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Description
This podcast seeks to learn what war teaches. There has been a steady decline in the study of military history and its associated theoretical discipline, strategy.This podcast seeks to fill that gap through in-depth interviews on military and diplomatic history. Our guests have included former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Cold War historian John Lewis Gaddis, and former China Select Committee chairman Mike Gallagher. We discuss the battlefield commanders, diplomats, strategists, policymakers, and statesmen who have had to make wartime decisions in the ancient and modern eras. The subject of an episode may be an historical battle, campaign, or conflict; the conduct of policy in the course of a major international incident; the work of a famous strategist; the nature of a famous weapon; or the legacy of an important military commander or political leader.
Aaron MacLean is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. He has worked as a foreign policy advisor and legislative director to Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and spent seven years in the U.S. Marine Corps.
277 Episodes
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Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King’s College London and author of On Strategists and Strategy: Collected Essays, 2014-2024, joins the show to talk about a lifetime among strategists, and to give an update on the war in Ukraine.
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Times
02:34 Essay writing
07:49 Michael Howard
18:42 Colin Gray
23:06 Timeless aspects of strategy
26:00 The goal of SDI
36:40 Tactics
41:20 Differences between tactics and strategy
45:01 Ultimate objectives
50:08 Sensible uses of nuclear weapons
52:24 Thatcher
53:59 Harsh winter in Ukraine
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1Matthew Kroenig, Professor in the Department of Government and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, joins the show to talk about the new nuclear age the world is entering.
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Times
03:27 Secret Chinese testing
07:35 Seismic monitoring and de-coupling
11:40 U.S. testing plan
15:30 Why might we need more nuclear weapons?
18:01 New START
21:23 How many nukes are needed?
27:04 If deterrence fails
30:20 Limits, if any
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Beatrice Heuser, Distinguished Professor at the Brussels School of Governance in the Free University of Brussels and author of Flawed Strategy: Why Smart Leaders Make Bad Decisions, joins the show to discuss decision-making and strategic thinking.
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Times
02:58 Economists and strategy
07:59 Acting rationally vs logically
15:00 Mirror imaging
20:01 How should we study strategy?
27:17 Denial
32:18 Strategic intelligence failures
36:15 Hidden causes
38:57 Everyone does it
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Geoff Ball, U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer, staff director for the Naval Academy’s Leadership Education and Development Division and Executive Editor of The Connecting File, joins the show to discuss the radical changes and surprising continuities in how America’s grunts will fight.
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Times
02:25 The Connecting File
06:22 How is the infantry doing?
14:10 Companies of the future
23:22 Information and trust
29:57 Innovative spirit
33:30 Light Armored Recon
39:05 Drone battalions
42:24 Learning the right lessons from Ukraine
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David Shedd, former Acting Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and author of The Great Heist: China’s Epic Campaign to Steal America’s Secrets, joins the show to discuss Chinese spy craft.
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Times
02:05 Early days
06:49 CIA
09:28 Sandinistas and revolutionaries
15:14 IC preparation
18:35 A great awakening
26:11 Industrial espionage
30:50 National Intelligence Estimate
34:11 The MSS
44:19 The culture of the 18th Bureau
50:17 Battlefield consequences
55:20 Counterarguments
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Walter Russell Mead, Alexander Hamilton Professor of Strategy and Statecraft at the University of Florida's Hamilton Center and columnist for The Wall Street Journal, joins the show to discuss foreign policy in the Age of Trump.
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Times
03:15 An extraordinary week
05:06 The Transatlantic relationship
09:02 Turning to China
16:10 Greenland
27:03 Post-presidency Trump
32:25 Harder now
43:08 Zelenskyy
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Seth Jones, president of the Defense and Security Department and Harold Brown Chair at CSIS, joins the show to talk about how America has resurrected its defense industrial base in the past and why it should be doing so now.
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Times
02:55 The British in the 1930s
05:58 Roosevelt’s decision
09:48 Re-orientation
13:59 The B-29
16:00 Victory in Iraq
27:54 Skunkworks
31:30 Xi comes into power
35:07 Disadvantages
39:07 What needs to be done?
44:28 Fighting for 5%
47:43 Culture shift
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Michael Lurie, CEO and President of Rafael USA, joins the show to explain how High Energy Lasers and Iron Beam will change missile & air defense, not to mention warfare itself, forever.
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Times
02:34 The evolution of missile defense
05:09 Iron Dome & Iron Beam
08:04 How do lasers work?
15:16 Limitations
20:07 Integrating systems
25:28 Future applications
30:09 Lessons from field testing
40:15 American interest
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Blake Seitz, Content Strategist at Palantir Technologies, and Mike Watson, Executive Director at The Alexander Hamilton Society, join the show to discuss America’s relationship with the world at the time of the Founding Fathers.
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Times
02:45 18th Century geopolitical landscape
06:25 Yorktown
11:17 Diplomacy of the Founders
16:23 Bold rhetoric
19:37 Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists
25:45 Washington’s legacy
32:42 The roots of isolationism
36:38 Parallels and changes
44:16 What does it mean to be an American?
47:20 A grounding in history
Read more - 1776: The Beginnings of American Exceptionalism Abroad
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Mark Dubowitz, CEO of FDD, joins the show to bring us up to speed on widespread Iranian protests, the chances of American or Israeli intervention, and what intervention might achieve.
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Times
02:15 Will we strike?
05:34 New Iran talks?
07:03 Nuclear concessions?
10:35 Intervention possibilities
15:10 The Shah’s son and the Islamic regime
24:28 How do these protests compare to the past?
