FDD Events Podcast

FDD's RADM (Ret) Mark Montgomery and Craig Singleton give a readout of recent high-level meetings in Taiwan with senior political and defense officials. They discuss findings from a tabletop exercise simulating how the CCP might target Taiwan's satellites, ground networks, and subsea cables through cyber-enabled economic warfare. The exercise also examined how the United States and Japan could support Taiwan's response.

For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/10/06/findings-of-taiwan-china-war-game/

The United States leads the world in frontier artificial intelligence. However, cutting edge technology used by a limited number of people is a trophy, not a capability – and the contest with China will not be decided only at the frontier. History is unambiguous on this point: the nations that rise during technological revolutions are not always those that invent the breakthrough, but rather the ones that adopt it fastest across their institutions. For the U.S. military, that distinction is now the central question of its advantage.

If the most sophisticated technology on earth reaches only a fraction of the force, how much advantage does it confer? How is the Pentagon moving from procuring AI to diffusing it across the force? What cultural and organizational changes does an “AI-first” military require? And how does the United States build and keep the technical talent inside government, turning tools into outcomes before its competitors close the gap?

To discuss these questions and others, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) hosts a conversation with FDD Visiting Military Analyst Major Megan “Napalm” Hainline, F-16 instructor pilot and AI leader; FDD Adjunct Senior Fellow Isaac “Ike” Harris, executive director of the Frontier Security Institute; and Leah Siskind, FDD AI research fellow. The discussion will be moderated by RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, senior director of FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation.

For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/events/2026/10/01/winning-the-adoption-war-diffusing-ai-across-the-us-military/

NATO’s power projection depends on the civilian digital systems and physical infrastructure that enable military movement across roads, railways, ports, and airfields. Yet since the end of the Cold War, Europe’s investment in defense-related infrastructure has not kept pace with the demands of a changing security environment.

Russia’s war against Ukraine has made the stakes clear. In a conflict with NATO, Russia is likely to target the transportation, energy, and communications networks allied forces would rely on to deploy, reinforce, and sustain operations across the continent. At the same time, Chinese state-linked companies have acquired stakes in strategically important European critical infrastructure, including ports and energy grids, even as Chinese hackers have penetrated the same systems in the United States. Europe has begun investing in military mobility and streamlining cross-border movement, but major gaps remain between NATO’s battle plans and the infrastructure needed to execute them at speed and scale.

To examine these challenges and the steps NATO and its allies should take, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies hosts a conversation with Tom Goffus, FDD adjunct fellow and former NATO assistant secretary general for operations and former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy; RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, senior director, FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation; and Jiwon Ma, senior policy analyst, FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation. The conversation will be moderated by Daniella Cheslow, National Security Daily anchor at Politico, with opening remarks by Bradley Bowman, senior director, FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power.

For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/events/2026/09/28/planes-trains-and-military-mobility-strengthening-nato-through-critical-infrastructure-security/

The United States is confronting one of the most dangerous geostrategic environments since 1945. China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are deepening cooperation across economic, cyber, technology, and military domains. That cooperation is making each adversary more formidable and increasing the odds the United States will confront simultaneous major wars. Many longstanding U.S. policies and assumptions are now dangerously outdated.

How have China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea been cooperating? What are the consequences of that cooperation? And what grand strategy must Washington adopt to strengthen American security, bolster allies and partners, and weaken the Axis?

The newly released book, Axis of Aggressors: Countering the Cooperation of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, answers these questions.

Axis of Aggressors has been widely praised by foreign policy experts. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the book provides “a clear understanding of this Axis of Aggressors, as well as the urgent steps our nation must take to deter our adversaries.” Matt Pottinger, former deputy national security advisor, calls the book “a gift to concerned citizens, strategists, and lawmakers,” noting that “[i]f Washington had heeded a book like this in the 1930s, we might have forestalled much of the bloodshed of the 1940s.”

To discuss Axis of Aggressors and the growing threat posed by America’s authoritarian adversaries, FDD hosts a fireside chat with Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the Senate Committee on Finance, and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The fireside chat will be followed by a panel featuring Bradley L. Bowman, Elaine K. Dezenski, and RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, all senior leaders at FDD’s Centers on American Power and authors of Axis of Aggressors. The panel will be moderated by NBC News’ Dan De Luce with introductory remarks delivered by Ryan Brobst, deputy director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power.

President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are set to meet in Washington on September 24 to address technology, AI, rare earths, Taiwan, and major security crises — a summit that observers expect to manage the current U.S.-China stalemate rather than resolve it, as both sides use the present lull to position for future leverage. FDD's Craig Singleton, senior fellow and senior director of FDD's China Program, and RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, senior fellow focusing on China's regional military expansion, will preview the summit on a media call, addressing Washington's and Beijing's competing goals, including how a possible delay in the next Taiwan arms package could be read as a temporary pause by Washington but as precedent by Beijing.

