Since WWII, how has the Navy's understanding of responsibility, accountability, and culpability changed? Returning to Midrats for the full hour will be Michael Junge, author of the book, Crimes of Command, which looks at this question through 14 officers who were removed from command. Michael Junge is a Captain in the United States Navy and career Surface Warfare Officer who served afloat in destroyers, frigates, and amphibious assault ships before becoming the 14th Commanding Officer of USS Whi...
Oct 21, 2018•1 hr 1 min
The outlaw and lawless ocean, non-state actors, intimidation, and hostile acts short of war - security on the high seas involves a lot more than fleet actions. From the South China Sea as government policy, to land conflicts and economic stress moving to adjacent seas - what exactly is the concept of insurgency and counterinsurgency at sea? Returning to Midrats to discuss this and more will be Hunter Stires. Hunter is a Fellow with the John B. Hattendorf Center for Maritime Historical Research a...
Oct 14, 2018•1 hr 5 min
From is largest exercise since the end of the Cold War, to Syria, to a revival of covert direct action and intermediated nuclear weapons as an issue - Russia continues to claw back her place on the international stage. As we approach the last quarter of the 2018 calendar year, what message is Russia trying to give the rest of the world and what should we expect through the end of the decade? Our guest for the full hour to discuss is a regular here on Midrats, Dr. Dmirty Gorenburg, Senior Researc...
Oct 07, 2018•55 min
What is the status of European naval power? With growing challenges from the Arctic Sea to the Mediterranean and a growing call for presence operations from the Gulf of Guinea to the South China Sea, how are the European nations building and maintaining fleets to remain effective and relevant regionally and on the high seas? Our guest to discuss this and more for the full hour will be Jeremy Stöhs. Jeremy is an Austrian-American defense analyst at the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel Univer...
Sep 30, 2018•1 hr 5 min
Loyalty goes both ways, the old saying goes. One shows loyalty up the chain, because one expects the same in the other direction. They system, however, is built upon the timbers of the imperfect human condition. What happens when you have conflicting narratives, but the system that you thought was there to serve you as you served it decides to take the counter-narrative without question? Is there a point where a leader accepts that there is no loyalty above, and as a result, has to redouble his ...
Sep 23, 2018•1 hr 3 min
Our best of this week asks the question: who was "The Gun Doctor," the officer who over a century ago led the revolution in naval gunnery, the development of torpedo boat and destroyer operations, and during WWI served as the senior US naval commander in Europe? More than the man instrumental in the establishment of the convoy system that helped keep the United Kingdom from starvation in the conflict, following the war his leadership as president of the Naval War College he help to established t...
Sep 16, 2018•1 hr 6 min
March of 2015 had some great shows, and with our Navy about to put out another document about the direction it wants to go - now more than ever - let's listen to a great navalist, retired USN Captain Barney Rubel. The role of the Navy and Marine Corps should be to provide ready and capable forces to the joint commanders. Outside of that, what is the proper role of the sea services in designing a more national strategy? What is the state of a national and a maritime strategy, who are the differen...
Sep 09, 2018•1 hr 6 min
This week a best of show with Chris Rawley where will return to the “unsexy but important” topic, specifically that of “alternative naval platforms and missions.” In part, the concepts that underlay Jerry Hendrix’s “Influence Squadrons” are in practice on a smaller scale today. In most cases they are being conducted using Military Sealift Command assets and the Navy Reserve. Chris Rawley is a Captain in the USNR, founder of harvest returns and President of Periplus Holdings....
Sep 02, 2018•1 hr 1 min
The last quarter of the 19th Century, the Gilded Age, was a period of breathtaking change in society, technology, politics and industry. This rapid change helped drive the intellectual and institutional change that brought the US Navy to the world’s attention in the Spanish-American War of 1898. The first two decades of the 20th Century are generally called the Progressive Era, but that only took place due to the advance of progressive ideology the quarter century prior during the Gilded Age. Ou...
Aug 26, 2018•1 hr 5 min
Eight months in to his tenure as the 33rd Under Secretary of the Navy, our guest this week will be Thomas B. Modly. We'll cover the bold-faced items including his background prior to his appointment as the Undersecretary of Defense, his first priorities and challenges as the Under, reorganization of the Department of Defense, the upcoming review of education of our leaders, and more.
