Insights / National Security

Unmatched Arsenal: The Question Behind U.S. Military Power

By Warren Pulley · November 8, 2026

Unmatched Arsenal is built around one question a reader should keep in mind from the first page: for nearly eight decades the United States has fielded the most powerful military in history, but how long can that arsenal remain truly unmatched?

What does the book cover?

It traces U.S. military power from its post-World War II roots in the military-industrial complex, through decades of conflict, to a force increasingly built on hypersonics, lasers, artificial intelligence, cyber capabilities, and space. Inside, readers will find:

• How Pentagon budgets and defense contractors shape the force.
• How hypersonic missiles, AI-driven drone swarms, and directed-energy weapons are changing warfare.
• Why the rise of China and Russia challenges long-standing U.S. superiority.
• The costs of the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and beyond.
• Case studies from Desert Storm to the Stuxnet cyberattack that showed both U.S. power and its limits.
• A look ahead at biotechnology, human enhancement, and the future soldier.

Why would a security practitioner write this book?

My career started in uniform. I served as an Air Force Security Policeman protecting nuclear-capable bombers and served during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Later I spent six years on a protective security contract at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Those experiences gave me a ground-level view of how military power is built, sustained, and tested, and of how much depends on the people who stand the post.

What is the most important takeaway?

Superiority is not permanent. Technology spreads, rivals adapt, and costs compound. The book asks readers to look past the hardware and think about the harder questions: what it costs to stay ahead, where new technologies shift the balance, and whether the lessons of recent conflicts have been learned.

Who is it for?

Readers of history, geopolitics, and military strategy, veterans who want the larger picture of the force they served in, and anyone trying to make sense of how emerging technologies are reshaping national security. For security at the level of a single organization, see Integrated BTAM.

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