Modern War Institute - Archive

For more than a week, the United States and Israel have struck a wide range of targets in Iran with air and missile strikes. Iran’s response has included missile and drone attacks against targets in neighboring states in the Middle East—both US military and diplomatic facilities and public sites including Dubai’s airport. What weapons, on both sides of the conflict, have defined the conflict so far? To explore that question, John Amble is joined on this special bonus episode by Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center

What were the strategic calculations that drove the United States and Israel to launch a military operation aimed at a wide range of targets in Iran? And are the fundamental objectives of the two partners fully aligned? Inside Iran, as the regime's resilience and the military's capability are under more pressure than they have been in decades, how are institutions responding? What drove the decision to respond with drone and missile strikes throughout the region? How are the Gulf states positioning themselves as they have defended against Russian attacks? What role

The United States has a new National Defense Strategy. Released about every four years, the document offers a window into the way senior defense officials view the global threat environment and identify US defense objectives. But how will the new strategy be interpreted by allies and partners? What about adversaries and competitors? And does formally delineating US priorities offer a degree of predictability on a contemporary strategic landscape characterized by growing instability and a fraying world order? To examine the strategy, John Amble is joined on this episode by Frank Hoffman,

Examined exclusively as a military operation, the US raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was a stunning success. In the course of just a few hours, the force package launched, accomplished its objective, and returned to base. But before that could happen, planning and rehearsals that likely took place for months set the stage for the mission’s brief execution. To share their perspectives on the operation, John Amble is joined on this episode by Liam Collins, a retired US Army colonel who spent much of his career in special operations

Both training and education have always been key elements of the US Army’s readiness. But as new battlefield challenges arise and new technologies emerge, the character of warfare is changing—and it’s changing faster than ever. Keeping up with those changes—and keeping ahead of adversaries we might fight—means that we have to get training and education right. The Army’s success in tomorrow’s wars will hinge on what we do in classrooms and on training grounds today. To explore that challenge, John Amble is joined by a guest who brings unique perspectives on

Late on the night of September 9, twenty-one medium-sized, fixed-wing drones entered Poland’s airspace. Several were shot down, while others crashed, some deep inside Polish territory. Later that month, a series of drone sightings were reported around airports and military installations in Denmark, even forcing a brief suspension of flights. Beyond suspicion of Russian involvement and the fact that both of these countries are NATO member states, the two incidents share little in common. But together, they offer a sense of the range of ways in which drones can pose threats.

Almost since the very beginning the war in Ukraine triggered by Russia’s invasion in February 2022, the conflict took on characteristics of a technological arms race, with each side seeking to innovate to gain a battlefield advantage. As the war has continued, that contest for advantage has taken place on an increasingly rapid scale. The rollout of a drone optimized for a new mission, the development of a new tactic, an advance in electronic warfare—each of these has produced a shorter and shorter window of advantage until the other side counters

The United States is engaged in a strategic competition with China. On issues ranging from Taiwan's security to the question of which country will most shape the geopolitical order in the years and decades to come, Washington seeks to secure its objectives, promote its interests, and deter Chinese aggression. But what are China's core objectives? And more fundamentally, how does Beijing conceptualize the US-China strategic rivalry? To explore those questions, John Amble is joined on this episode by Ali Wyne, the senior research and advocacy advisor for US-China relations at the

The US Army is in a period of transformation. And much of that transformation centers on technology—from artificial intelligence and robotics to drones and directed-energy weapons. But leaning forward technologically brings both advantages and new challenges. To explore the way the Army is approaching those challenges and pursuing technology-driven battlefield advantage, John Amble is joined on this episode by Dr. Alex Miller, senior science and technology advisor and chief technology officer to the chief of staff of the Army. He describes the ways small-unit experimentation is driving change from the tactical

The US government established the National Defense Stockpile in 1939 to ensure that in the event of a major conflict, there would be enough raw materials on hand to continue production of vital equipment. Since the end of the Cold War, it has steadily shrunk, now just a tiny fraction of its peak size. Moreover, while its original purpose was stockpiling materials like steel and rubber, US military systems are now dependent on a wider range of both raw materials and finished products—like rare earth minerals and the magnets that require

When the United States conducted Operation Midnight Hammer, a series of strikes against Iranian nuclear targets, it did so with two key pieces of exquisite hardware: the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator and the B-2 Spirit strategic bomber. But how does the GBU-57 actually work? And what’s it like to fly this type of long-range bomber mission in a B-2? To examine those questions, John Amble is joined on this episode by Air Force University’s Dr. Melvin Deaile, a retired Air Force colonel and strategic bomber pilot with operational combat experience in

The defense industrial base is a critical component of US military readiness. But how should we conceptualize it in the information age, when it isn't just physical materiel like weapons, vehicles, and ammunition that are vital, but also data and software? How have globalization and the consequent emergence of long, complex supply chains extending around the world changed the way defense planning should be conducted? And at its best, what features would define a defense industrial base that is optimized for a potential large-scale, protracted conflict? This episode explores those questions

When Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it galvanized both NATO and the European Union, doing more to unify much of Europe than any event in recent history. But how has political and strategic unity translated to improvements of collective European defense and deterrence? Amid uncertainty about continued US support for Ukraine, which European states are stepping into leadership roles? And most broadly, after three and a half years of war, how much has the European security landscape changed? To explore those questions and more, John Amble is joined on

For more than three years, journalists, researchers, and military professionals have sought to describe the key dynamics of the war in Ukraine and determine what they tell us about the future of warfare. One of the sharpest observers has been retired Australian Army Major General Mick Ryan. He joins this episode to share some of his thoughts about the ongoing war—and what it indicates about the changing character of warfare. He also explores the ways that lessons from Ukraine should be translated and inform our understanding of the very different strategic

National security professionals often conceptualize a continuum of conflict as a framework to understand the wide variety of ways in which conflict can manifest itself. It extends from relative peace on one end, terrorism and low-intensity conflict, up through large-scale combat, all the way to strategic rivalry in which nuclear weapons even come into the picture. But what if that cognitive framework no long holds? In a recent article published by Foreign Affairs, Dr. Mara Karlin explored that question. A professor of practice at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International

When the Chinese company DeepSeek recently released an artificial intelligence model called R1, its surprisingly advanced capability and the efficiency with which DeepSeek claimed to have trained the model sparked a wave of discussion about how rapidly Chinese AI development was progressing. But how is the competition to achieve superior AI technologies between China and the United States shaping up? And, given that the governments of both countries envision important military applications of AI, what implications does this have for the broader US-China strategic competition? To explore these questions and more,

After twenty years of America’s post-9/11 wars and the US military’s struggle to build capable and effective security forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is an important discussion taking place about what role security force assistance should play for the United States in the very different strategic environment that is taking shape. Will it be a mission that we'll be required to do in order to compete with Russia and China? Or will it become tangential to our preparations for large-scale combat operations? And given the challenges we faced over the

For well over a decade, Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad managed to hold onto power during a complicated civil war involving a number of anti-regime rebel groups. And then, rebels launched a lightning offensive that saw a series of Syrian cities—including, ultimately, the capital Damascus—fall. Assad was gone and more than a half-century of rule by his family came to an end. To explore how that happened and what comes next, John Amble is joined on this episode by Natasha Hall, a senior fellow with the Middle East Program at the Center

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, one of its first targets was the city of Mariupol. Despite being outnumbered by—and less well equipped than—their adversaries, Ukrainian defenders held out for three months. As the Russian siege of the city intensified, Ukrainian forces defended a shrinking perimeter with a command post in the Azovstal steel plant. One of those Ukrainian defenders was Sergeant Arseniy Fedosiuk. MWI's John Spencer had the opportunity to speak to him about his experience in Mariupol, and you'll hear part of that discussion in this episode. The

Writing is often treated as a peripheral activity in the military, but it is a defining characteristic of any profession—including the profession of arms. Professional military writing is the way we share information, new ideas, and creative solutions to collective problems. It’s the way we drive bottom-up change. And it’s vital if the Army is to be prepared for the challenges of tomorrow’s battlefield. On this episode, John Amble is joined by two two leaders of the Harding Project, an initiative aimed at renewing professional writing in the Army. Lieutenant Colonel

During the United States’ post-9/11 counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, many US service members survived wounds that would have been fatal in any previous conflict. This was largely because of the care they received—beginning at the point where they were wounded and continuing through evacuation to medical facilities in theater and transport to military hospitals at Landstuhl, Germany and in the United States. But prolonged casualty care will be vastly more challenging in what the Army calls LSCO (large-scale combat operations) environments. To explore why—and what will be required to

Both military practitioners and scholars believe that artificial intelligence will influence the character of war in the future. But it’s difficult to know how it will do so exactly, particularly as we look further and further into the future. Much of what we learn about that future will come from experimentation that yields lessons not just about the tools that will become increasingly important in future military operations, but the way that militaries develop them. That makes the recent experience of the Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps, which operationalized an AI-enabled software

Thirty years ago this week—on October 3, 1993—US special operations forces launched a mission in Mogadishu. It was part of Operation Gothic Serpent, which was aimed at capturing Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The mission was intended to be of a short duration. But things changed when, shortly after members of Task Force Ranger launched from their base, fighters on the ground began firing on US aircraft. The battle that ensued—which would later become the subject of journalist Mark Bowden’s book, Black Hawk Down, and subsequently a film of the same

When news emerged from Lebanon recently that several thousand pagers belonging to members of Hezbollah had exploded, observers quickly began piecing together an assessment of what happened. It looked to be an Israeli intelligence operation—and a wildly successful one, both operationally and psychologically. But why did Israel pick now to conduct it? Is it likely to become just another episode in an ongoing shadow war between Israel and Hezbollah or lead to a dramatic escalation? And how is Hezbollah likely to respond to this glaring failure in its operational security? Colin

Would Patton be an effective battlefield commander today? Do the characteristics of successful commanders generally remain constant over time? Or do they evolve alongside—and in response to—the changing character of warfare? And if they do change, what traits will commanders need on the battlefields of today and tomorrow? Dr. Anthony King, the author of the book Command: The Twenty-First-Century General, joins this episode to discuss these questions and more.

