CENTCAST

We celebrate the 40th Anniversary of CENTCOM in 2023, but have you ever wondered what the regional security picture was like before then?

With the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and its potential for instability causing much concern, the establishment of a Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force was seen as crucial to countering Iranian and Russian influence. Headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base after its 1980 beginning, the task force took the first steps in building the unified, permanent command needed in the Middle East.

Episode 14 highlights the short lifespan of an organization that recognized a gap in the security framework of the United States and her partners and closed it with the contemporary resources and tools available.

Join us now to learn about those who paved the way for CENTCOM.

We have a chance in Episode 13 to hear from U.S. Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich about regional air challenges. He's been in command of Air Forces Central for little more than a year, one filled with challenges, opportunities and successful collaboration.

While regional adversaries highlight the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, you'll hear about the continued U.S. and Coalition presence fully capable of deterring and defeating any threat.

Whether it's helping to lead the charge on innovation, countering Russian influence in the region or harnessing the full potential of diverse and unique partners, Lt. Gen. Grynkewich has a front row seat to the CENTCOM issues of the day. We'll hear those perspectives on regional air power and more in this CENTCAST episode.

Episode 12 of the CENTCAST highlights a critical plank in our Partnership programs: the Women, Peace, and Security program. The program empowers and highlights women serving and leading in their countries’ national security. In so doing, the effort offers military forces throughout the CENTCOM region a strategic advantage of our adversaries and competitors. Rachel Arin, the CENTCOM program coordinator, joins host Joe Buccino and his friend Crespo to explain the value of women’s meaningful participation in security. She is a retired Army Sergeant Major who served in public affairs and is now living her best life in Tampa running the WPS program.

It’s an important program, this is an interesting subject, and we’re giving you a short episode. So, give us 15 minutes and we’ll give you everything you need to know about the Women, Peace, and Security program.

Schuyler Moore, the first Chief Technology Officer in CENTCOM history, has been driving innovation across the command since coming into the job last November. The 30-year-old Harvard grad is accelerating the implementation of new technology and new ideas, moving out on AI-based targeting solutions, and encouraging creativity across all echelons. She’s also served as the subject of a Washington Post profile, addressed the national media in a Pentagon press briefing, and spoken with national and international reporters about her innovation focus.

For Episode 11 Schuyler entered the CENTCAST studio to share her story and her focus within CENTCOM. She describes how she entered the command at the perfect moment and why CENTCOM is driving innovation for the US Department of Defense. She also describes some of CENTCOM’s innovation initiatives, including its counter-drone experimentation, unmanned platforms, and AI data collection programs.

Schuyler has an inspiring backstory – she left Harvard for a year to teach in Afghanistan, was selected by Forbes as among 30 Under 30 brightest young American leaders, and entered military service in her late-twenties. She served as the Director of Science and Technology for the Defense Innovation Board – the youngest director in that organization’s history. In 2019, her report on 5G technology was presented to Congress and the White House. She’s already accomplished and experienced more than most people do in a lifetime. Amazingly, her journey is just getting started. All these elements are revealed in this 40-minute episode.

CENTCAST host Joe Buccino spends a lot of time talking about CENTCOM history. This episode is about the present and future: in its 40th year, CENTCOM is revolutionizing its processes and operations to take advantage of AI, machine learning, robotics, and cloud computing. Schuyler Moore is leading those efforts. This episode has insight and wisdom for anyone interested in military innovation or the intersection of new technology into military operations.

CENTCOM's strategic approach centers on three components: People, Partners, and Innovation. This episode focuses on the second one.

Marine Corps Major General Sean "Sumo" Salene, the CENTCOM Director of Plans and Strategy, enters the CENTCAST studio with host Joe Buccino to discuss US Central Command's focus on partnering with military forces in the Middle East, Levant, and Central and South Asian States. Sumo tells Joe about the value of listening and how a little humility advances American interests in the region. He also explains why leaning into our American military values in developing enduring, abiding relations offers CENTCOM a strategic advantage over China and Russia.

This episode describes CENTCOM's philosophy on partnering and how CENTCOM organizes training exercises and operations partners. Our partners are such a critical aspect of everything we do and this episode explains what that means for our troops in the region and across the United States.

Every leader assigned to CENTCOM and any security professional interested in CENTCOM's priorities will find insight in this shorter episode of CENTCAST.

If you've ever spent time with Navy Fleet Master Chief Derrick Walters - America's longest-serving Navy SEAL - you'll know immediately that while he is a quiet, softspoken intellect, but he has a lot to say. A lot to say about the social evolution of the US military, about leadership, about the legacy of the brotherhood of the SEALS, and many other subjects related to life and service. In Episode 9 he says it all in the Tampa, Florida CENTCAST studio with host Joe Buccino.

Born and raised in Queens, New York, Derrick served a lifetime as a Navy SEAL. He's fought and led SEALs in some of the toughest, most violent, most strategically-important places and missions ever witnessed by the American servicemember. He's risen to the top of the American military, advising Generals and Admirals at the highest levels. Derrick now finds himself advising the commander of US Central Command at a critical moment of transformation for the organization and the region.

Fleet Walters has always invested in his people. This goes beyond ensuring they are ready for combat - his personal investment in people extends to their families, to their lives beyond military services, and to seeking a balance between all the aspects of life that allow fulfillment. He explains this leadership philosophy during an enlightening and thoroughly entertaining half hour.

