Instead of what the Melian dialogue tells us, which is that ‘Might Makes Right,’ … when it comes to Supreme Command, ‘Right Makes Might.’ Whoever has the superior decisions...
Podcasts
30 years ago, we still talked about deterrence a lot in this country. We still talked about nuclear weapons in this country. Today, the broader population does not, and...
It’s silly to expect that intelligence will always get it right. WAR ROOM welcomes Dr. Richard Betts from Columbia University to discuss what success and failure really mean in...
What a President or any other senior leader brings with him or her to office in inevitably a simplified view of how the world works. Is it critical that...
If they come out with an after-action review or lessons learned from Iraq and all it talks about is how officers executed the war, then you know the Army...
Failure is not just the result of one part of the equation. [Sometimes] you can give the right piece of intelligence and they won’t act on it. What does...
People say, “Well, people break the rules of warfare all the time, so why should we have rules?” Is there an absolute moral and ethical framework that guides forces...
For national security officials who are wading through floods of information, how do they find that nugget, … that piece of information that fits with all the other pieces?...
A story … breaks down more complicated theoretical concepts into something that is relatable. Among the challenges of educating senior national security professionals is that the dynamics and complexity...
Films can bring to life war’s battles, leaders, examples of strategic decisions, and examples of less successful strategic decisions. As Mark Gagnon and Jacqueline E. Whitt show in this...
There’s an old saying, “Command can be lonely.” But it doesn’t have to be. WAR ROOM welcomes Major General Mick Ryan, Australian Army and Commander of the Australian Defense...
You assume professional competence at [the strategic] level, … but the more senior you get in the armed forces or defense, the more you are looking for issues of...
It is difficult to describe just the unbelievable amount of destruction that Syria has gone through… since 2011. WAR ROOM welcomes Dean of the U.S. Air War College...
One in five people on the planet by 2050 will be an African. One in ten will be a Nigerian. You have tremendous potential. … And it all depends...
The United States says over and over that the U.S. supports a rules-based international order but is not party to one of the most important rules-based [international treaties]. The...
How should Europe respond to a US that might be pivoting away or might not see Europe as useful anymore? There’s a number of camps, one might say. The...
We need to consider what’s important here. We need to worry … a lot more about protecting our allies Japan and the Republic of Korea. WAR ROOM welcomes Wallace...
The direction that Latin America takes is going to be, of course, up to the people of the region, but the region could look quite differently a year from...
If [President Mnangagwa] wants a genuine legacy of someone who has restored Zimbabwe to great prominence, he has an opportunity here, but … they have to show us. The...
At the NATO-Warsaw summit [this past year], there was a joint declaration, and I would say a historic [one] between NATO and the EU to decide to work together....