Robert Blackwill & Richard Fontaine, authors of Lost Decade: The US Pivot to Asia and the Rise of Chinese Power , join the show to talk about America’s failed pivot to Asia and why they think it still needs to happen. ▪️ Times • 01:59 Introduction • 03:10 Was the pivot serious? • 07:40 Absent compulsion • 13:25 War in Europe? • 22:46 Changes to the plan • 28:28 A bigger budget • 32:23 Domestic resistance to TPP • 38:25 The ultimate goal • 44:36 Why not regime change in China? • 51:08 Henry K...
Jun 11, 2024•54 min
Michel Paradis—litigator, national security law scholar, and author of The Light of Battle: Eisenhower, D-Day, and the Birth of the American Superpower —joins the show to talk about D-Day and the man behind the invasion, Dwight Eisenhower. ▪️ Times • 01:49 Introduction • 01:56 “Wildly under appreciated” • 05:17 Upbringing • 11:40 Seeing the world as it is • 15:01 Not that long ago • 22:14 British vs American plans • 32:50 Using strategic advantages • 36:03 Designing D-Day • 46:58 Planning for fa...
Jun 04, 2024•50 min
Nick Bunker, journalist and author of In the Shadow of Fear: America and the World in 1950 , joins the show to talk about the first decade of the Cold War. ▪️ Times • 01:36 Introduction • 02:26 Countdown to war • 05:17 Biden and Truman • 09:05 A failure of American policy? • 13:09 Present at the Creation • 21:16 Stalin’s view of the world • 25:50 Stalin and China • 30:44 Developing nuclear thinking • 32:39 Robert Taft • 38:01 No choice but to defend Korea • 46:44 NSC-68 Follow along on Instagram...
May 28, 2024•53 min
Shane Brennan, Associate Professor of History and Classics at the Asian University for Women in Bangladesh and author of Xenophon's Anabasis: A Socratic History , joins the show to talk about why the Anabasis remains an important part of the Western canon of military writing. ▪️ Times • 01:30 Introduction • 02:05 Dubai to Bangladesh • 05:37 Xenophon’s start • 09:25 Several levels of failure • 12:37 “An exemplary Socratic student” • 14:40 Fighting for the Persians • 17:18 Cyrus the Younger • 20:4...
May 21, 2024•46 min
Sergey Radchenko, Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and author of To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power , joins the show to talk about the strategic aims of the U.S.S.R. during the Cold War and how the Soviets attempted to run the world. ▪️ Times • 01:17 Introduction • 02:32 A novel argument • 08:36 Power and recognition • 11:51 Who started the Cold War? • 14:55 The American dilemma • 17:09 Fukuyama • 2...
May 14, 2024•50 min
Mike Gallagher and Matt Pottinger join the show to discuss their recent Foreign Affairs essay on the need for a victory strategy in America’s cold war with China. ▪️ Times • 01:53 Introduction • 03:25 Meeting in Iraq • 07:43 “There are bad guys…” • 13:15 Why detente isn’t working • 23:45 Real statesmanship? • 32:12 Rearm/Reduce/Recruit • 35:20 TikTok Follow along on Instagram Read the Foreign Affairs piece here No Substitute for Victory America’s Competition With China Must Be Won, Not Managed F...
May 07, 2024•37 min
Andy Lowery, CEO of EPIRUS and a retired U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander, joins the show to talk about directed energy weapons on the modern battlefield. ▪️ Times • 01:45 Introduction • 02:02 Before EPIRUS • 06:29 Drones on the battlefield • 13:30 Current countermeasures • 19:40 An answer for autonomy • 21:32 How does it all work? • 29:54 Beam specs • 33:45 Sci-fi but familiar • 38:11 Gallium nitride • 40:31 Cat and mouse game Follow along on Instagram Find a transcript of today’s episode on our ...
