The continued dominance of the U.S. defense industrial base is not guaranteed without improvements to funding and an easing of bureaucracy, according to the chief executive of one of America’s foremost defense corporations. “When you look at the breadth of challenges that the U.S. and our allies need to deal with, I can’t remember a time when it’s been as broad as it is today,” said Kathy Warden, CEO of Northrop Grumman. “I look ten years into the future, and the pace at which other nations are building up their arsenals, including nuclear weapons, it worries me that we are on the verge of finding ourselves in a very complicated, if not dangerous world.” The comments came during a wide-ranging webinar on the future of the American defense industrial base, hosted by the Washington-based Brookings Institution. Warden’s reference to nuclear proliferation comes amid mounting tensions over the military ambitions of the …