Today, we welcome retired Lieutenant Colonel Seth Middleton, who served as a Civil Affairs officer in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Mali.

He later went on to work for USAID, teaching the JHOC, or JointHumanitarian Operations Course, and serving as a military advisor before the agency was disbanded.

We talk with Seth about his experiences at AID and his new article,"Non-Military Foreign Assistance is Now DOD’s Problem," published in the Small Wars Journal. To check out the article, I have links available in the show notes

SWJ Profile:

https://smallwarsjournal.com/author/seth-middleton/

Article:

https://smallwarsjournal.com/2025/03/21/non-military-foreign-assistance-is-now-dods-problem/

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One CA is a product of the Civil Affairs Association andbrings in people who are current or former military, diplomats, development officers, and field agents to discuss their experiences on the ground with a partner nation's people and leadership.

We aim to inspire anyone interested in working in the "lastthree feet" of U.S. foreign relations.  

To contact the show, email us at [email protected], or look us up on the Civil Affairs Association website at www.civilaffairsassoc.org

CAA Call for papers:

https://www.civilaffairsassoc.org/_files/ugd/85da1e_74d6e5f2cd7f4e13a73d68ee76e5b192.pdf

CAA 2025 Symposium:

Civil Affairs Association's 2025 annual symposium will be heldin Los Angeles, California from November 13-16

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/civil-affairs-association_save-the-date-the-2025-caa-annual-activity-7315538329746264065-KkDR/

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Feedspot, the podcast industry ranking system, rated One CAPodcast as one of the top 10 shows on foreign policy. Check it out at:

https://podcast.feedspot.com/foreign_policy_podcasts/

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 Special Thanks to Cozy Jazz Music for the sample ofSeptember Jazz. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/N1GJvZfdDGI?feature=shared

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