unless we access history in a purposeful way, its lessons will, as the great historians, carl becker warned, lay in nert in unread books. i'm really looking forward to where you would like to take the conversation, what a privilege it is to be with you, thanks. >> thank you for those terrific remarks. you brought a few more points to my mind, talking about taking the time to free your mind. just get in with a senior person, sort of role model for our project is eric aidleman, one of our board members, i first met him in 2007, he was working on iraq and they had an idea they were thinking of and it bore some relationship to what was going on in vietnam. they brought me into the pentagon for an hour to talk to him and other senior officials. it had some value to them and i couldn't give them all the answers, having that historical perspective was valuable. very easy to get caught up in the crisis of the day, valuable that way. you talk about complexity, i think that's one of the advantages of history and histori historians, the social sciences in many respects, not all of them, but man

and then as mark mentioned how to think in time, consistent with the historian carl becker's observation, that the memory of the past and anticipation of the future should go hand in hand in a friendly way. without disputing over priority and leadership. so whenever somebody taubz to you about the deep future or leap ahead capabilities run for the exits. something crazy is coming right after that. you know. and i think what we really need is a grounded projections into the near future, a focus on solving real problems, addressing real threats. real add ser varryes in real geo graphic areas. we learn the military countries that are prepared to either prevent or respond to crisis are those who think clearly about the problem in future war in that grounded war. who think about it as the ancient greeks said, think about ourself as walking backward into it, paying attention to what is going on today and what has gone on in the past as a way to think about the future. so without the depth of understanding that history provides, the center will help provide, we'll remain vulnerable to what we h

and how to think in time consistent with the historian carl becker's observation that the memory of the past and anticipation of the future should go hand in hand into friendly way without disputing over priority and leadership. -- whenevere someone talks about the deep future or leap ahead of, run for the exits. something crazy is coming after that. is groundedly need projections into the future. a focus on solving real problems, addressing real threats, real adversities -- adversaries. we have learned that the countries that are prepared are those that think clearly in a grounded way. who think about the future as the ancient greeks said we should -- walking backward into it. paying attention to what is going on today and what has gone on in the past as a way to think about the future. without the depth of understanding that history provides, the center will help provide, we will remain to what the philosopher of war warned against -- the tendency to regard war as something autonomous rather than an instrument of policy. misunderstanding the kind of war in which we are embarking and t

and then as mark mentioned how to think in time, consistent with the historian carl becker's observation, that the memory of the past and anticipation of the future should go hand in hand in a friendly way. without disputing over priority and leadership. so whenever somebody taubz to you about the deep future or leap ahead capabilities run for the exits. something crazy is coming right after that. you know. and i think what we really need is a grounded projections into the near future, a focus on solving real problems, addressing real threats. real add ser varryes in real geo graphic areas. we learn the military countries that are prepared to either prevent or respond to crisis are those who think clearly about the problem in future war in that grounded war. who think about it as the ancient greeks said, think about ourself as walking backward into it, paying attention to what is going on today and what has gone on in the past as a way to think about the future. so without the depth of understanding that history provides, the center will help provide, we'll remain vulnerable to what we h