America Is Unprepared for War Amid Mounting Security Risks, Experts Say

Defense professionals highlight near-term threats to U.S. national security.

US soldiers stand near to surface-to-air missile launchers of the Patriot system of 37th Air Defense Missile Squadron from the 3rd Warsaw Air Defense Missile Brigade in Sochaczew, Poland, on Dec. 18, 2024. Wojtek Radwanski/AFP via Getty Images

The United States isn’t prepared enough for a major war as threats of one grow because of new technologies, greater access to advanced weaponry for malign actors, and heightened geopolitical tensions, defense analysts and insiders say.

Security experts have called America’s current national defense strategy, which was written in 2022, outdated and say the country is dangerously underprepared for a direct conflict involving nations with robust security forces such as China and Russia.