Apr 30, 2024•48 min
Iskander Rehman, Ax:son Johnson Fellow at the Johns Hopkins SAIS Kissinger Center and author of Iron Imperator: Roman Grand Strategy Under Tiberius, joins the show to talk about the military career and statecraft of Tiberius and what his career has to teach us today. ▪️ Times • 02:32 Introduction • 03:29 The Pentagon and Rome • 07:29 Why Tiberius? • 15:04 Parallels • 18:26 Germania • 22:38 Roman criticism • 28:03 Auxiliaries and proxies • 32:09 Diplomacy and a recruitment crisis • 34:00 A brilli...
Apr 23, 2024•44 min
Yaroslav Trofimov, chief foreign-affairs correspondent at The Wall Street Journal and author of Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence, joins the show to talk about the early days of Russia’s war in Ukraine, how the battlefield has evolved, and where the war may be headed. ▪️ Times • 01:48 Introduction • 02:06 Growing up Ukranian • 05:03 The collapse of Kabul • 07:40 Leadership counts • 10:14 Zelensky • 16:20 How did Putin get Ukraine so wrong? • 19:49 To...
Apr 16, 2024•45 min
Michael Doran, Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at the Hudson Institute and co-host of the podcast Counterbalance, joins the show to talk about the Israel-Hamas war and the broader regional competition with Iran. ▪️ Times • 02:04 Introduction • 04:01 Is Hamas winning? • 10:29 Fighting the clocks • 13:10 Defeat from the jaws of victory • 18:24 An Iranian-American conflict • 22:44 Managing decline • 26:40 Lessons not learned • 33:00 The Iranian nuc...
Apr 09, 2024•37 min
Rabbi Shlomo Brody, executive director of Ematai and author of Ethics of Our Fighters: A Jewish View on War and Morality, joins the show to talk about the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas and the Jewish tradition of military ethics. ▪️ Times • 01:28 Introduction • 04:04 Just war • 07:27 The Bible as a framework • 13:34 International service • 18:33 Reprisals • 21:37 Purity of arms • 27:09 Collateral damage • 33:41 International law • 35:48 Proportionality • 39:40 A dangerous ideology Follow ...
Apr 02, 2024•46 min
David Stahel, associate professor of history at the University of New South Wales and author of Hitler's Panzer Generals: Guderian, Hoepner, Reinhardt and Schmidt Unguarded, joins the show to talk about Heinz Guderian, the myth and the man. ▪️ Times • 01:38 Introduction • 02:57 Diving into the letters • 08:43 Debunking • 15:30 A sinister figure • 19:39 Achtung - Panzer! • 27:37 Guderian the Nazi • 33:42 Poland and France • 45:49 Russia • 50:50 Barbarossa bound to fail? • 54:48 Guderian the chame...
Mar 26, 2024•1 hr 3 min
Stephen Robinson, author of The Blind Strategist: John Boyd and the American Art of War, joins the show to talk about Boyd, the man who developed the concept of “maneuver warfare,” and what Boyd may have gotten wrong. ▪️ Times • 01:21 Introduction • 02:24 “A genuine polymath” • 04:20 The OODA Loop • 07:39 J.F.C. Fuller and B.H. Liddell Hart • 13:28 The conventional blitzkrieg • 19:26 Maneuver warfare • 25:01 Cannae • 29:07 Tactical success to operational failure • 34:07 Post-Vietnam U.S. militar...
Mar 19, 2024•56 min
Eric Edelman, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and Ambassador to Turkey and Finland, joins the show to talk about how nuclear strategic thinking began and how those debates resonate today. ▪️ Times • 01:47 Introduction • 02:45 Oppenheimer’s Borden in reality • 07:00 Brodie and The Absolute Power • 11:12 Deterrence before Hiroshima • 13:15 Blackett and Fear, War, and the Bomb • 19:40 Counter-value vs counter-force • 37:33 Russian nuclear strategy • 42:44 Extended deterrence • 52:37 Pa...
Mar 12, 2024•57 min
Rebeccah Heinrichs, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and the director of its Keystone Defense Initiative, joins the show to talk about the state of U.S. deterrence of Russia, Iran, and China—and what Washington could be doing better. ▪️ Times • 01:42 Introduction • 02:18 Conventional and strategic deterrence • 04:06 A failure of strategic deterrence • 09:38 Integrated deterrence • 13:33 Putin is committed to the bit • 15:36 If Russia wins, what’s it to the US? • 19:16 Options if Russia uses...
