Our guest on this episode of the MWI Podcast is Maj. Gen. Patrick Roberson. He is currently the commanding general of the Army’s John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. Before that, he commanded Special Operations Joint Task Force–Operation Inherent Resolve. He discusses SOF's role in the fight against ISIS and looks at the future of US SOF and what these elite units can contribute in an era of competition with peer and near-peer adversaries.
Mar 05, 2020•32 min
This episode of the Modern War Institute Podcast features a conversation with Lt. Gen. Eric Wesley, deputy commanding general of Army Futures Command and director of the Futures and Concepts Center. The discussion touches on a variety of topics related to the future of war, but focuses most closely on multi-domain operations—from the technologies and weapon systems that will play an important role in the concept to important questions about leadership and service culture.
Feb 25, 2020•43 min
This episode of the MWI Podcast features a discussion with Dr. Bear Braumoeller, a political science professor at the Ohio State University and author of a book called Only the Dead: The Persistence of War in the Modern Age . In writing it, he set out to understand if wars are happening less frequently than they used to. His data-driven examination produced two conclusions: not only is war not on the decline, but it is also not becoming less deadly.
Feb 17, 2020•37 min
This episode of the MWI Podcast features a conversation with Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. James McConville. He talks new weapons and equipment, bringing the active and reserve components together, a revolutionary new talent management system, and even a couple book recommendations! He took on that role as the seniormost officer in the United States Army in August 2019, and his tenure comes at a time during which the service is in a period of substantial transformation. As he explains, many of...
Jan 22, 2020•29 min
This episode of the MWI Podcast features a discussion with Mark Mitchell. A career Army officer, he was among the first Special Forces soldiers in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks and went on to command 5th Special Forces Group. After retiring he served as acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict.
Jan 10, 2020•31 min
CJ Chivers, award-winning New York Times journalist and best-selling author, joins for this episode to discuss his new book, The Fighters . In it, Chivers seeks to tell the story of America's post-9/11 wars not from a policy or strategy level, but from the perspective of the junior officers, noncommissioned officers, and soldiers who fought them. (Note: This episode was originally released in 2018.)
Dec 27, 2019•27 min
In this episode of the MWI Podcast , Maj. Jake Miraldi is joined by Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy. He discusses a series of big-picture questions about the Army in an era of major change, particularly as the service focuses increasingly on great-power competition after nearly two decades of counterinsurgency operations in America's post-9/11 wars..
Dec 12, 2019•16 min
In this episode of the MWI Podcast , John Amble is joined by Dr. Casey Wardynski, the assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and reserve affairs. He talks about a range of topics, from how the Army is adapting to recruit and retain the right people in a changing economic and social landscape to the latest developments in the Army's plans for a new talent management system.
Nov 26, 2019•39 min
In this episode of the MWI Podcast , Maj. Jake Miraldi talks to Dr. Charles Morgan, a forensic psychologist whose work has helped us better understand the nature of stress and psychological responses to it on the battlefield. Dr. Morgan engages with a range of important questions about neurobiology and the unique stress of combat. The episode originally was originally released in 2018.
Nov 13, 2019•43 min
This episode of the MWI Podcast features a conversation with Michael Singh, co-chair of the Syria Study Group. The group recently released its final report, and he discusses the report's conclusions about the Syria conflict and US interests in the region.
Oct 30, 2019•33 min
This episode of the MWI Podcast features a conversation with Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, the Army G-2. The discussion touches on a range of topics, from how the intelligence function is being modernized to meet the needs of the future battlefield to the way Army counterintelligence can best contribute to protecting sensitive technologies from adversary efforts to steal them.
Oct 15, 2019•37 min
This episode of the MWI Podcast features a conversation with four guests, all of whom are involved in the Army's space operations enterprise, including the commander of the 1st Space Brigade. They explain the Army's role in the space domain, how they envision the Army's contribution during a future conflict that extends into space, and much more.
Oct 02, 2019•27 min
In this episode of the MWI Podcast , MWI's John Amble speaks to James Verini. An award-winning journalists, he spent months reporting from Mosul as Iraqi forces, backed by US troops, fought to retake the city from Mosul. That's the subject of his new book, The Will Have to Die Now , and of the conversation in this episode.
Sep 17, 2019•42 min
In this episode of the MWI Podcast , Maj. Jake Miraldi is joined by Lt. Gen. Stephen Fogarty, commander of US Army Cyber Command. He explains the nuances of the cyber domain and operations in that domain, but also touches on some of the unique challenges associated with developing a force optimized for cyber warfare.
