“The United States finds itself in a race against time” as China becomes a “formidable competitor and potentially dangerous adversary,” Booz Allen Hamilton President and CEO Horacio Rozanski wrote in a Fortune op-ed published Monday.

Deterring China will require more speed, innovation and collaboration than exists today, he wrote.

“By harnessing the ingenuity of the private sector and partnering with our government in new ways, we can achieve Peace Through Speed—rising together as a nation to usher in a new era of peace and stability for generations to come,” Rozanski wrote. “The time to act is now.”

Booz Allen Hamilton photo