34:29 Public perceptions
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Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at FDD and retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, joins the show to discuss Venezuela’s shadow fleet, the cyber component of the Maduro raid, and the future of the U.S. Navy.
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Times
03:04 Shadow Fleets
06:06 Ship Hunting
10:07 Coast Guard
12:35 Leverage and Sanctions
18:37 Planning the Maduro Raid
24:57 How We Use Cyber
28:45 Types of Risk
31:50 State of the Navy
36:56 Return of the Battleship?
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Elliott Abrams, senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela and Iran from 2019 to 2021, joins the show to discuss Venezuela and what might happen next.
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Times
02:04 Snatch and Grab
05:50 Intelligence Operations
12:04 Oil
16:50 Holding the Country Together
24:16 Risks & Mistakes
30:48 Blockade
33:54 Hard To Leave
39:11 Not Iraq
41:48 Cuba
42:21 The Iranian Regime
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Mark Jones Jr., chief pilot of experimental flight test with the Honda Aircraft Company and recently retired U.S. Air Force test pilot and special operations commander, joins the show to talk about the nature of special air operations and the extraordinary air raid that kicked off Desert Storm.
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Times
02:45 9/11
05:58 Test Pilot
11:52 Special Air Operations
17:54 Two Vastly Different Experiences
21:24 Kabul
24:18 Desert Storm
32:30 Harder to See, Not Invisible
34:46 Battle Damage
39:55 September 1990
42:21 Party In 10
45:05 Navigation Technology
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Behnam Ben Taleblu, Senior Director (Iran Program) and Senior Fellow at FDD, joins the show to talk about how Iran has worked to reconstitute its missile program since the summer, and what the U.S. and Israel might do to stop it.
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Times
01:43 Vessel Seizure
05:45 Making a Ballistic Missile
13:06 What Modern War Looks Like
17:19 Iran’s Missile Program
21:42 Evolving Assessment
26:24 Relevance for U.S. Defense Planning
30:00 Disconnected Victories
35:04 Lessons from the 10/07 War
39:31 Bad Choices for Iran
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Kevin Passmore, professor of History at Cardiff University and author of The Maginot Line: A New History, joins the show to talk about the most elaborate fortification system of the 20th century and why it failed.
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Times
02:03 Attacking the Maginot Line
05:53 Fortifications and Warfare
11:48 Flexibility vs Depth
15:38 A Total Commitment to War
19:49 French Defensive Concepts
22:42 Living in the Line
27:31 Decision in Belgium
36:22 Breaking the Enemy’s Will
39:36 Ukrainian Fortifications
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Christian Brose, President and Chief Strategy Officer at Anduril Industries and author of The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare, joins the show to talk about American industry and the future of war.
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Times
02:26 Erosion of Military Advantage
11:11 The Nature of the Problem
16:42 Consensus and Urgency
21:01 Learning the Right Lessons in Ukraine
25:32 Scaling Up for the Offense
31:23 Leveraging AI for Defense
38:07 Will Liberal Arts and Humanities Win?
41:56 Arsenal-1
47:31 Silicon Valley and Defense
52:24 Collaborative Combat Aircraft
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Eric Cline, professor of Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies and of Anthropology at The George Washington University and author of 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed, joins the show to break down the collapse of the Bronze Age civilization and why it matters today.
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Times
02:57 Writing History for All
04:51 The Three Age System
10:32 Tin: The Oil of the Ancient World
11:37 Archeology in the Future
13:22 Bronze Age Society
21:02 The Beginning and End of History
26:07 The Sea Peoples
32:36 The Collapse
35:00 The Mystery of the Exodus
40:53 Resilience and Regeneration Post-Collapse
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Elliott Abrams, senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela and Iran from 2019 to 2021, joins the show to discuss events in the Caribbean.
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Times
01:56 Venezuela Through Multiple Administrations
06:05 Maduro
11:53 Trump to Biden
17:56 U.S. Military Capabilities
24:05 Political Justifications
30:11 The Venezuelan Opposition
35:56 Machado in Hiding
41:27 Worst Case Scenarios
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Nadia Schadlow, former Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy and senior fellow at Hudson Institute, joins the show to breakdown what strategic depth is and why the concept remains relevant.
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Times
02:37 Unhinged, Frenetic Times
03:36 What is Strategic Depth?
07:50 A Lack of Space
12:50 Territory and War
14:55 How to Increase Time
23:18 Allies and Forward Defense
30:29 How Do You Get Freedom of Choice?
36:57 Keeping and Maintaining Strategic Depth
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Roya Hakakian, author of Assassins of the Turquoise Palace and Journey from the Land of No, joins the show to discuss the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini, and how these events have shaped the world.
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Times
02:56 Life Before the Revolution
11:02 Antisemitism in Revolutionary Iran
21:56 Khomeini’s Rise to Power
22:32 The Global Left and the Soviet Union
29:49 A Catastrophe of the 20th Century
37:21 The State of the Iranian Regime
42:19 The Revolution is Alive and Well
52:01 The Future of Iran and Its Leadership
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who the heck is this lee guy? are all these south asia born chinese austrian this stupid? they all seem to try to prove something but ends up with being arrogant and stupid
This podcast keeps pretending that Trump is not on the side of the Russians. Very dishonest.
The over rationalization of Trumps meandering halfassed bullshit is embarrassing from a so-called expert. Remember the guy doesnt read the security briefs 🤦🏻♂️
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Lost me with the woke bce. Go woke, go broke.
Fantastic episode!