Motley minds to spar in debate on role of U.S. military

The Brookings Institution is hoping for vigorous, civil and constructive debate surrounding America’s foreign policy Monday at UNLV.

Conversation will address the changing role of America’s military. It’s the second debate in a series presented by the Brookings Institution’s foreign policy program and the Charles Koch Institute.

“Many people perceive it to be an unlikely partnership, but we hope that brings more people out,” said Tarun Chhabra, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution. “That’s the point: Institutions that you wouldn’t normally think of as coming together can come together and model this kind of vigorous and civil debate.”

Chhabra said the conversation might turn to the number of and need for U.S. troops deployed abroad, expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or the topic of military officials in traditionally civilian positions, such as the White House chief of staff.

“I think a critique of foreign policy is that in Washington we spend a lot of time debating each other but not necessarily on the big questions that a lot of Americans want answers to,” Chhabra said. “This is one of many new ventures in Washington to try to break out of the traditional foreign policy discourse.”

Other debates in the series will focus on U.s.-china relations, U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, the future of U.S. trade policy and the future of U.s.-russia relations.

“There’s a public hunger for more debate on U.S. foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East,” Chhabra said, adding that organizers asked people to participate in Monday’s debate who likely will disagree with one another.

Contact Natalie Bruzda at nbruzda@reviewjournal.com or 702477-3897. Follow @Nataliebruzda on Twitter.