For weeks, after an Israeli strike that killed a senior Hezbollah commander and the killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran, tensions between Israel and Iran have spiked. So far, Iran has yet to follow through on its threats to retaliate against Israel. But these heightened tensions, like the period earlier this year when Israel killed senior officers from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps at a diplomatic facility in Syria and Iran responded by launching hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel, are inflection points in a broader regional rivalry between

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Ukrainian government began asking its international supporters to provide it with combat aircraft. By 2023, a number of NATO members had agreed to provide training on the US-made F-16 to Ukrainian pilots, and last summer it was announced that a number of F-16s would be provided to Ukraine. Now, the first batch of aircraft have arrived in the country and, according to reports, have already begun flying operational missions. But what role will they play and what effect might they have on

The term "cohesion" features prominently in discussions of military effectiveness, especially at the small-unit level. We all know intuitively what it means, but understanding how to develop and nurture it in practice is a challenge. That's even more true as technological advances continue to make constant connectivity with the outside world easier, even from a battlefield. How do soldiers' stresses from home impact cohesion? What about when soldiers no longer process shared traumatic experiences together? John Spencer spent twenty-five years as an infantry soldier and officer, including leading troops in combat.

How does cyberspace differ from the other warfighting domains—land, sea, air, and space? What challenges do those differences pose? Does cyber require unique approaches to talent manage to ensure the US military can recruit, promote, and retain the talent it needs? What resources are needed to effectively compete in cyberspace, and are those different from the resources necessary for a conflict scenario? How would the cyber dimension of a modern war play out, and are there lessons from the ongoing war in Ukraine that illuminate this question? This episode addreses those

The Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz is held in high regard among US military scholars. But it can be challenging at times to apply his ideas—with necessary nuance—to real-world security challenges. In this episode, Dr. Donald Stoker, a professor at the National Defense University’s Eisenhower School and the author of Clausewitz: His Life and Work, joins John Amble to discuss several of Clausewitz’s theories and use them as a lens through which to examine the ongoing war in Ukraine—and how it might eventually come to an end. The MWI Podcast

No unit in the US Army has more experience defending against drone attacks than 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. During a recent deployment to the Middle East, spread out across eight bases in Iraq and Syria, the brigade was targeted more than one hundred times by drones known as one-way attack unmanned aircraft systems. The brigade’s commander, Colonel Scott Wence, joins this episode to discuss that experience, the weapons and systems that enabled the unit to successfully defeat the vast majority of the attacks, and lessons from the deployment

In this special episode of the MWI Podcast, we're taking the opportunity to introduce listeners to a brand new podcast series called Ctrl Alt Army: Stories from Cyberspace. Hosted by Dr. Michael Sulmeyer, principal cyber advisor to the secretary of the Army, this podcast series features informal conversations with senior Army leaders about cyber issues. This is not a podcast by and for cyber specialists about cyber topics, but an opportunity for leaders from wide-ranging professional backgrounds to share how cyber issues have become increasingly impactful on a wide range of

Russia is actively pursuing military applications of AI technology. But how much progress has been made in that pursuit? How have sanctions put in place in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine influenced the course of Russian AI research and development? Most fundamentally, how do Russian military leaders actually want to employ AI-enabled tools on the battlefield? This episode examines those questions and more and features a discussion with Sam Bendett, an adviser and member of the Russia Studies Program at CNA and the author of a report, recently published

Many people look at a map of the Indo-Pacific region and assume that—characterized as it is by long distances and vast stretches of ocean—it is principally the air and maritime domains where military capability is most important. But as you'll hear in this episode, landpower services play a vital role in the region. So what is the US Army uniquely suited to achieving there? How are the service's newest capabilities reinforcing security for its allies and partners? How is it leveraging new Army organizations to meet its objectives? To discuss these

When Iran recently launched more than three hundred drones, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles in a large-scale attack against Israel, almost every single one was stopped from reaching its target. A combination of ground-based air defenses, ship-launched weapons, and aircraft from multiple nations were involved in the defensive operation. But how does such a complex air defense mission happen? How is it commanded and controlled? How are the differing capabilities of such a variety of air defense systems integrated most effectively? And what lessons can be derived from the Iranian attack

Seventy-five years ago, on April 4, 1949, representatives of twelve governments came together to sign the North Atlantic Treaty. Much has changed in the intervening period—the Cold War came and went, NATO invoked the Article 5 collective defense clause after the 9/11 attacks, an era of renewed strategic competition has emerged, and large-scale conflict has returned to the continent of Europe. Yet despite all of that change, in both the strategic landscape and the alliance itself, NATO's history is marked by remarkable continuities. That means that an appreciation of its history

