertently spark a global war.
Retired Army Gen. Robert Brooks Brown, now the president of the Association of the United States Army, said in an exclusive interview that China’s rapid military buildup in recent years has given the communist country deep confidence in its own armed forces and what they are capable of.
That sense of “false optimism,” Mr. Brown said, could cause leaders in Beijing to make a major gamble militarily with increasingly diminished fear of America’s response.
“They’re very aggressive. I’ve worked many years, over 30 years, with China and I’ve seen that they used to fear us and respect us. In my opinion, they don’t fear us anymore,” Mr. Brown told the Threat Status weekly podcast during AUSA’s Global Force Symposium here.
“It’s a false optimism. They feel they’re better than they are,” Mr. Brown said. “They respect us still, but they don’t fear us. And a little bit of fear is good to keep them from doing something stupid. And I worry about an accidental conflict.
“They’re being so aggressive you can have an accidental conflict because of their aggressiveness,” he said.
In the wide-ranging interview, Mr. Brown said the pace of technological change in and around the U.S. military has reached a level unlike anything he’s seen before. That change, he said, makes it all the more important for close coordination between the Army and other military services and the private defense firms that are researching, developing and producing the cutting-edge weapons of war that soldiers need.
Many of those companies have a footprint here at the AUSA Global Force Symposium.
Mr. Brown also took aim at Congress for its most recent stopgap spending bill and the lack of certainty around the federal budget. That uncertainty, he said, makes it difficult for companies to do significant long-term planning. It’s also an incredibly inefficient, wasteful way to govern, he said, as short-term contract costs are often higher.
“The CR wastes taxpayer dollars,” he said, referring to the continuing resolution Congress passed earlier this month. “Instead of having a longer-term contract you can get cheaper, they’ll charge you much more for the short-term CR. You can’t start anything new. So it really hampers getting the best equipment and technology to soldiers and the military. And it wastes a lot of money.”
Mr. Brown’s strongest comments came when discussing China. As the former head of U.S. Army Pacific, he’s had a front-row seat to watch China’s military expansion, including its major advances in missile technology, naval assets, nuclear weapons, and more.
His interview with Threat Status also came as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was traveling in the Pacific. Mr. Hegseth warned that island states near Guam are seeing growing encroachment from China, and that the U.S. is standing with allied states to defend against China’s ambitions.
Mr. Hegseth also spoke to a group of several hundred U.S. troops stationed on Guam and told them that they are “the tip of the spear” for American power projection in the Asia Pacific region.
“You are living in a dangerous neighborhood,” Mr. Hegseth said. “You are America’s power projection platform. The American people rely on you.”
Mr. Brown sounded a similar note. He specifically said that policymakers must be aware that while a Pacific conflict would revolve heavily around naval and air assets, the role of the Army cannot be understated.
“There’s rumors now of, ‘cut the Army,’ which has happened historically. Get a smaller Army, cut the Army. That would be very foolish because they are the linchpin of the joint force,” Mr. Brown said, referring to the possibility that the Trump administration’s broader effort to trim defense spending could lead to deep cuts to the Army’s size and budget.
“They’re the key,” Mr. Brown said of Army forces. “And it has to be a joint force, and the land is where you can get inside and make a difference. And I would tell you, our adversaries know that and that will deter them and prevent a conflict.”
“Unfortunately, I wish I could say it’s a time when you can afford to cut security because it’s a safe world. Well, it’s just the opposite,” he said.
• Bill Gertz contributed to this report.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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