Episode 25: Understanding The Ever Shrinking Fighting Force

Join Alice, the Precision-Guided Podcast host, for a discussion with Major General Arnold Punaro, USMC (ret.), to discuss United States national defense priorities and budgeting concerns. In this episode, we discuss Mr. Punaro’s eight ‘ticking timebombs’ of US national security, his recommendations to reorient defense activities to support relevant security concerns, and reflect on his time as a Security Studies Program student and instructor at Georgetown University. Listeners can find his most recent book, The Ever Shrinking Fighting Force, under this link.

About the Guest

Major General Arnold Punaro (ret.) is CEO of The Punaro Group LLC, a Washington-based firm offering business development, strategic planning, and federal budget and market analysis. A retired Marine Reserve Major General, he was previously an executive vice president of SAIC and served as Sen. Sam Nunn’s staff director of the Armed Services Committee.

In 2011, Punaro was named by Sec. of Defense Panetta to chair the newly constituted Reserve Forces Policy Board which serves as an independent advisor to the Sec. of Defense on reserve and guard matters. He served on the Defense Business Board (DBB) as a founding member since its inception in 2001 until the completion of his current term in Jan. 2014. In 2012, he chaired a DBB task force making recommendations to reform the Dept. of Defense acquisition process. In 2010, he chaired a DBB task force for Sec. of Defense Gates on reducing DoD overhead. In 2005, he was named by Sec. Rumsfeld to chair the Statutory Commission on the National Guard and Reserves. The Commission completed their work in 2008 with most of their 113 recommendations largely adopted by DoD and the Congress.

He’s also served as a task force member for U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Regional Security, a Commissioner on the Independent Commission on the Iraqi Security Force, Deputy Executive Director of the Hart-Rudman National Security Commission from 1998-2001, which foresaw the growing terrorist threat to the United States well before the September 11, 2001 attacks and advocated priority attention be devoted to homeland security, and chaired the Defense Reform Task Force for Secretary of Defense William Cohen in 1997.

As NDIA Chairman Emeritus, he served as Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee from 2015 to 2018. He served another two-year term as Vice-Chairman beginning in October 2018, completed another two-year term as Chairman in October 2022, and now serves as Chairman Emeritus and Chair of the Emerging Technologies Institute. Punaro is an Atlantic Council Nonresident Senior Fellow and Advisory Council Member. He has over 20 military awards and decorations, including the Distinguished Service Medal.

Views expressed are personal and do not represent the views of GSSR or any other entity.