CENTCAST is the official podcast of US Central Command. With a new episode every Tuesday, the show tells the 40-year history of CENTCOM, America's military command focused on the Middle East, Levant, and Central and South Asian States.

In 1988, at the close of a ruinous eight-year slog of war with Iraq, an exhausted and increasingly unpopular Iranian regime sought to reestablish pre-revolution ties with the United States. In his inaugural address that year, the new American president, George HW Bush, seemed to welcome a new relationship with Tehran.

The Cold War was ending with a golden American triumph. The Iran-Iraq War had culminated with Iran militarily and economically devastated. A new day dawned for both the Untied States and Iran. Both sides were moving toward some kind of rapprochement.

So, what happened?

Iranian-American author, scholar, and historian John Ghazvinian joins the podcast to explain how DC ignored Tehran’s diplomatic outreach. John is the author “America and Iran” A History, 1720 to the Present,” named by the New York Times as one of the “100 Notable Books of 2021.” The book is full of insights into the long arc of America’s relationship with the country we now consider the primary destabilizing force in the Middle East.

John describes what could have been, what the Middle East might look like today had the US administration brought Iran in from the cold, and how both sides viewed a possible diplomatic reengagement during a critical period.

CENTCAST is the official podcast of US Central Command, the American military command overseeing the Middle East, the Levant, and the Central Asian States. The program tells the history of CENTCOM and describes the command’s activities and initiatives today.

The Tanker War was a big moment in early CENTCOM history. The US was involved in a low-grade combat at sea with Iran that almost escalated to a major theater conflict.

In the 1980s, Iran and Iraq, embroiled in a massive land war, engaged in a series of shoot-outs on the high seas. Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, supported by the United States (believe it or not), started the whole thing. In an attempt to weaken Iran’s ability to fight on land, he began attacking Iranian shipping vessel. The US eventually became involved and, with the world watching, the whole thing became, well....it became really complicated.

American forces were involved in a series of exchanges at sea. An Iraqi jet fired two missiles into an American frigate, killing 37 Navy Sailors. Then an American ship hit a naval mine and the US Navy engaged in the largest American sea battle since WWII.

This is a WILD story, one in which Clausewitzian fog of war serves as a principal character. In 1988, an Iranian passenger plane was tragically shot out of the sky by an American guided missile cruiser, killing all 290 on board in a chaotic mistake. In the United States, that moment is largely forgotten but it was huge news back then – a catastrophic international incident. To this day, many in Iran believe this was a targeted shoot down ordered by the White House.

We have the best possible guide on this compelling journey back to the Reagan days of foreign policy: David Crist, a senior historian for the Department of Defense and the author of a RIVETING book published in 2012 titled "The Twilight War: The Secret History of America's Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran." David has been studying Iran for decades and he joins host Joe Buccino to describe the Tanker War in vivid detail. He’s a big figure on the CENTCOM campus in Tampa (his dad was the second commander in CENTCOM history).

This is a story that begins with Iran as an early Cold War American ally. It's a story of the Iranian Revolution and the subsequent hostage crisis. All the weird elements of CENTCOM history we’ve been talking about are manifest in this episode.

It's a story with big moments: the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, the storming of an Iranian ship by Navy SEALS, the American shelling of an Iranian oil platform.

It's a story of big global figures: Ronald Reagan, Ayatollah Khomeini, Zbigniew Brezinski, Casper Wienberger, Oliver North.

It's also a story of American miscalculation.

Finally, it's a story that involves the bizarre Iran-Contra scandal that almost brought down the Reagan presidency. All these elements are manifest in this episode.

So, give us an hour (ok – just over an hour), because we break all this down in this fantastic episode.

This is an episode rich with insight about the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, this history of CENTCOM, and Tehran's motivations.

Anyone looking to understand our relationship with Iran today must first understand how we came to the edge of a full-scale war with the Islamic Republic during the Tanker War. Frankly, ANYONE who works in CENTCOM should feel an obligation to listen to this episode.

CENTCAST details all the events, crises, and geopolitical considerations that led to the formation of US Central Command in 1983. One event stands in history above all others in prominence. One crisis forced the American Congress, presidency, and Pentagon to develop a unified command focuses solely on the central region. That event sits at the heart of this episode.

CENTCAST host Joe Buccino is joined on this episode by historian David Farber. David is the Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Kansas. He’s authored many books about American history in the 1960s and 70s. The one we’re concerned about here is “Taken Hostage: The Iran Hostage Crisis and America’s First Encounter with Radical Islam,” published in 2009.

More than four decades after the conclusion of the hostage crisis, much about it is misunderstood. David and Joe separate mythology from fact and lay bare the real story of this event, how it happened, and how it reverberates in Iran and America today.

We normally release episodes of CENTCAST every other Tuesday. This episode, however, is going out on a Saturday: February 25th, Kuwait National Day. In fact, Kuwait National Day is the subject of episode 5.

Host Joe Buccino is joined in studio by Staff Lieutenant Colonel Khaled Al Rubaian, a Kuwaiti Armed Forces officer who represents his nation in the US Central Command headquarters in Tampa. Khaled explains the history of Kuwait, the meaning of its national colors, and the story behind Kuwait National Day.

CENTCAST is the official podcast of US Central Command, America’s premiere warfighting command. CENTCOM is the American military command focused on security of the Middle East, Levant, and the Central Asian States. We’re honored to have representatives from our regional partnered countries like Khaled serving alongside us in the CENTCOM headquarters and we’re honored he participated in the podcast.