For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/09/16/previewing-the-trump-xi-summit-2/

The global economy has entered a period of fundamental realignment. As the Trump administration deploys tariffs to reshape trading relationships and redefine economic alliances, policymakers worldwide are adapting to a new reality in which economic security and national security have become inseparable. At the forefront of this effort are America’s tools of positive economic power – the institutions that are already mobilizing U.S. public and private capital, financing critical infrastructure, and expanding trade relationships. Yet new capabilities are essential, including coordinated interagency economic packages designed to stabilize transitioning regimes in countries such as Venezuela, and potentially Iran and Cuba – with clear guardrails to ensure that U.S. economic engagement advances strategic objectives without compromising American values or long-term interests.

How is positive economic power evolving in response to the current moment? How can the responsible agencies complement sanctions and export controls, and more seamlessly integrate their responses? And what tools and capacities does the United States need to deploy economic power effectively?

To discuss the evolving architecture of American economic statecraft, please join FDD for a fireside chat with Ben Black, CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), and Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), chairman of the Senate Subcommittees on Financial Services and General Government; National Security and International Trade and Finance; and State Department and USAID Management, International Operations, and Bilateral International Development. The conversation will be moderated by Elaine Dezenski, senior director and head of FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power, with introductory remarks by Daniel Swift, senior research analyst at FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power.

For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/events/2026/09/15/us-economic-statecraft-in-a-realigned-world/

As the 2026 UN General Assembly convenes in New York, FDD experts will preview the administration's UN reform priorities and the major issues on this year's agenda. Richard Goldberg will discuss implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2803 establishing the Board of Peace, the Secretary-General selection process, and U.S. efforts to close agencies like UNRWA and consolidate overlapping UN bureaucracies. Ben Cohen will assess Zelenskyy's prospects for rallying support at UNGA and the UN's response to Iran's human rights crisis ahead of an October Fact-Finding Mission briefing. Richard Goldberg is an FDD Senior Advisor specializing in international organizations who previously served in senior roles at the White House National Energy Dominance Council, the Interior Department, and the White House NSC. Ben Cohen is an FDD Research Fellow focusing on international organizations, including the UN, and a former foreign correspondent who reported from conflict zones across Europe, Asia, and Africa.

For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/09/10/previewing-the-2026-un-general-assembly/

For decades, American universities have served as engines of innovation, scientific discovery, and economic growth – institutions now targeted by the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to acquire technology, talent, and research with potential military applications. Through its military-civil fusion strategy, Beijing systematically works to eliminate the distinction between civilian and military research, enabling breakthroughs developed in academic settings to support China’s defense modernization and strategic ambitions.

Congress, federal agencies, and some university leaders have taken important steps in recent years to strengthen research security and improve transparency surrounding foreign funding, talent recruitment programs, and research partnerships. However, significant vulnerabilities remain.

To discuss the evolving research security landscape, please join FDD for a conversation featuring House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Senator Jim Banks (R-IN). Moderated by FDD Senior Fellow Craig Singleton, the conversation will examine the challenges posed by the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to leverage American universities for strategic gain and potential safeguards in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act.

For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/events/2026/07/14/countering-the-ccps-exploitation-of-us-academic-research/

As NATO leaders prepare to convene in Ankara on July 7-8, the alliance faces a set of questions that will shape its future stability and America's role within it. From the Trump administration's push to shift rather than share the defense burden to the level of Western support for Ukraine, the decisions made in Ankara will carry lasting consequences.

FDD experts Bradley Bowman, Sinan Ciddi, and Cameron McMillan brief journalists ahead of the summit, drawing on their work tracking America's force posture in Europe, Turkey's foreign policy, and the broader contest between the free world and the Axis of Aggressors: Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.

For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2026/07/02/previewing-the-nato-summit-in-ankara/

The Palestinian statehood narrative rests on a foundation that FDD’s Hussain Abdul-Hussain argues was constructed, not inherited. In The Arab Case for Israel, he traces Palestinian national identity to 1964 and inter-Arab rivalry, not ancient roots, and contends that the “lost state” narrative is a vision for a Middle East without Israel, not a recoverable past. U.S. pressure on Iran’s nuclear program, Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah, and the demonstrated dividends of the Abraham Accords have cracked open a moment of genuine regional realignment. Hussain’s argument isn’t academic — it’s a call for Arab leaders to seize that window and embrace normalization publicly, before it closes.

Join FDD for a policy conversation on what Arab-Israeli peace actually requires, and whether the region is ready to get there. FDD research fellow and author Hussain Abdul-Hussain will be joined by Morgan Ortagus, former U.S. deputy Presidential Envoy to the Middle East, in a discussion moderated by David Schenker, Taube senior fellow and director of the Rubin Program on Arab Politics at the Washington Institute.

For more, check out: https://www.fdd.org/events/2026/06/11/the-arab-case-for-israel-history-mythology-and-pathways-to-peace/