This episode features a discussion with retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges. He served until 2017 as the commanding general of US Army Europe and now holds the pershing Chair in Strategic Studies at the Center for European Policy Analysis. The discussion was originally recorded in the spring of 2021, and the strategic landscape has been dramatically transformed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But as the war in Ukraine unfolds, this conversation offers some exceptionally important broader context within which the events of today are taking place. It also offers a framework within which to understand what the invasion means—not only how it happened but also what impact it will have as we look forward.
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. ...
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 served as the deputy director of the Futures and Concepts Center and is now the commanding general of the Combat Capabilities Development Command. Mr. Jay Harrison served as Futures Command's first command innovation officer. As they make clear, the ways in which the Army is preparing for the future involve robotics, artificial intelligence, and the high-tech gadgetry, but it’s also about new ways of organizing, new doctrine, new personnel policies, and more. ...
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. ...