In this episode, John Amble speaks to Sandor Fabian about a very specific approach to national defense: resistance. The war in Ukraine has made clear that comparatively small states can be vulnerable to the threat of aggression from larger neighbors. Resistance, Sandor argues, is the most viable means of defense for these states. But effectively embracing it as a strategic approach would require dramatic changes in force structure, training, equipment, doctrine, and more. And if small US allies choose to do so, it would have important implications for US special operations

For eight decades, the world has navigated the risk of nuclear war. But what will be required to so in the future? And because that risk is not static, how do we measure, conceptualize, and respond to changes—like when Russia rattles its nuclear saber? What challenges do so-called tactical nuclear weapons pose to deterrence models based on much larger, strategic weapons? And what dynamics influence both the creation and erosion of international arms control frameworks that aim to regulate these weapons? This episode tackles those questions and more. It features a

The Houthi movement in Yemen has launched dozens of attacks against commercial ships in the Red Sea in recent months. Over the same period, militant groups have attacked US forces in the Middle East as many as 160 times—including the deadly drone attack against a base on Jordan’s border with Syria. And cross-border strikes between Hezbollah, operating from its southern Lebanon base, and Israeli forces have increased. All of this has occurred since Israel began its campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s October 7 attacks. And all of these groups

While Ukraine's international supporters have provided equipment to enable the country's defense against Russia's aggression for nearly two years, global actors have also responded on a completely separate front—putting in place a massive sanctions regime targeting Russia. What effect have they had on Russia and its ability to make war? More broadly, how do sanctions and other instruments of economic statecraft fit within the United States' foreign and security policy? To explore those questions, John Amble is joined on this episode by Edward Fishman, a former government official who worked extensively

Most people know something about the most famous amphibious operations in military history—the D-Day landings and Gallipoli, for example. But what about an amphibious night attack on the shores of Tuscany in 1555? Or a Turkish amphibious assault in response to a coup in Cyprus in 1974? This episode features a conversation with Tim Heck, coeditor of the book On Contested Shores: The Evolving Role of Amphibious Operations in the History of Warfare, and explores the past, present, and future of amphibious operations.

This special episode of the MWI Podcast features the first installment of a three-part miniseries produced by the Irregular Warfare Initiative. The series focuses on irregular warfare in Israel and is hosted by Adam Darnley-Stuart. In the first episode, he speaks to renowned counterterrorism analyst Dr. Levi West about Hamas, its history, and its strategy. Dr. West offers nuanced insights into Hamas operations and the likelihood that the organization's tactics might be adopted by other groups around the world. The discussion explores the effects of the October 7 Hamas attacks and

Observers watched the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War closely, searching for indicators of the character of warfare on tomorrow's battlefields. The lessons extracted have covered advanced technology and unmanned platforms, proxy dynamics, the ongoing relevance of armor, and more. But some of the most important lessons have received much less attention. They center around the increasingly unavoidable importance of combat in cities and are drawn principally from the battle for the city of Shusha—a fight that arguably decided the outcome of the war. Listen as John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at

When Hamas fighters conducted a large-scale and deadly attack against Israel and its people on October 7, what was the group aiming to achieve? What were its strategic objectives? And what sort of Israeli response was it planning for? On this episode, John Amble speaks to Dr. Michele Groppi, a lecturer in the Defence Studies Department at King’s College London. Hamas's brutal attacks might have been tactically successful, but as Michele argues, they also might have actually exceeded what the group thought it would be able to accomplish. And that tactical

As Israeli ground forces mobilize for what at this point appears to be a looming battle in Gaza to destroy Hamas military capability, this episode looks ahead at what form that battle will take. Liam Collins and John Spencer, two former Army officers with a a variety of combat experience and the authors of a book on urban warfare, join John Amble to explore the importance of employing combined arms—infantry, tanks, artillery, engineers, and other capabilities—when operating in urban areas like those that compose much of Gaza's territory. They describe why

Thirty years ago this week—on October 3, 1993—US special operations forces launched a mission in Mogadishu. It was part of Operation Gothic Serpent, which was aimed at capturing Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. The mission was intended to be of a short duration. But things changed when, shortly after members of Task Force Ranger launched from their base, fighters on the ground began firing on US aircraft. The battle that ensued—which would later become the subject of journalist Mark Bowden’s book, Black Hawk Down, and subsequently a film of the same

While Western leaders, media, and institutions have condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its conduct of the ongoing war—characterizing it as a brutal act of naked aggression—to many Russians, their military forces are heroes, protecting the Russian nation, its place in the world, and its very identity. What explains this extraordinarily different perspective? This episode features a discussion with Dr. Jade McGlynn, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London and author of two recently published books that combine to shed light on this question. As

The decisions by the governments of Sweden and Finland to apply to join NATO marked a major departure from both countries' longstanding policies of nonalignment. But how, specifically, will it affect these countries’ defense capabilities—and those of NATO? How much needs to be done to achieve interoperability? And most fundamentally, while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine clearly triggered these decisions, why did both countries make this major decision at the particular moment they did? To unpack those questions and many more, John Amble is joined on this episode by Rasmus Hindren, the

