William C. Harris - Adrift: Charting Our Course Back to a Great Nation

Today's national security threats are fast, flexible, and technologically adept. Staying ahead of these adversaries requires strategic management, wise investment, and public-private partnerships that involve a mosaic of disciplines. Adrift is an astute, well-reasoned look at how America went off course and provides the thoughtful, keen road map the national security establishment needs to ensure the nation's safety and prosperity.

Cody Monk, professor of strategic intelligence and
cyber affairs, National Defense Intelligence College

Harris and Beschloss provide a readable and comprehensive overview of the political and economic threats to US competitiveness along with a menu of policy prescriptions. Their examples of what's worked and what hasn't give a clear sense of what's at stake and what might be done about it.

David Goldston, former chief of staff,
US House Committee on Science

Adrift's immigration chapter should be required reading for all the Democrats and Republicans in Congress who think that preventing the world's smartest people from coming to America is somehow a good idea.

Neil Patel, former chief policy advisor to
Vice President Dick Cheney and
publisher and cofounder of the Daily Caller

Published 2011 by Prometheus Books

Adrift: Charting Our Course back to a Great Nation. Copyright 2011 William C. Harris and Steven C. Beschloss. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a website without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Cover design by Grace M. Conti-Zilsberger

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Harris, William C.

Adrift : charting our course back to a great nation / by William C. Harris and Steven C. Beschloss.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-61614-403-6 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-61614-404-3 (e-book)

1. United StatesEconomic conditions21st century. 2. EducationUnited StatesForecasting. 3. United StatesPolitics and government21st century. 4. United StatesEconomic policy21st century. I. Beschloss, Steven C., 1958-II. Title.

HC106.83.H367 2011
320.60973dc22

2011009826

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

Foreword

by Governor Bill Richardson
of New Mexico

O ur country is facing hard times, and we have to ask a hard question: Are our best days ahead of us or are they past? Many of our nation's schools are struggling with teaching our children. Cities and states are struggling with painful choices caused by budget deficits. The national debt is growing while we work to recover from the recession. National politicians seem to be locked in partisan wars while the public is becoming more pessimistic about the economy. We have arrived at a moment, a crossroads, that calls us to decide what kind of country we are going to be.

This should be the time for the best of us to emerge. Yet rather than roll up our sleeves and engage in the hard work and sacrifice required to fix our problems, we seem to be letting our differences divide us and allowing our common purpose to be forgotten or ignored. While the global competition for excellence and preeminence intensifies, our country drifts, hampered by this destructive stalemate.

I don't believe this troubled path is inevitable, an unstoppable reality that requires us all to merely accept a future of lowered expectations. Quite the contrary. I believe we are capable of taking a hard look at what ails us, figuring out how it happened, engaging in an adult conversation about what we should do about it, and then getting down to business reestablishing our national greatness.

That's why I was pleased to be asked by Bill Harris and Steven C. Beschloss to write a foreword for their book. They have engaged in serious reflection, gathered together many of the central threads that explain our current challenges, and created a compelling and inspiring narrative that should be at the center of a national conversation about our nation's future. The publication of Adrift can help reset our course. It couldn't be more important or more timely.

As a governor, I am glad they have tackled many of the key questions so close to my heart in my ongoing effort to make New Mexico an example of excellence. Their insights ring true because they are drawn from experience: Harris, as the director of science foundations in both Arizona and Ireland, has been devoted to spurring innovative, world-class science and research; he understands that it requires strategic leadership and public commitment to quality education from the earliest years straight through the universities. Beschloss, an award-winning writer and widely traveled journalist, has always sought out the human dimension in complicated economic, political, and global issues. That's evident throughout the book and so important in helping readers feel connected and involved.

As Adrift notes, economic development depends on nurturing talent and building partnerships to create a global, twenty-first-century future for our cities, states, and nationit's what we have aggressively pursued in New Mexico. The book's discussion of the disaster of Detroit, the revival of Pittsburgh, and the creative dynamism of Austin is especially eye opening. They also remind us how a dedicated and diverse population, along with highly motivated immigrants, is so important to a city's or the nation's future.

At a time when many of our public figures seem reluctant to speak out about the role that government can and must play in strengthening our increasingly global economy, Harris and Beschloss are unabashed in singing the praises of good government. As they assert, such government requires building greater trust and cooperation between our citizens and their elected officials and a willingness to face hard problems together.

The authors are smart enough to point out simple things: facing our challenges requires not only cooperation and collaboration, but a heightened sense of urgency and a renewed commitment to honesty, decency, hard work, and common purpose. These are old-fashioned values that must be refashioned for our times.

Harris and Beschloss remind us that in some of our nation's darker moments, we recognized and reasserted our shared beliefs. We dreamed boldly and acted bravely, overcoming threats to our way of life during World War II and the Sputnik era, launching a man to the moon, and inspiring innovations that transformed our modern world. Why not think this big and act this energetically once again? Adrift is a much-needed wake-up call.

Preface

Why We've Written
This Book

L et's be clear from the beginning: America is at a precipice. Sitting still is not an option. Our problems, while not hopeless, are urgent. And they require rediscovering something fundamental that we have lost: our shared sense of purpose.