Next Generation Global Security Leaders

It is generally accepted that the national security community faces an impending challenge in its changing leadership demographics. The workforce that addresses nonproliferation, arms control, and verification is moving toward retirement and there is a perceived need for programs to train new experts for both technical- and policy-related functions to replace the retiring generation. Despite the perceived need to recruit and train more skilled workers, there are indicators that the demand for jobs outstrips supply. Meanwhile, some argue that the supply of jobs is sufficient for meeting the demand; if we had “right-sized” the training programs, there would not be a shortage of jobs. In response to these inconsistent observations about the human resource crisis facing the national security community, this paper makes two separate but related arguments. First, the extent and scope of the human resource crisis is unclear; the quantitative evidence used to describe the crisis does not provide enough detail to make meaningful conclusions. Second, the training programs developed to address this perceived crisis remain uncoordinated with each other and with any higher level strategy. Together, these arguments provide a compelling rationale for the development of a national strategy that provides a definitive clarification of the human resource crisis facing the national security community and path forward for addressing this crisis.