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, the world has seen firsthand evidence of the threat posed by the revanchist state. Among those who perceive this threat most acutely are the three Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The fundamental facts of these states’ existence—their comparatively small size, proximity to Russia, and position on the northeastern flank of the NATO alliance—combine to make the threat both direct and real. But what can NATO do to deter Russian military aggression against the three countries in the future—and defend against that aggression

This episode of the MWI Podcast features a conversation with August Cole, coauthor of a new book called Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution. It’s a techno-thriller and a work of fiction, but it is also based on deep research and allows readers to examine the types of technologies that will increasingly characterize the future—from everyday life to the conduct of war. In fact, the seemingly remarkable technologies featured in the book's plot are already emerging and in many cases already exist.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, one of its first targets was the city of Mariupol. Despite being outnumbered by—and less well equipped than—their adversaries, Ukrainian defenders held out for three months. As the Russian siege of the city intensified, Ukrainian forces defended a shrinking perimeter with a command post in the Azovstal steel plant. One of those Ukrainian defenders was Sergeant Arseniy Fedosiuk. MWI's John Spencer had the opportunity to speak to him about his experience in Mariupol, and you'll hear part of that discussion in this episode. The

When Yevgeny Prighozin, the head of the Wagner Group, released a video on June 23 that criticized Russian leaders' management of the war in Ukraine, it was the first in a series of extraordinary events that played out with the world watching. One of those people watching closely as the private military company's forces entered the city of Rostov-on-Don and began an advance toward Moscow was retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges. A former commanding general of US Army Europe, he joins this episode to lend his extensive experience and nuanced understanding

In this episode, Paul Lushenko joins to discuss armed drones—in particular the impact their proliferation will have on global order. That's the subject of a new book for which he was a coeditor. Why do states—and nonstate actors—choose to use armed drones as weapons of war? How does that decision affect these actors' international reputations? How do questions of law and morality intersect when it comes to drones? And beyond impacting the character of warfare, to what extent will armed, networked, and unmanned platforms change geopolitical dynamics and balances of power?

When Russia invaded Ukraine last year, its ground forces were largely built around the battalion tactical group. Fifteen months on, and that organizational structure has been dramatically changed. Why? And what explains other examples of evolving Russian tactics? Dr. Jack Watling, a senior research fellow for land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute, joins this episode to address these questions and examine these adaptations. He recently coauthored a report, based on close and firsthand study of the war in Ukraine, that traces a number of the specific ways in which

Turkey is in the middle of a presidential election, the closest challenge to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in his twenty years in power. This offers an opportunity for a broad survey of the evolution of Turkish foreign policy, statecraft, and strategy during those two decades and an exploration of how these might continue to evolve going forward. This episode features a discussion with Dr. Ziya Meral, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and specialist in Turkish foreign policy. From the emergence of Turkey’s strong and growing defense industry

How will the rapid pace of advancement in the fields of neuroscience and neurotechnology impact the changing character of warfare? Will they lead to the human brain becoming a battlespace as new scientific breakthroughs and novel technologies are weaponized? This episode features a discussion with a guest who argues that a convergence between neuroscience and the conduct of war is already occurring. Dr. James Giordano is the chief of the Neuroethics Studies Program at Georgetown University and codirector of the O’Neill-Pellegrino Program in Brain Science and Global Health Law and Policy

Would Patton be an effective battlefield commander today? Do the characteristics of successful commanders generally remain constant over time? Or do they evolve alongside—and in response to—the changing character of warfare? And if they do change, what traits will commanders need on the battlefields of today and tomorrow? Dr. Anthony King, the author of the book Command: The Twenty-First-Century General, joins this episode to discuss these questions and more.

Arctic geopolitics are characterized by features that set the region apart from others. Eveything from governance structures to the way Arctic states engage with one another to the way they tackle shared challenges and address disputes—these all look different in the Arctic than elsewhere. But Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine led to a disruption in Arctic engagement, with the seven other Arctic states suspending participation in Arctic Council activities for the duration of Russia's chairmanship of the organization. This raises important questions: Is a return to engagement and cooperation even possible

In this episode, John Amble speaks with Chris Dougherty of the Center for a New American Security. He and his colleagues have conducted a wargame that sought to identify what strategic options the United States and Taiwan have to deter a particular fait accompli move by China against Taiwan. What they concluded was that the best option is something they describe as “the poison frog strategy.” Listen as he describes what that entails, and why it's the most viable means of implementing deterrence against China.

After twenty years of America’s post-9/11 wars and the US military’s struggle to build capable and effective security forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is an important discussion taking place about what role security force assistance should play for the United States in the very different strategic environment that is taking shape. Will it be a mission that we'll be required to do in order to compete with Russia and China? Or will it become tangential to our preparations for large-scale combat operations? And given the challenges we faced over the

One year ago this week, Russian forces invaded Ukraine. Twelve months on, how should we think about the way the war has taken shape? What lessons about modern war should we be learning? What assumptions about the modern battlefield has the conflict challenged, and what assumptions has it reinforced? And what features will characterize the war in the months ahead? In this episode, John Amble is joined by retired Australian Army Major General Mick Ryan. With decades of military and leadership experience, he has been one of the sharpest and most

This episode features a conversation with MWI's chair of urban warfare studies, John Spencer. A leading expert on urban warfare and the coauthor of the book Understanding Urban Warfare, his deep practical experience and scholarship on both historical and modern cases of urban warfare make him the ideal guest to address a range of important questions. Are cities uniquely challenging for military forces? Why? What steps can be taken to achieve a higher level of preparedness for those challenges? And is it possible to replicate cities’ complexity in a training environment?

