Dempsey says US military must prepare for diverse challenges

According to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the United States is facing a near-peer threat that is unsettling to many in the armed services.

“We had one threat with which we were confronted and with which we were dealing,” he said. “That threat went away with the fall of the Soviet Union and we had a 10-year period where we were doing small peacekeeping missions and contingencies. But there was nothing that really threatened the homeland during those years.”

Following meetings with Danish Chief of Defense Army Gen. Peter Bartram and his staff, Dempsey spoke at the Danish Army Academy about the changes he has seen in his 41 years in uniform.

The chairman said the first 15 years of his Army career were dominated by confronting the security threat posed by the Soviet Union. His first assignment was as a tanker with the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment on the border with the Warsaw Pact.

After 9/11 happened, the United States military found itself fighting a counterinsurgency/counterterrorism war from 2001 to 2011.

“It’s the first time in 41 years we’ve had a legitimate risk emanating from state actors, and we clearly have a persistent threat emanating from sub-state and non-state actors like,” Dempsey said. “That makes for a very volatile mix and makes it difficult for us to balance our resources to deal with these multiple threats simultaneously.”