Sep 06, 2019•38 min
In this episode, MWI's John Amble talks to Martha Wells, author of the four-volume science fiction series The Murderbot Diaries . She discusses how the books' central figure—a hybrid being with living tissue but equipped with artificial intelligence—can help us think about robotics, AI, and manned-unmanned teaming on the future battlefield.
Aug 22, 2019•24 min
This episode of the MWI Podcast features a conversation with Matt Larsen, known in many corners of the Army as the father of the modern combatives. He explains why he thinks combatives training is so important, but he also talks a lot about the notion of a warrior ethos—what it is and why, as he argues, it’s something that needs to exist throughout the entire Army, not just in infantry or other combat arms units.
Aug 13, 2019•33 min
Paul Scharre is the author of Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War . In this episode, he talks about the state of development of artificial intelligence and autonomy, and how it and future advancements will change the way in which we fight wars.
Jul 30, 2019•36 min
This episode features a conversation about innovation and the future battlefield and features two guests perfectly suited to discuss those topics. Maj. Gen. John George is the deputy director of the Army’s Futures and Concepts Center will soon take over as the commander of the Combat Capabilities Development Command. And Mr. Jay Harrison serves as the command innovation officer at Army Futures Command.
Jul 11, 2019•33 min
In this episode, MWI's John Amble speaks to Robert Work, former deputy secretary of defense. He describes his expectations for the future of conflict, including the role unmanned and autonomous systems are likely to play, how the way the military acquires new equipment will change, and more.
Jun 26, 2019•35 min
This episode features a conversation with Dr. Amy Kruse, chief scientific officer at the Platypus Institute. She discusses "Human 2.0," a concept she describes a vision of where humans are headed in terms of cognitive performance. She also describes how this concept overlays on what we know about the cognitive demands of war.
Jun 12, 2019•22 min
In this episode of the MWI Podcast , John Amble talks to Dr. Moriba Jah, an aerospace engineer who has worked for NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory. He is now an associate professor at the University of Texas, where he monitors space and works to track thousands of objects—a number that continues to grow—orbiting Earth.
May 30, 2019•21 min
In this episode, we talk to retired Army Col. Peter Newell about Hacking 4 Defense, a program that leverages the unique qualities of universities and private-sector startups to find solutions for government—especially the defense enterprise.
May 15, 2019•37 min
In this episode, we speak to Elsa Kania, whose research is at the forefront of efforts to better understand the way China approaches innovation and military technology. From artificial intelligence to automation to railgun technology, we discuss Chinese technological priorities and how they overlay on its strategic objectives.
May 01, 2019•31 min
In this episode of the MWI Podcast , Maj. Jake Miraldi is joined by retired Col. Frank Sobchak, one of the authors of the Army's 1,300-page, two-volume study of the Iraq War. He discusses how the study came into being and why it's important, along with its major conclusions about the war and why its release was delayed for more than two years.
Apr 17, 2019•39 min
This episode features a conversation with Ali Wyne, a policy analyst at the RAND Corporation and an MWI non-resident fellow. In the conversation, he addresses important questions, like how we should conceptualize the shrinking power gap between the United States and China and why there are many features of China's grand strategy that we don't—and perhaps can't—yet understand.
Apr 02, 2019•48 min
In this episode, four remarkably accomplished women in the field of national security join to share their experiences and observations on the evolving dynamics surrounding the vital contributions women make to US security.
Mar 19, 2019•37 min
This episode of the MWI Podcast features a conversation with Dr. Anthony King, author of the book Command: The Twenty-First-Century General . He explains how the way in which military leaders exercise command is now remarkably different from the way they did so in the last century.
Mar 06, 2019•33 min
Dr. Mara Karlin has served in national security roles under five US secretaries of defense and is the author of the book Building Militaries in Fragile States . She explains how this objective has become such an important feature of US strategy, and discusses why it's so important and so difficult.
Feb 20, 2019•23 min
In this episode, retired US Army Col. Steve Banach talks about "virtual war," which he argues is transforming the way conflict plays out. He discusses the hallmarks of the concept, and explains why it requires us to fundamentally rethink the mental models we use to understand war.
Feb 07, 2019•34 min
This episode features a conversation with Ken Pollack, a military analyst and the author of Armies of Sand , a book that grapples with the question of why there are so many cases of Arab militaries under-performing on the battlefield—from the armies of Saddam Hussein to Muammar Gaddafi and beyond.
Jan 23, 2019•34 min
