A scholar of civil wars warns against repeating the past mistakes from U.S. military interventions abroad.

Guest: Monica Duffy Toft, director of the Center for Strategic Studies and a professor of international politics at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; her essay "Can the US 'run' Venezuela? Military force can topple a dictator, but it cannot create political authority or legitimacy" was published earlier this month in The Conversation.

A new audio roundup of leading national security news for the week ending January 23, 2026.

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CFR's Paul Stares unpacks the latest annual survey of foreign policy experts bracing for what might lie ahead.

Guest:

• Paul Stares, General John W. Vessey senior fellow for conflict prevention and director of the Center for Preventive Action at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Read the 2026 Preventive Priorities Survey results published this week at CFR here.

The former Army Ranger explores how AI might reshape drone warfare, America's tech race with China, Russia's war in Ukraine, and much more.

Guest:

• Paul Scharre, executive vice president at the Center for a New American Security and author of several books, including "Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence," and "Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War."

The Virginia Republican discusses the Pentagon's acquisition reforms, the defense secretary's legislative-affairs bottleneck, and his priorities for the upcoming spending bills.

Guest: Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, in conversation with Defense One Executive Editor Bradley Peniston.

A veteran of the National Security Council shares what the movie got right and wrong on U.S. missile defense and nuclear command and control.

Guest: Jon Wolfsthal, Director of Global Risk at the Federation of American Scientists.

Patrick Tucker explains what he learned during a recent trip to Eastern Europe.

A celebrated historian shares years of research into the quiet and not-so-quiet struggles of millions of American veterans returning home from World War II.

Guest:

• David Nasaw, historian, two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, and author of "The Wounded Generation: Coming Home After World War II."

The EU's ambassador to the U.S. underscores the importance of the bloc's $910 billion defense plans known as Readiness 2030.

Guest:

• European Union Ambassador to the United States Jovita Neliupšienė.

Our editors explore the vibe, the headlines, the aircraft, the drones, and the other news coming out of the Air Force Association's big annual conference at National Harbor, Maryland.

Guests:

• Tom Novelly, Defense One senior reporter covering air and space warfare;
• And Lauren C. Williams, Defense One senior editor.