Aug 19, 2018•36 min
A military is not an amorphous mass, but a collection of individuals each who can make decisions in their professional role that can have great impact, both positive and negative, well beyond their immediate and personal concerns. Decisions, policies, and behavior derive from the training, traditions, and fundamental culture of the people who make them. What is the role of ethics, training and other culture forming activities in defining the military professional and how he executes his responsi...
Aug 12, 2018•1 hr 4 min
The future has been with us for quite awhile now, but the intersection of advance manufacturing, Moore's Law, and data storage are bringing to the front capabilities that for decades were found only in science fiction. Autonomous and varying degrees of human-robot teaming, artificial intelligence, robotics, and machine learning are not just growing parts of the modern economy, with each passing year they become more and more integrated with military operations. What future capabilities can we ex...
Aug 05, 2018•1 hr 6 min
Especially in the last two years, those reporting on defense issues in the United States have seen a significant change in access to people and information compared to the relatively open environment of a decade and a half ago. How have things changed and how does this not only impact how military journalists do their job, but more importantly, how does it impact the ability for the American citizen to keep an eye on what is being done in their name with their money. Our guest for the full hour ...
Jul 29, 2018•1 hr 8 min
NATO, Russia, the Chinese Navy, Australia's pocket fleet of the future and a potpourri of other issues that come across the transom - it's Midrats Melee! Open topic, open phones and we'll be trolling the chat room for ideas. Come join us live.
Jul 22, 2018•1 hr 5 min
Building off our discussions from last week's Midrats, our guest this Sunday will be Lieutenant Joshua M. Roaf, USN to discuss part of the solution to improving the professional performance of our Surface Warfare Officers in what should be the core of their skillset; seamanship. Using many of the issues he raised in a recent article co-authored with LT Adam Biggs, USN, Bring Back the Patrol Craft, we will explore the various advantages of returning balance to the fleet with an expansion of truly...
Jul 15, 2018•1 hr 1 min
The conditions that brought us to the series of events in WESTPAC in 2017 did not happen over night. They did not happen in one PCS cycle, or under one command climate. Layer by layer from many sources, it took time to get to where we found it. Our guest for the full hour to discuss his views of the latent causes of what is now generally accepted as a systemic failure of a "new normal" will be J.C. Harvey, Jr., Admiral USN (Ret.). Admiral Harvey retired from the Navy in November, 2012 after serv...
Jul 08, 2018•1 hr 4 min
In the last few months a lot has been written about learning how to fight a conventional land battle again after years of a focus on counterinsurgency. Fighting against an enemy who is holding territory, has a capital, armor, artillery and a proven record in the battlefield. While some are writing it, others have been living it, fighting side by side with traditional allies and new ones in a complicated joint and combined environment that is the latest chapter in the Long War; the war against th...
Jul 01, 2018•1 hr 5 min
We're back live to catch up on all your maritime and natsec issues bubbling to the surface this summer. From the migrant crisis in the Med, Russians in the high north, to the infrastructure crunch in the Pacific - we'll cover it all. This is also your time to have us address the topics you find of interest. We're taking calls and questions in the chat room. It's a live show ... so now's your chance. Open phone, open topic, all you need to bring is an open mind.
Jun 24, 2018•1 hr 3 min
For our Father's Day Best of we will replay an interview with Stephen Roderick, author of, The Magical Stranger: A Son's Journey into His Father's Life. Rodrick is a contributing writer for The NYT Magazine and a contributing editor for Men's Journal. He has also written for New York, Rolling Stone, GQ, The New Republic, Men's Journal, and others. Before becoming a journalist, Rodrick worked as a deputy press secretary for US Senator Alan J. Dixon. He hold a bachelors and masters in political sc...
Jun 10, 2018•34 min
There is a long and successful record of fiction, especially science fiction, being instructive about history, human nature, and the eternal course of events. Fiction, of course, gets its inspiration from reality - a two way road. What do the Star Wars movies have to tell us about some of the comfortable myths we may see in American military and strategic thought? Using his latest article at the Modern War Institute, Star Wars and American Strategic Myths as a starting point, our guest for the f...
