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Today’s guest is Dr. Thomas G. Mahnken, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, Senior Research Professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, and a scholar and practitioner of strategy and defense policy with extensive experience across academia, the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Navy Reserve. Dr. Mahnken reflects on his personal journey, intellectual influences, and decades of experience at the intersection of academia, defense strategy, and public service. Growing up in Del Mar, California in the shadow of World War II, Mahnken developed an early fascination with history and military affairs, shaped by parents who had both served during the war. Dr. Mahnken describes his career path as a hallway of “doors” that periodically open—opportunities to be accepted or declined, not forced. What unifies his diverse roles is a commitment to public service, research that matters, and decisions grounded in values rather than rigid ideological frameworks.