Mar 05, 2024•44 min
Paul Scharre, Executive Vice President and Director of Studies at CNAS and author of Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, joins the show to talk about how AI will change the battlefield. ▪️ Times • 01:38 Introduction • 01:54 Becoming a Ranger • 03:48 A defining moment • 07:25 A historical parallel for AI • 11:16 Hardware • 14:10 “Taiwan is the Saudi Arabia of chips” • 16:20 Military applications • 19:37 Battle damage assessment and AI tracking • 22:50 Autonomous weapo...
Feb 27, 2024•50 min
Prit Buttar, historian and author of To Besiege a City: Leningrad 1941–42, joins the show to talk about the siege of Leningrad and about the nature of war on the Eastern Front. ▪️ Times • 01:56 Introduction • 02:10 A familiar story • 06:09 Themes of the Eastern Front • 13:19 From Tsar to Stalin to Putin • 11:10 Barbarosa • 19:45 An immense scale • 27:29 Doctrinal failure • 33:17 Inside the Russian mindset • 37:21 The myth of the “Clean Wehrmacht” • 40:20 The siege • 49:15 Who stays? • 51:18 How ...
Feb 20, 2024•1 hr 7 min
Thomas Mahnken, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, joins the show to talk about net assessment and the future of war. ▪️ Times • 01:39 Introduction • 02:02 An interesting journey • 03:33 The Office of Net Assessment • 09:49 A tool, not a solution • 13:19 Both quantity and quality matter • 15:05 Soviet thinking • 19:20 Leveraging insight • 23:11 Potential outcomes • 28:35 “The Houthis have friends.” • 33:19 Danger and opportunity • 37:20 T...
Feb 13, 2024•47 min
John Noonan, senior advisor at POLARIS National Security, joins the show to talk about all things nuclear; the life of a missileer, the current U.S. arsenal and its production problems, the strategy of deterrence, and how Congressional oversight helps/hinders good government. ▪️ Times • 01:34 Introduction • 02:04 VMI and the Air Force • 05:13 Missileers • 11:25 Targets of significance • 16:33 Atrophy • 22:18 Production problems • 27:46 Congressional oversight • 34:30 An unfocused military • 44:1...
Feb 06, 2024•55 min
Donald L. Miller, historian and author of Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany, the book behind Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air, joins the show to talk about the air war over Europe during WWII. ▪️ Times • 01 :41 Introduction • 02:12 Growing up “surrounded by the war” • 15:35 Both sides are losing • 25:23 Highest percentage of casualties • 34:36 Mass vs mass • 37:20 A new battlefield • 42:49 “Almost nothing held up.” • 44:46 Robert Rosenthal • 48:5...
Jan 30, 2024•1 hr 11 min
John Orloff, creator, writer and co-executive producer of Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air, joins Aaron to talk about the new show highlighting the WWII experiences of the men of the 100th Bomb Group, a part of the 8th Air Force’s strategic bombing campaign over Europe. Masters of the Air streams January 26th only on Apple TV+. ▪️ Times 02:25 Introduction 03:00 Getting started 05:45 Band of Brothers 12:56 Finding the story 19:44 Masters of the Air 24:37 Core characters 30:12 Group level 32:11 Infl...
Jan 23, 2024•52 min
John McManus, author of To the End of the Earth: The US Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945 and host of the We Have Ways of Making You Talk in the USA podcast, joins the show to talk about why the U.S. Army’s war in the Pacific during WWII merit deeper study and recognition. ▪️ Times • 02:12 Introduction • 03:57 Lessons to be learned • 05:32 The Army from Pearl to Tokyo • 08:50 Winds of change • 14:07 Europe first • 21:16 Taiwan or the Philippines? • 27:55 Battleground Manila • 30:48 Bleeding t...
Jan 16, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Dmitry Filipoff, head of online content at the Center for International Maritime Security, joins the show to talk about modern naval tactics and the readiness of the U.S. Navy for a surface engagement with the PLA Navy. ▪️ Times • 01:26 Introduction • 02:48 Evolution in naval warfare • 05:46 Historical comps • 08:01 Lessons from the Red Sea • 09:37 Anti-ship missiles • 12:16 DMO - Distributed Maritime Operations • 15:00 What is the surface Navy’s purpose? • 20:00 Massing fires • 22:33 Defeating ...
