Intro
America is entering an era of great power competition for which it is not prepared. How to secure American freedom and prosperity in this more competitive age is the organizing national security question of our time. Yet America has been slow to wake up to the challenge.
To fill that void, we are building The Marathon Initiative.
Our Focus
The mission of The Marathon Initiative is to develop strategies for preserving America’s prosperity, security, and democratic-republican way of life in an era when they are threatened by the return of great power competition.
What We Do
Marathon exists to develop the diplomatic, military, and economic strategies America will need to navigate conditions of protracted competition with great power rivals.
To preserve America’s prosperity, security, and democratic way of life in an era when they are threatened by the return of great power competition.
Who We Are
The Marathon Initiative is a 501(C)3 non-profit research think tank dedicated to the development of strategies to deal with the problems posed by great power competition.
Elbridge Colby
Elbridge Colby is co-founder and principal of The Marathon Initiative and formerly served as the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Force Development.
Wess Mitchell
Dr. A. Wess Mitchell is co-founder and principal at The Marathon Initiative and formerly served as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.
Jakub J. Grygiel
Dr. Jakub Grygiel is a Senior Advisor at The Marathon Initiative and formerly served as a Senior Advisor in the Office of Planning at the U.S. Department of State.
Edward Luttwak
Dr. Edward N. Luttwak is a Distinguished Adjunct Fellow at The Marathon Initiative and formerly served as a consultant to the U.S. government.
Matt Pottinger
Matt Pottinger is a Senior Advisor at The Marathon Initiative and formerly served as the U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor.
Our Work
We believe that the primary task for our generation is to build a new American strategy attuned to the pressing realities of our time. This framework must be comprehensive of the major regions and dimensions of U.S. power and interests. It must also be willing to challenge established wisdom and inertia in U.S. national security policy and related fields.
Wess MitchellElbridge ColbyElbridge ColbyElbridge ColbyElbridge ColbyWess MitchellWess MitchellElbridge ColbyWess MitchellWess MitchellElbridge ColbyElbridge ColbyElbridge ColbyWess MitchellElbridge ColbyElbridge ColbyWess MitchellWess MitchellElbridge ColbyElbridge Colby
Foreign Policy | The Western alliance is unprepared to counter the direct and growing challenge from Beijing....
Financial Times | The US has expressed concern about a new law that authorises the Chinese coast guard to fire on foreign ships operating in disputed waters claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea and East China Sea….
Hankook Ilbo | For decades, South Korea and US forces in Korea have prioritized only the North Korean threat. Only North Korea has posed a real and direct threat to South Korea. But in 10 years or earlier, the change will begin......
Financial Times | US president pledges to ‘meet the China challenge and ensure the American people win’....
Politico | The move underscored the message that the administration is prepared to counter China on the military front....
Foreign Policy | Five former officials from the Trump and George W. Bush administrations share their foreign-policy advice for the new team.....
Internationale Politik Quarterly | The North Atlantic Alliance has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make much-needed changes and reinvent itself as the central strategic platform for transatlantic cooperation...
Wall Street Journal | The Biden administration faces a stark reality: Over the next four years it’s possible that China will try to take Taiwan.....
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik e.V. | In March 2020, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg appointed a group of experts to support his work on a forward-looking “reflection process” to further strengthen the political dimension of the alliance. ...
Wilson Center | Former German Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell in conversation with Dan Hamilton about their independent Reflection Group report "NATO 2030: United for a New Era."...
Financial Times | Mike Pompeo, US secretary of state, has lifted longstanding restrictions that limit US diplomatic relations with Taiwan, in a move that is likely to incense China days before the Biden administration takes power.....
New York Times | The United States said on Saturday that it would relax its restrictions on interactions between American officials and their counterparts in Taiwan as the Trump administration seeks to lock in a tougher line against Beijing in its final days.....
Financial Times | The New York Stock Exchange has begun delisting China’s three largest state-run telecom groups to comply with a Trump administration executive order barring US investors from holding stakes in companies suspected of having ties to the Chinese military......
Wall Street Journal | In March 2019, Xi Jinping flew to Paris to meet French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the then-president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker...
Orbis | In March 2020, the secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, convened a “reflection group” to....
The Asahi ShimbunAround the time Joe Biden was giving his victory speech in Delaware as U.S. president-elect on Nov. 8, two B-1B strategic bombers took off from Andersen U.S. Air Force Base in Guam and set a course for the South China Sea....
CNAS | Wess Mitchell joins Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend on a special, live episode of Brussels Sprouts to discuss the “NATO 2030” report’s findings on the future of the NATO Alliance...
CEPA | At a moment in which NATO is more indispensable than ever to protect Allies’ security and democratic way of life, the NATO Reflection Group’s report "NATO 2030: United for a New Era" presents a roadmap for how the Alliance can adapt together to address the evolving strategic environment over the next decade...
CFTNI | More than a half-century ago, George Kennan published an analysis of the sources of Soviet conduct that helped to shape US policy toward Moscow throughout the Cold War. More recently, the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff...
Köerber Stiftung |Things will not go back to the way they were before 2016. Regardless of how one thinks Donald Trump handled the relationship with Europe and with....
Contact
For press inquiries, please email us at press@themarathoniniative.org.
For all other inquiries, please email us at inquiries@themarathoniniative.org.
