David Kilcullen is an Australian-American soldier and scholar who served as a top advisor to the U.S. military in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

He also has worked in Pakistan, the Horn of Africa, and Southeast Asia.

And he’s an advisor to FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP).

His new book, The Dragons and the Snakes: How the Rest Learned to Fight the West, looks at the military threats facing America and its allies, including what the dragons — Moscow and Beijing — and the snakes — Tehran, Pyongyang, and non-state jihadi groups – are learning from each other. He suggests the options that need to be considered if free nations are “to evolve and survive the long twilight struggle ahead.”

He discusses these and related national security issues with host Cliff May on episode 54.