The Pentagon's New Map

During the Cold War, the Pentagon's strategic map of the world divided East from West. The War on Terror has provided an immediate focus, but Thomas Barnett, Naval War College professor and Defense Department analyst, has an even bigger, bolder vision for the future of America's military.

Barnett's world falls in two parts: "the functioning core" versus "the non-integrating gap." Modern war and conflict, Barnett says, come from the gap part, thus shrinking that gap should be the Pentagon's most important function. In order to do that, Barnett proposes a military whose primary weapon will be globalization. There are shades of his plan already in action in Iraq, but will it work?

Click the "Listen" link to hear about Thomas Barnett's new vision for the future of America's military.

Guests:

Thomas P.M. Barnett, strategic researcher and professor at the United States Naval War College, author of, "The Pentagon's New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century"

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst and senior editor at the Atlantic Monthly