Navy SEAL Admiral Robert Harward says the new world order will not be favorable in the coming years without a strong frontline American influence in strategic parts of the world.
A 40-year veteran, Harward has served in operations in Bosnia, Panama, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen. The veteran led the invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 and served on the National Security Council under President George W. Bush. His team says he has never lost a soldier under his command.
During the Trump administration, Harward was offered the job of national security adviser but turned it down, and has since been based in Abu Dhabi as executive vice president of international operations and strategy for Shield AI, a company that uses artificial intelligence in aerospace and defense technology, according to his new book.
“We have access to more capital than we’ve ever had before, and we have more capacity and capability than we’ve ever had before.”
As a Navy SEAL, Harward has seen the evolution of special forces operations since their beginnings in World War II.
“A lot has changed over the course of history. We were originally submariners and combat swimmers to support the Normandy landings,” he told The Blaze News. “Casualty rates were very high during the Normandy landings, and similar skills were needed in the Pacific.”
As various operations continued for years during the Korean and Vietnam wars, Harward said Special Operations Command was then established to provide direct funding for special operations.
“The creation of SOCOM, a congressional mandate for the services, allowed the special operations community to get its own funding, its own chain of command, and actually organize its own forces.”
“All of this is the foundation of special operations today and was exemplified by the events of 9/11,” he continued.
The admiral explained that Special Forces were the first to arrive in the Middle East in response to the terrorist attacks.
With all this in mind, the veteran detailed that SEAL training has remained largely unchanged throughout the unit’s existence.
Since the 1950s, the course has been “notoriously tough, and even today, there is an attrition rate of about 80 percent,” Harward said. He added that he recently observed the training firsthand and described it as extremely difficult, possibly the toughest and longest training the SEALs have ever undergone. New SEALs undergo more than a year of training, he noted.
Special operations leaders say the surprisingly high retention rate of SEALS is due to their ability to manage physical stress and pain, meaning soldiers remain incredibly tough throughout their careers.
What will happen to relations between Ukraine and Russia?
Having experienced a war between Western-backed allies and powerful adversaries, the admiral, like everyone else, remains skeptical that there will be an easy end to the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
“I don’t think anyone knows what the final stage of this will be. We have to assume that Russia intends to expand and will not stop until it has annexed all of Ukraine.”
“I don’t think either side of the negotiations knows what the end state is or how to get there,” he added.
Speaking after a visit to Finland, Harward said NATO allies expected conflict to continue and were preparing for the worst.
“How do you achieve appeasement? Politically it’s becoming more and more difficult. … I believe what I’ve heard in Europe: Russia is not going to stop until it has taken all of Ukraine.”
“I told the president, ‘I’m in your seat.’
This led to a discussion about Harward’s views on how American influence should be exerted throughout the world.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Harward backpacked and hitchhiked through the Middle East, but he says it wasn’t that dangerous. In fact, he explains, it was quite the opposite. At the time, he recalls, Western countries were supporting Afghanistan and Iraq, and many Westerners went to those countries seeking enlightenment.
Harward recalled a story about seeing Irish people driving through the desert in a Volkswagen van. At the time, Kandahar was called “Small America,” he noted, because of the many U.S. Agency for International Development programs helping to build irrigation systems.
“There was an American who ran a small shop in Kabul,” he said.
The admiral went on to say that the US cannot do so now because it continues to withdraw its troops and is not forward-deployed to conflict zones.
He expected the effects of those longstanding policies would be reversed under the Trump administration, but sees them rolling back under Biden.
The shape of the “world order” will be determined over the next four years, he said.
“That’s why this election is so important. The next four years will determine what the future world order will look like.”
In response to the idea that foreign governments reject or don’t want a U.S. presence in their countries, Harward cited the book “Embracing Defeat,” which focuses on how Japan was reoriented by U.S. influence after World War II.
“Afghanistan is gone,” he said. “We’ll see what happens. [the Taliban] evolution[s] Now they must respond to the needs of their people.”
“Iraq is another challenge posed by Iranian influence.”
He argued that these countries’ withdrawal would create a vacuum, creating an opportunity for other countries to step in and exert influence and ultimately guide what becomes of those countries.
Former military officer and combat engineer Matthew Hurley told Blaze News he doesn’t agree with the idea that American influence needs to be imposed in the region.
“I think someone needs to be held accountable, but it shouldn’t be the bully who has all the cool toys and no real competition,” he said. “His arguments are good. But does that mean he’s right? Not really.”
“Who has a better life: someone who can shape their own destiny, or someone whose future is determined by the ‘influence’ of other countries?” the veteran added.
Harward called Trump’s offer to become his national security adviser “an incredible honor and privilege” but acknowledged it wasn’t the right time.
“I told the president, ‘I’m in your seat.’
Harward added that while he supports the policies proposed by Trump, he was not happy with the Obama administration and felt the country needed to change direction. He said that if Trump wins and is given the opportunity, he would welcome it because now the position has changed.
Current state of military funding
“We are better funded than we’ve ever been, we have more capacity and capability than we’ve ever had before, and in my opinion, this is the best trained and educated force in the history of our nation.”
Harward explained that the U.S. military is in fact the most capable it has ever been. That doesn’t change the fact that the Biden administration has secured funding for Special Operations forces, despite a roughly 14% cut in resources to deal with broader, more existential threats, he said.
But the massive national debt has forced the military branches to be very strategic with their spending, he continued, but he reiterated that the Pentagon has gotten everything it wanted over the past 20 years.
The real issue is recruitment and retention.
Harward’s book, “The Gouge! How to Be Smarter Than the Situation You Are In,”
Amazon.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censorship and sign up for our newsletter to get stories like this one directly to your inbox. Register here!