Jun 03, 2018•47 min
As we approach the 100th Anniversary of the end of the First World War, it is good to reflect back on the impact of WWI on the growth of our modern navy, and the echoes it has to the present day. For the full hour our guest to discuss this and related issues will be Dr. Norman Friedman. As a starting point of our discussion will be some of the perspective brought out in his 2014 book from Naval Institute Press, Fighting the Great War at Sea: Strategy, Tactics and Technology. As described in the ...
May 20, 2018•1 hr 10 min
The majority of our officers come from two sources, NROTC and the United States Naval Academy. The Navy has a policy a bias towards STEM majors (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) to the point where 65 percent of USNA Midshipmen major in STEM. Is this in the best interest of educating future officers of our modern Navy and Marine Corps so they can effectively lead Sailors and Marines at war and peace? To discuss this and related issues for the full hour will be USNA Midshipman First Clas...
May 06, 2018•1 hr 3 min
How is our Navy making progress in adjusting how we man, train, and operate our forces following the series of lessons identified in the wake of 2017's series of mishaps that left ships damaged, reputations destroyed, and 17 Sailors dead? For the full hour to discuss where we are and the way forward will be returning guest Dr. James Holmes. We will use his recent comments from Asia Times and The National Interest as starting points for a broad ranging conversation. Dr. Holmes is a professor of s...
Apr 22, 2018•1 hr 5 min
As the Islamic State Caliphate's territory in Syria is shrinking to just a few isolated pockets, rebel force opposing Assad lose more an more ground, and Kurdish led forces solidify lines, another chapter in the Syrian civil war is about to begin. Time will tell, but the Turkish move in to Afrin may have been the opening. What is Turkey trying to accomplish, and how does this complicate the interest of the Kurds and their American, French and other partners, Russians, Iranians, and the Syrians s...
Apr 08, 2018•1 hr 4 min
Captain Thomas J. Hudner, Jr. USN will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery this week. In his honor we will again run an interview we did early in Midrats' run. His is a holder of the Medal of Honor from the Korean War. With him is the author of Such Men as These: The Story of the Navy Pilots Who Flew the Deadly Skies over Korea, David Sears as they talk about the role of Naval Aviation in the Korean War. Stuck between the Greatest Generation's high-water mark of World War II and the Baby ...
Apr 01, 2018•1 hr
If you've lost lock during the news-cycle Imbroglio on what is important in the national security arena, then you need to take an hour out and spend an hour with us for a few from the eye of the storm. Our guest for the full hour will be Phil Ewing. Phil is NPR's national security editor. He helps direct coverage of the military, the intelligence community, counterterrorism, veterans and other topics for the radio and online. Ewing joined the network in 2015 from Politico, where he was a Pentago...
Mar 25, 2018•1 hr 3 min
Put yourself in the shoes of a museum curator. You have the funds to conduct some much needed preservation on battleflags captured by the US Navy from the War of 1812. To do that, you have to remove them from their home for almost a century. What happens when you all of a sudden find they are not alone? They are covering something else? No, this isn't another "National Treasure" sequel, but things that actually unfolded last year at the US Naval Academy. For naval history buffs, this was an exci...
Mar 18, 2018•1 hr 2 min
Now that we're near the end of 2QFY18, it's time for another Midrats Frer-For-All! Just Sal from the blog CDR Salamander and Eagle1 of EagleSpeak covering the latest developments on the maritime and national security front. If you have topics you would like us to address, send them to us on twitter at @cdrsalamder or @lawofsea, join the chatroom while the show is live ... or even call in.
Mar 11, 2018•1 hr 2 min
With a new administration well over a year in and a clearer view of the direction our Navy is headed, now is a great opportunity to check in with one of the most knowledgeable observers on the maritime scene, Chris Cavas. Join us this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern for an hour-long broad-ranged discussion of national and international naval issues. Chris was the naval warfare correspondent for Defense News from 2004 to 2017 and is a former managing editor of Navy Times . He has reported on Navy issue...
Mar 04, 2018•1 hr 3 min
As we enter our 17th of ongoing conflict in Afghanistan and the global struggle against terrorism, why is this war taking so long? Where are we making progress, where are we stalled, and where are we falling back? There are no easy answers to these questions, if there were they wouldn’t need to be asked. We will discuss these and related issues for the full hour with author Dr. Daniel R. Green, a Defense Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy focusing on counter-terrorism, count...
Feb 11, 2018•1 hr 1 min
