Defense One Radio

This episode, we’re going to take a closer look at terrorism trends and far-right extremists in America. We’ll see how oftentimes right-wing violence works inside the seams of American security and law enforcement discourse, challenging our definition of terrorism.

We’ll also discuss America’s wars abroad, and how many veterans have brought the war home, as it were. 

Then we’ll visit Charlottesville, Virginia, where we’ll tour a few Confederate monuments — monuments that are playing host to a new generation of vigilantes.

Guests this episode include:

• Erin Miller, program manager for the Global Terrorism Database at the University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism; that conversation begins at the 1:52 mark;
• Kathleen Belew, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Chicago (at the 9:33 mark);
• Jalane Schmidt, University of Virginia professor and local public historian in Charlottesville, Virginia (at the 38:04 mark). Find her work in a special feature from WTJU's 91.1 FM entitled, "Marked by these Monuments."

We take a new look at what China means to American voters, and how opinions and perceptions about China have changed since President Trump took office three and a half years ago. Our episode is broken into three parts:

1. How Americans feel about China, with Laura Silver of the Pew Research Center;
2. The tech and values challenge posed by China, with Rui Zhong of the Wilson Center; and Kara Frederick of the Center for a New American Security;
3. From 1517 to 2020, with Michael Schuman, author of “Superpower Interrupted: The Chinese History of the World.”

U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Karl Schultz explains how his service is responding to growing access to the arctic, which is quickly becoming a place for great powers like Russia, China and the U.S. to compete and try to outmaneuver one another. 

Then we'll hear from arctic policy wonks David Auerswald of the National War College and Abbie Tingstad of the RAND Corporation. 

This episode is sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton.

This episode we'll hear from Peter W. Singer and August Cole, the authors of “Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution.” The title comes from the term for deliberately pushing technology to the breaking point, in order to learn from it.

Then we'll pivot to military recruiting and the world of competitive video gaming when we speak to Sergeant First Class Chris Jones, the NCO-in-charge of the U.S. Army's Esports team. // Music by Gareth Johnson, Kes Loy and Gavin Harrison, as well as Jason Pedder, Philip Guyler and Ben Ziapour — via AudioNetwork.com.

This episode is sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton.

Richard Haass is president of the Council on Foreign Relations. His book “The World: A Brief Introduction” is available for purchase online today.  

This episode is sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton.

Today we’re going to look at America’s changing place in a rapidly-changing world. It’s part of a broader series of reporting, commentaries and discussions Defense One and the Center for a New American Security are hosting throughout the year. They’re all inspired by the theme of military readiness in 2020. And we’re calling it the American Readiness Project. The guiding question is this: Are Americans ready, willing, and able to be the global security leaders of this century? 

This episode, Defense One Executive Editor Kevin Baron explores those ideas and more along with Ivo Daalder, president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

This episode is sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton.

Retired U.S. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey has a new book coming out in May called “No Time For Spectators: The Lessons That Mattered Most From West Point To The West Wing.” Dempsey talks about politics and leadership during a pandemic; why the U.S. didn't do more in Syria sooner, and more.

This episode is sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton.

More American soldiers died from the flu in 1918 than died from combat in World War I. And more Americans died from that 1918 flu pandemic than died from all the wars in the last century. That's why we’re gonna learn a bit more about what the Influenza of 1918 did to the U.S. military.

Special Guest: Angry Staff Officer 

• Part One: The First Wave (at the 1:35 mark);
• Part Two: The Second Wave (11:40);
• Part Three: The Show Must Go On (22:38).

Find a transcript of this episode here.

Find Carol Byerly's "Fever of War" on Amazon here. See also Byerly's additional research on the topic at the National Institutes of Health, here.

See also PBS American Experience's 2010 documentary, "Influenza 1918," here.

This episode is sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton.

Subscribe to Defense One Radio wherever you listen to podcasts.

• Part One: The costs of acknowledging a pandemic, with Annie Lowrey of The Atlantic (at the 3:29 mark); find her report, "Quantifying the Coming Recession," here.
• Part Two: On China's initiative and trustworthiness, with Peter W. Singer of New America (at 12:34); find Singer's two pieces on China here and here;
• Part Three: The downside of ‘America First’ and the upside of America, with Kori Schake of the American Enterprise Institute (at 27:56); find her op-ed, "'America First' Is Making the Pandemic Worse," here.

This episode is sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton.