China Unscripted Why Trump Actually Wants Greenland
Feb 1, 2026
Captain Jim Fanell, former Director of Intelligence and Information Operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet and naval strategist, explains why Greenland matters. He discusses naval institutional resistance to change and the tradeoff between mass and perfection in warfare. He also covers bureaucracy that slows adaptation and Greenland’s geostrategic role between the U.S. and Russia.
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Fix Naval Calcification With Mass Mindset
- The Navy's culture is calcified from decades of over-engineering and paperwork that hinder rapid wartime production.
- Jim Fanell argues the U.S. must revert to a mass-production mindset rather than perfection to compete with China in naval warfighting.
Use Incentives To Force Change
- Change promotion and economic incentives to reward officers who deliver ships and results, not those who merely conform.
- Jim Fanell suggests withholding promotion for leaders who fail to produce capabilities on time.
Mass Beats Perfection In Peer War
- Mass production and simpler systems beat over-engineered excellence when fighting a peer or superior foe.
- Fanell compares U.S. WWII mass training to today's need for volume over bespoke perfection against China.