Mobilization Day
Announcing the release of our book Mobilize: How to Reboot the American Industrial Base and Stop World War III
Today is the release date of our book Mobilize: How to Reboot the American Industrial Base and Stop World War III. This book tells the stories of past American mobilizations that helped our country win the defining struggles of the last century. They are stories about innovation, production, and policy. More fundamentally, they are stories about people: visionary builders, courageous entrepreneurs and bureaucrats, heretical outsiders—above all, patriots.
We wrote Mobilize because the last thirty years have been extremely destructive to American defense capabilities. Our adversaries stopped fearing American power, and we lost deterrence. The challenge of how to build the best weapons, fast and in sufficient numbers, was viewed as a niche issue best left to D.C. policy wonks and a dwindling number of legacy defense contractors. Meanwhile, many leaders from the public and private sector focused on making money and technology in China while America’s industrial base withered.
Now we are fighting Iran. The news is dominated by stories about the rapid depletion of U.S. interceptors and other munitions. We’re in a race to complete our goals before we use up too many of our lethal but difficult-to-produce missiles. China watches from the sidelines knowing every missile used is one less available for the Western Pacific. Other production stats are grim. Our aircraft fleet is half as large as it was during the Cold War, with readiness rates hovering around 50 percent; China built more ships in 2024 than America has built since World War II.
The American industrial base is broken, but it means we have a generational opportunity to rebuild manufacturing for the realities of the 21st century. American prosperity depends on it.
Despite these serious handicaps, the American military continues to operate with exceptional skill. During last year’s Operation Midnight Hammer, stealthy B-2s dropped 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs on underground Iranian nuclear sites. This New Year started with Delta Force operators capturing Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro in a daring night raid with zero U.S. deaths. Less than two months later, U.S. and Israeli air strikes eliminated Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. And now, as American missiles and bombs rain down on Iranian military targets, F-35 fighters are deployed alongside kamikaze drones costing $35,000.
These feats show that America’s warfighters have the esprit and skill to win. What we need to do is reform the broken culture and broken rules in Washington so they have the tools to finish the job.
Successful mobilization will be defined by optionality and speed. The battlefield extends from the factory to the foxhole and we must be able to pivot production and upgrade hardware at the tempo of AI-enabled warfare. Timelines to improve weapons are now measured in hours and days, not months and years.
Behind the kinetic action, the bureaucratic war is just as hot. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is igniting a flame front of initiatives. The joint requirements process known as JCIDS is dead, poor-performing programs are on the chopping block, and rampant fraud in programs like 8(a) is being rooted out and eliminated. Then there’s the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul to cut unnecessary regulation, Business Operators for National Defense (BOND) to bring the best of private industry to Pentagon acquisitions, and executive orders enforcing the purchase of commercial technology. The pace of change is dizzying—and refreshing.
The Defense Reformation is underway, but enormous inertia and hostility from the establishment could still thwart the genuinely impressive directives from the top. The fight, truly, is just beginning.
We believe in America. We believe in the primacy of people and that heroes still walk among us. To that end, we hope Mobilize fires up the crazy founders and inspires builders from every corner of the country. We need heretics, whether they have two bars or four stars on their shoulder. To quote legendary fighter pilot John Boyd, we need “people, ideas, hardware—in that order.”
We hope you’ll help us spread the word and order Mobilize.
M-Day was yesterday. We Mobilize today.