The Arsenal of Democracy: Technology, Industry, and Deterrence in an Age of Hard Choice

The US military stands at a moment of profound risk and uncertainty. China and its authoritarian partners have pulled ahead in defense industrial capacity and are fielding emerging defense technologies that put US forces at risk. To deter a devastating war with China, America must rally its allies to build a new arsenal of democracy. But achieving this goal swiftly, in a time of strained budgets, requires hard choices.

The Arsenal of Democracy is the first book to integrate military strategy, industrial capacity, and emerging tech into a comprehensive deterrence framework. Other books explain why deterrence matters; this book is the essential guide to how to sustain deterrence through the 2030s. From undersea warfare and logistics to outer space, it breaks down how the US deterrence system works and shows how it must adapt.

Even if America leads technologically, China’s industrial strengths would give it advantages in a protracted conflict. Congress, industry, and allied governments must work together to expand production and integrate new technologies.

Sir Niall Ferguson, MA, DPhil, FRSE, is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a senior faculty fellow of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard. He is the author of sixteen books, including The Pity of War, The House of Rothschild, Empire, Civilization and Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist, which won the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Prize.

Harry Halem is senior fellow at Yorktown Institute and a senior research fellow at Policy Exchange.

Eyck Freymann is a Hoover Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a nonresident research fellow at the China Maritime Studies Institute, US Naval War College.

Admiral James O. Ellis Jr. is Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he oversees both the Global Policy and Strategy Initiative and the George P. Shultz Energy Policy Working Group. He retired from a 39-year career with the US Navy in 2004. He has also served in the private and nonprofit sectors in areas of energy and nuclear security.