In this episode, John Amble speaks to Sandor Fabian about a very specific approach to national defense: resistance. The war in Ukraine has made clear that comparatively small states can be vulnerable to the threat of aggression from larger neighbors. Resistance, Sandor argues, is the most viable means of defense for these states. But effectively embracing it as a strategic approach would require dramatic changes in force structure, training, equipment, doctrine, and more. And if small US allies choose to do so, it would have important implications for US special operations

Ukrainian forces have been praised for their innovation efforts during their ongoing war with Russia, particularly with regard to the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. But what has that innovation actually looked like? Is it principally about repurposing equipment, like commercial quadcopters, or is it more a function of implementation, like experimenting with new tactics? And how has Russian forces' own innovation compared? Most importantly, what effect has innovation had on battlefield outcomes? Sam Bendett, an adviser at CNA’s Strategy, Policy, Plans, and Programs Center and a member of CNA’s Russia

We're thrilled to announce a new podcast, launched in partnership with West Point's Department of Social Sciences, called Social Science of War. Each episode will leverage a unique strength of the department—pairing deep practical experience with leading scholarship—to tackle subjects of importance to the Army. In this episode, John Amble speaks briefly to Colonel Heidi Demarest, acting head of the Department of Social Sciences, and Major Kyle Atwell, who teaches in the department and will serve as the host for season one of the new podcast. After introducing the show, you'll

Since the middle of September, when an Iranian woman died after being detained in Tehran for improperly wearing her headscarf, protests have gripped the country. But what sets them apart from previous periods of demonstrations against the Iranian regime? Will that regime manage to weather the storm and bring the protests to an end as it has in the past? And what are the possible outcomes if the movement not only maintains its momentum but gathers strength? Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute, joins this

This episode examines how special operations forces are integrating high-tech tools like artificial intelligence and machine learning to optimize their operations. Dr. Richard Shultz of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Gen. Richard Clarke, commander of US Special Operations Command, join the podcast to trace the history of US special operations forces' efforts in Iraq to adapt to the counterterrorism fight there, explain how these forces made use of data to enable a remarkably rapid operational tempo, and describe how a program called Project Maven took shape to harness

The recent death of Ayman al-Zawahiri marks a rare inflection point for a terrorist organization that has had just two leaders in the more than three decades of its existence. Forecasting its future trajectory—and developing counterterrorism policy—will depend on what type of leader emerges as Zawahiri's successor. Dr. Tricia Bacon and Dr. Elizabeth Grimm are the authors of a new book, Terror in Transition: Leadership and Succession in Terrorist Organizations. They join this episode to describe the five categories of leader they have identified by rigorously analyzing leadership succession in terrorist

How are demographic and economic shifts increasing the importance of urban centers around the globe? What does this mean for military forces? To what extent do the local politics of a city complicate military operations there—specifically irregular warfare activities? When conflict between an insurgency and government forces enters a city, does the terrain inherently favor one side over the other? This special episode addresses these questions as it brings together two of the Modern War Institute's core areas of focus: urban warfare and irregular warfare. Kyle Atwell and Ben Jebb host

As the US Space Force nears its third birthday, John Amble is joined by Dr. Moriba Jah on this episode to explore just how crowded the space domain is—especially with the surprising amount of detritus created over more than six decades of the Space Age. Dr. Jah is 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.

The term "cohesion" features prominently in discussions of military effectiveness, especially at the small-unit level. We all know intuitively what it means, but understanding how to develop and nurture it in practice is a challenge. That's even more true as technological advancement continues to make constant connectivity with the outside world easier, even from a battlefield. How do soldiers' stresses from home impact cohesion? What about when soldiers no longer process shared traumatic experiences together? John Spencer spent twenty-five years as an infantry soldier and officer, including leading troops in combat.

This episode features a discussion with Simon Akam, author of the book The Changing of the Guard: The British Army Since 9/11. The book tells the story of nearly two decades of the service's experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan. Critical of the British Army's leadership at times, it aims to jumpstart an honest conversation about the those wars, the service's performance in them, the relationship between the UK military and the British people, and more. It's an insightful, thought-provoking conversation that brings into focus issues that are important not just in

How have European far-right extremists responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? How has the Russian government leveraged the Russian far right in service of its objectives in the war? And how should we understand the role of Ukraine's well-known Azov regiment? These questions all revolve around the complicated intersection of far-right politics, foreign fighter mobilization, and war. Exploring them requires a nuanced understanding of context that extends back much earlier than Russia's February invasion. On this episode, a joint production between MWI and the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, Kacper

