The stakes in global security are rapidly changing. The Pritzker Military Museum & Library’s 2024 Symposium: Assessing Global Security brings together leading academic, government, and military experts for a day-long discussion on the historical context, current effectiveness, and future direction of the military’s role in global security.

For centuries, military support of global security policies protected access to foreign energy, labor, and consumer markets and strengthened our allies with huge benefits for the U.S., world stability, and democracy. Now, technological advances are devaluing aspects of globalization and transforming warfare. Economic strain is putting the costbenefit of alliances and foreign military sales and training under scrutiny. Aid is expected without interference. China’s encroachments on Taiwan, war among Russia and Ukraine, as well as the conflict between Israel and Hamas will test the U.S.’s alliances and threatens to spark WWIII. These shifts are prompting us to rethink global security policies.