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SIMI VALLEY, C.A. – The Reagan National Defense Forum brings together leaders in the political and defense communities each year to discuss policies strengthening the defense of the United States. The theme of this year’s forum is “Peace Through Strength in a Time of Transition” and includes panels featuring members of Congress, administration officials, and senior military leadership, in addition to defense industry and technology executives.
During this year’s forum, U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and co-chair of the Senate Defense Modernization Caucus, participated in a panel entitled, “A Secure and Free Europe: NATO, Ukraine, and the Arsenal of Democracy.”
“I’m not surprised a majority of Americans overall support Ukraine entering some sort of negotiation, even if it means giving up some territory,” said Cramer. “You asked if my party is united, and I think it’s pretty clear that we have a wide-range of views on the war in Ukraine, and more importantly on America’s continued support. […] I do go back to the Cold War lessons, but we should have learned lessons since then about how the fight generally comes to us if we’re not presenting a posture of strength that threatens the ability to go to them if they come to us.”
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The discussion, moderated by Karen DeYoung with The Washington Post, also featured Co-Founder and CEO of Anduril Industries Brian Schimpf, Sweden's Minister for Defense Pål Jonson, former Secretary of the U.S. Army Ryan McCarthy, and U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).
Following the 2024 elections, priorities and leadership are shifting. The expected changes have led to questions regarding American global leadership, the role of NATO, and peace and stability in Europe nearly three years after Russia attacked Ukraine.
The conversation centered around these transitions and how the United States can boost its capacity to serve as the arsenal of democracy. During a radio broadcast in 1940, in the midst of World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt used the term “arsenal of democracy” to signal the then-neutral United States would use all of its “immense industrial capacity to build the weapons of war needed by the last struggling democracies to save themselves, and the idea of democracy itself, from the threat of conquest by fascism and militarism in Europe and Asia.”
In October, Cramer and Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril Industries, participated in a townhall with students at the University of North Dakota focusing on how small, nimble defense companies like Anduril are “rebooting the arsenal of democracy.” Cramer also attended the 2023 Reagan National Defense Forum where he participated in a panel discussing increasing national service, boosting recruitment, and ensuring military readiness.