How does cyberspace differ from the other warfighting domains—land, sea, air, and space? What challenges do those differences pose? Does cyber require unique approaches to talent manage to ensure the US military can recruit, promote, and retain the talent it needs? What resources are needed to effectively compete in cyberspace, and are those different from the resources necessary for a conflict scenario? How would the cyber dimension of a modern war play out, and are there lessons from the ongoing war in Ukraine that illuminate this question? In this episode, John

When the idea of great power competition began to gain traction with the publication of the 2017 National Security Strategy and the 2018 National Defense Strategy, it was in some ways less a strategy than a conceptual outline of one. Amid subsequent efforts to build out a more robust competitive framework around the idea, a vital question has taken shape: How should the US policy community develop a strategy that identifies and pursues opportunities in an increasingly competitive environment? A new book by Ali Wyne, America's Great Power Opportunity, sets out

What are the hallmarks of an adaptable military force? What types of leaders best create cultures of adaptability in their formations? How do such forces employ rapidly changing technologies? And how does doctrine drive or limit adaptation? Dr. Nora Bensahel and retired Lt. Gen. Dave Barno—authors of the book Adaptation Under Fire: How Militaries Change in Wartime—join this episode to discuss these questions and more. The episode was originally recorded and released in early 2021, and returning to it helps to provide a framework within which to understand the ways in

While Ukrainian forces have fought to defend against Russia's invasion since February, the war's conduct has been influenced by international involvement—namely, the supply of weapons and equipment Ukraine has received from its foreign supporters. But as the United States, its European allies, and other countries around the world have offered military assistance, they have also been active on another front: putting in place a massive sanctions regime targeting Russia. That's the subject this episode explores. John Amble is joined by Edward Fishman, a former government official who worked extensively on sanctions

The war in Ukraine has been playing out in—and across—all domains. So it is perhaps surprising that Russia's invasion plan held almost no role for the type of operation designed to bridge two of those domains. There has been little sign that Russia sought to employ amphibious operations to gain a foothold in the south of the country—despite Ukraine's long Black Sea coast. Is this an indicator that such operations are a relic of the past? Or is it an anomaly? To help understand those questions, we're returning to an episode

The decisions by the governments of Sweden and Finland to apply to join NATO mark a major departure from both countries' longstanding policies of nonalignment. But how, specifically, will it affect these countries’ defense capabilities—and those of NATO? How much needs to be done to achieve interoperability? And most fundamentally, while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine clearly triggered these decisions, why did both countries make this major decision at this particular moment? To unpack those questions and many more, John Amble is joined on this episode by Rasmus Hindren, the head of

Almost every listener will be familiar with the Turkish-made TB-2 Bayraktar drone. Most will have seen the many reports of its operational effectiveness in the hands of Ukrainian forces defending against Russia's invasion of their country. But beyond that media coverage, the story of the drone's development, its particular capabilities, and its performance not just in Ukraine but in other recent conflict, as well, is an interesting one. To discuss these topics and explore the broader implications of the TB-2's effectiveness in Ukraine, John Amble is joined on this episode by

The ongoing war in Ukraine is giving observers a chance to forecast how future conflicts will take shape. Drones, advanced sensors, and other technologies are playing impactful roles in the fight. At the same time, artillery is demonstrating its enduring relevance in large-scale combat, air defense is reemerging as a criticial capability, and basic concepts like effective camouflage are proving to be as important as they are fundamental. Many, if not all, of these trends were on display more than a year earlier in another war that received considerably less attention

Hypersonic missiles have become an increasingly frequent focus of defense and security discussions in recent years and the subject of growing public attention. But what truly sets them apart, beyond just velocity, from existing missile technology? Do they represent a game changer on the strategic landscape, or are they better understood as just an evolutionary step in missile development? What implications do they have from a defense perspective? To address those questions, John Amble is joined on this episode by Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center

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

This episode of the MWI Podcast tackles the topic of no-fly zones. Almost immediately after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy began calling for a no-fly zone to be implemented over his country to negate the effects of Russian airpower. It’s a call that NATO leaders have resisted. To discuss why, and to offer a very unique perspective on what putting a no-fly zone in place actually entails, John Amble is joined by retired US Air Force Colonel Mike Pietrucha, a veteran aviator with extensive combat experience—including taking part

In recent weeks there has been a considerable amoung of questioning in public debate in the United States about Germany and—when it has been stated most bluntly—how reliable Germany is as an ally. The reason this is all being raised now is because of the Ukraine crisis. On a few very high-profile issues, Germany—according to this line of questioning—seems hesitant to cooperate fully with NATO partners in supporting Ukraine against the threat of Russian aggression. But the reality is much more complicated than simply saying Germany is or is not a

From 2016 to 2018, Colonel Liam Collins played a key role in US efforts to assist the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense with a series of substantial reforms—ranging from organization and command and control to military training, medicine, and logistics. That experience gives him a unique perspective from which to assess the capabilities of Ukraine's military. With tensions rising amid a Russian troop buildup along its border with Ukraine, he joins the MWI Podcast to share that perspective.

