Events
In this timely lecture, Bob Work, a Perry World House Global Order Distinguished Visiting Fellow, will discuss not just how war is changing with the rise of new powers and advent of new technology but also how any military, and in particular the United States military, must invest and innovate to fight and win. Work will discuss how war is changing with the rise of new powers and the advent of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics.
From swarms to cyber, how militaries will organize and fight in the 21st century is increasingly up in the air. Even a military as powerful as the United States needs to invest and innovate more to keep up and win the wars of the present and the future. From confronting ISIS to deterring China, Work will discuss how war will work today and tomorrow, and what this all means for the United States.
Robert Orton Work served as Deputy Secretary of Defense from 2014-2017. He is currently Senior Counselor for Defense and Distinguished Senior Fellow for Defense and National Security at the Center for a New American Security, where he was previously the Chief Executive Officer. From 2009 to 2013, Secretary Work served as the Undersecretary of the Navy. In 2008, he was on President-elect Barack Obama’s Department of Defense Transition Team as leader of the Department of the Navy issues team. Prior to the Obama administration, after spending 27 years on active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps and retiring as a colonel, Work spent time first as a Senior Fellow and later as Vice President for Strategic Studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. He is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the U.S. Naval Institute, and the Marine Corps Association. Secretary Work received his B.S. from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, an M.S. in Systems Management from the University of Southern California, an M.S. in Systems Technology (Space Systems Operations) from the Naval Postgraduate School, and a Masters in International Public Policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
The World Today is a weekly one-hour event dedicated to a timely and intimate conversation on a global policy issue that changes each week. It is open to the entire Penn community, regardless of academic focus, and aims to be accessible and interesting to students who might not have the time to take classes on these topics but still want to deepen their understanding of the world.
