The Changing Role of the US Military

As National Guard and regular troops appear in support of Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel on the streets of America’s largest cities, ClassACT HR73 is hosting an online forum to address “The Changing Role of the US Military.” The panel discussion takes place on November 11, 2025, at 7:00 pm and will focus on the Trump Administration’s deployment of the armed services within US borders. Examples include the policing effort in response to this past summer’s anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles and subsequent interventions of both National Guard and regular troops in Washington, DC, and other major urban centers. Panelists will also consider the deployment of troops in newly created “national defense areas” along the southern border to support operations of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The US military has historically been seen as an apolitical force committed to defending the Constitution, whatever party holds Congress and/or the White House, and has assumed a domestic policing role only in cases of extreme unrest. The current administration’s rhetoric and its engagements, whether actual or intended, suggest that that historical standard no longer holds. Forum panelists will assess the normative aspects of US military history, current deviations from those norms, and ways in which military and non-military citizenry alike can champion the US armed services’ commitment to their founding principles.

Our panelists for the evening include three distinguished national security experts:

• LTG (Ret.) David W. Barno, Professor of Practice at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and co-author of Adaptation Under Fire: How Militaries Change in Wartime
• Juliette Kayyem, Belfer Senior Lecturer in International Security at Harvard Kennedy School, CNN Senior National Security Analyst, and author most recently of The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in an Age of Disasters
• Kori Schake, Director of Foreign and Defense Policy at the American Enterprise Institute and author of Safe Passage: The Transition from British to American Hegemony

The panel will be moderated by Leigh Hafrey ’73, Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, ClassACT HR73 Board Member, and author of War Stories: Fighting, Competing, Imagining, Leading.