This episode of the MWI Podcast features a conversation with August Cole, coauthor of a new book called Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution. It’s a techno-thriller and a work of fiction, but it is also based on deep research and allows readers to examine the types of technologies that will increasingly characterize the future—from everyday life to the conduct of war. In fact, the seemingly remarkable technologies featured in the book's plot are already emerging and in many cases already exist.

What did we learn about modern war in 2021? What issues defined the most important conversations in defense circles? In this special year-end episode of the MWI Podcast, John Amble speaks to the directors of MWI's four themed projects, each aimed at advancing our understanding of a particular aspect of modern war—the Urban Warfare Project, the Irregular Warfare Initiative, Project 6633, and Shield Notes—along with one of the curators of the Full Spectrum series of articles on cyber and information operations that we published this year. They explain the events that

After twenty years of America’s post-9/11 wars and the US military’s struggle to build capable and effective security forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is an important discussion taking place about what role security force assistance should play for the United States in the very different strategic environment that is taking shape. Will it be a mission that we'll be required to do in order to compete with Russia and China? Or will it become tangential to our preparations for large-scale combat operations? And given the challenges we faced over the

Recently, large numbers of Russian military forces have been moved to areas near Russia's border with Ukraine. This has set off a wave of reporting and analysis about what it likely means. But there’s a considerable degree of nuance and substantial context that both need to be accounted for to best understand what the troop movements indicate, to predict what comes next, and to identify what strategic options are available to the united States and NATO. To examine all of that in this episode of the MWI Podcast, John Amble is

In this episode, John Amble speaks with Chris Dougherty of the Center for a New American Security. He and his colleagues recently conducted a wargame that sought to identify what strategic options the United States and Taiwan have to deter a particular fait accompli move by China against Taiwan. What they found as the best option is something they describe as “the poison frog strategy.” Listen as he describes what that entails, and why it's the most viable means of implementing deterrence against China.

In this episode, John Amble speaks to Sandor Fabian about a very specific approach to national defense: resistance. Specifically, Sandor argues that resistance is the most viable means of defense for small states facing the threat of aggression from a larger neighbor. But effectively embracing it as a strategic approach would require dramatic changes in force structure, training, equipment, doctrine, and more. And if small US allies choose to do so, it would have important implications for US special operations forces and for NATO.

In this episode, Paul Lushenko joins to discuss armed drones—in particular the impact their proliferation will have on global order. That's the subject of a new book for which he was a coeditor. Why do states—and nonstate actors—choose to use armed drones as weapons of war? How does that decision affect these actors' international reputations? How do questions of law and morality intersect when it comes to drones? And beyond impacting the character of warfare, to what extent will armed, networked, and unmanned platforms change geopolitical dynamics and balances of power?

In this episode, John Amble speaks to Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau. A key pillar of the US defense enterprise, the National Guard is also fundamentally unique. Composed of fifty-four separate entities, it is inherently joint given its Army and Air Force components. It must also balance two, parallel missions—both as a source of combat capability for the joint force and a mechanism to respond to a wide range of emergencies domestically. After twenty years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, this conversation explores what the future

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. Note: This episode was originally released in 2019.

Observers watched the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War closely, searching for indicators of the character of warfare on tomorrow's battlefields. The lessons extracted have covered advanced technology and unmanned platforms, proxy dynamics, the ongoing relevance of armor, and more. But some of the most important lessons have received much less attention. They center around the increasingly unavoidable importance of combat in cities and are drawn principally from the battle for the city of Shusha—a fight that arguably decided the outcome of the war. Listen as John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at

China is increasingly labeled America's "pacing threat" by US national security leaders. That makes it more important than ever to understand China with an appropriate degree of nuance. How do politics and military capability overlay on one another in China? How does Beijing view the US-China relationship? How do things like history and military culture factor into Chinese strategy and capabilities? This episode features a conversation with Larry Wortzel, who has spent decades studying China and tackles those questions and more.

President Joe Biden recently made his first trip to Europe. Between meetings with G-7 leaders and a bilateral meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, he attended his first NATO summit. Those events offer an opportunity to assess issues of European security, and specifically the current state of NATO. To do so, John Amble is joined in this episode by Lauren Speranza, director of transatlantic defense and security at the Center for European Policy Analysis.

This episode features a conversation with Brig. Gen. David Doyle, commander of the Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk. He describes how training at JRTC—one of the Army's three combat training centers—is changing rapidly and dramatically to meet the challenges that soldiers and units will confront in the contemporary global operational environment. As you'll hear, that training isn't just a pillar of Army readiness, but an integral component of the bigger picture of Army modernization.

In this episode of the MWI Podcast, MWI's John Amble speaks to James Verini. An award-winning journalist, he spent months reporting from Mosul as Iraqi forces, backed by US troops, fought to retake the city from Mosul. In the conversation, he not only discusses the fighting he reported on, but also offers important context about Mosul, its people, and its history—all of which is crucial to make sense of urban conflict. As he describes, Mosul also shows how urban conflict's destructive nature and political instability interact with one another in important