Action, Inaction, and Incompetence | HISPBC w/ H.R. McMaster - Pt. 1

Video Description

Former National Security Advisor and Senior Hoover Fellow, Gen. HR McMaster, demonstrates how strategic incompetence - marked by unrealistic assumptions and misunderstanding of adversaries - has led to harmful patterns of both misguided action and dangerous inaction in American foreign policy. From Afghanistan to Ukraine, policymakers often see the risks of action while failing to recognize how inaction and the perception of weakness invite aggression -- where passive responses and strategic hesitation emboldened adversaries. To overcome this pattern, the United States must adopt a more rigorous strategic framework that balances the risks of both action and inaction, challenges implicit assumptions, and recognizes that adversaries respond to strength rather than accommodation. Failure to develop such necessary strategic competence carries a price often "paid in blood." H.R. McMaster is a retired Lietenant General in the United States Army, former National Security Advisor, and the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also the host of Battlegrounds: Vital Perspectives on Today’s Challenges and is a regular on GoodFellows, both produced by the Hoover Institution. Watch more discussions from H.R. McMaster: - On Battlegrounds with Secretary of National Defense of the Philippines, Gilberto Teodoro: https://youtu.be/Sx7ZRPA9m9A - On Goodfellows: https://youtu.be/dqAh3rRqu1U - On BBC Newsnight with Andrew Marr: https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/andrew-marr/tonight-with-andrew-marr-133-02-watch-again/ __________ The opinions expressed on this channel are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hoover Institution or Stanford University. © 2025 by the Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University. 🔔 Subscribe for more discussions: @HooverInstitution 👍 Like and share this video! 🌐 Follow us on social media: • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HooverInstStanford • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hoover-institution-at-stanford-university • Instagram: https://instagram.com/hooverinstitution • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hooverinstitution • X: https://www.twitter.com/HooverInst