Jan 09, 2024•53 min
Peter Feaver, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Duke University and author of Thanks For Your Service: The Causes and Consequences of Public Confidence in the US Military, joins the show to talk about the state of civil-military relations in America, and to call for a truce on the issue of “wokism.” ▪️ Times • 01:46 Introduction • 2:40 Precedents • 4:18 Citizen soldier to today • 11:40 Expanding fissures • 18:46 Downsides to a high approval rating • 25:04 Isolationism and “woke...
Jan 02, 2024•1 hr
Sean Mirski, author of We May Dominate the World: Ambition, Anxiety, and the Rise of the American Colossus, joins the show to talk about how the United States came to its global position and China’s attempts to match it. ▪️ Times • 01:40 Introduction • 2:22 An accidental project • 6:41 The view from Washington • 13:18 American paranoia • 16:43 Post Civil War Mexico • 22:04 Smedley Butler • 24:46 The problem of order • 31:12 After WWI • 33:04 Strategic vulnerabilities • 38:32 Regional hegemony • ...
Dec 19, 2023•52 min
Paul Edgar, Executive Director of the Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas-Austin, a veteran of the U.S. Army, and a scholar of ancient Near Eastern warfare, joins the show to talk about war and peace in the old days—the very old days. ▪️ Times • 02:58 Introduction • 10:07 Olmsted • 16:00 The Bronze Age • 22:07 Verifying history • 27:12 Idrimi • 35:03 How did they fight? • 39:46 Tactics of the time • 42:34 Continuities in geopolitics Here is a link to the article disc...
Dec 12, 2023•48 min
Iskander Rehman, Ax:son Johnson Fellow at SAIS’s Kissinger Center and author of Planning for Protraction: A Historically Informed Approach to Great-power War and Sino-US Competition, joins the show to talk about how future wars might be more a test of national endurance than expected. ▪️ Times • 01:56 Introduction • 04:01 Sharp and short wars • 09:07 After the first salvo • 12:33 Geography as a predictor • 15:21 Will nuclear deterrence work? • 21:16 “An informationized local war” • 25:13 What ma...
Dec 05, 2023•50 min
Alexander Mikaberidze, Professor of History and Ruth Herring Noel Endowed Chair at Louisiana State University and author of The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History, joins the show to talk about director Ridley Scott’s Napoleon. ▪️ Times • 02:54 Introduction • 04:52 First reactions • 08:18 Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon • 15:12 Propaganda of the time • 17:14 No invention needed • 21:22 Wellington and Talleyrand • 23:24 Napoleon: Master Tactician • 27:35 Waterloo • 33:45 Josephine and Elba • 35:44 More...
Nov 28, 2023•46 min
Nicholas Morton, associate professor of history at Nottingham Trent University and author of The Mongol Storm: Making and Breaking Empires in the Medieval Near East, joins the show to talk about the Mongol invasions. ▪️ Times • 01:40 Introduction • 02:15 Central Asia before the Mongols • 04:15 Mongol methods • 09:15 Sailing the Eurasian Steppe • 13:54 Temujin • 18:38 A dearth of sources • 21:50 Khwarazmian Empire • 26:40 The Mongol secret • 32:03 Selective savagery • 36:30 The Near East • 40:15 ...
Nov 21, 2023•49 min
Matthew Waxman, Liviu Librescu Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, joins the show to talk about what’s lawful on the battlefield, what’s not, and how the laws of war apply to Israel and Hamas. ▪️ Times • 01:49 Introduction • 02:25 What is the law of war? • 05:05 How does it all work? • 08:15 What does it matter? • 11:06 A rule of law society • 12:16 10/7 • 15:14 Military necessity vs humanitarian interest • 19:54 Bright line rules • 25:23 Reasonableness • 28:07 Sieges • 32:30 Weaponizing th...
Nov 14, 2023•42 min
