Behnam Ben Taleblu, Senior Director (Iran Program) and Senior Fellow at FDD, joins the show to talk about the build-up of American military power in the Middle East and what it might mean for Iran and the Iranian regime.

▪️

Times

02:04 U.S. build-up

05:46 Timing 

11:08 “Decisive and different”  

24:41 Iranian retaliation

30:03 Targets

35:25 Ideology of the Supreme Leader 

41:36 A Trump JCPOA

45:46 Regime change by air

Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast

Find more content on our School of War Substack

Charlie Laderman, associate professor at the University of Florida’s Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education, joins the show to discuss parallels between Reagan’s policy towards Cold War Poland and the crisis in Iran today.

▪️

Times

02:45 Comparing Iran and Poland

05:56 Reagan’s plan 

10:15 Reheating the Cold War  

12:26 ’81 coup

15:53 Sanctions and pressure

20:19 Constant agitation  

27:38 End of the Cold War

34:45 The violence of the Iranian regime 

37:55 Structural differences   

44:32 Exiled opposition

Read the article discussed in the episode - Freedom for Iran: Learning From U.S. Support for Polish Anti-Communists in the 1980s

Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast

Find more content on our School of War Substack

Rep. Michael Baumgartner of Washington State’s 5th Congressional District joins the show to give his key takeaways from the Munich Security Conference.

▪️

Times

01:34 Getting to Munich

05:22 European attitude  

14:20 AOC and recalibration  

17:50 Germany returns

23:59 Rubio’s speech

30:23 Ukraine  

39:22 Iran and a “good” deal

Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast

Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King’s College London and author of On Strategists and Strategy: Collected Essays, 2014-2024, joins the show to talk about a lifetime among strategists, and to give an update on the war in Ukraine.

▪️

Times

02:34 Essay writing

07:49 Michael Howard 

18:42 Colin Gray

23:06 Timeless aspects of strategy

26:00 The goal of SDI

36:40 Tactics  

41:20 Differences between tactics and strategy

45:01 Ultimate objectives 

50:08 Sensible uses of nuclear weapons  

52:24 Thatcher

53:59 Harsh winter in Ukraine

Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast

Find more content on our School of War Substack

Matthew Kroenig, Professor in the Department of Government and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, joins the show to talk about the new nuclear age the world is entering.

▪️

Times

03:27 Secret Chinese testing

07:35 Seismic monitoring and de-coupling

11:40 U.S. testing plan 

15:30 Why might we need more nuclear weapons?

18:01 New START

21:23 How many nukes are needed?

27:04 If deterrence fails 

30:20 Limits, if any

Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast

Find more content on our School of War Substack

Beatrice Heuser, Distinguished Professor at the Brussels School of Governance in the Free University of Brussels and author of Flawed Strategy: Why Smart Leaders Make Bad Decisions, joins the show to discuss decision-making and strategic thinking.

▪️

Times

02:58 Economists and strategy

07:59 Acting rationally vs logically

15:00 Mirror imaging 

20:01 How should we study strategy?

27:17 Denial

32:18 Strategic intelligence failures

36:15 Hidden causes

38:57 Everyone does it

Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast

Find more content on our School of War Substack

Geoff Ball, U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer, staff director for the Naval Academy’s Leadership Education and Development Division and Executive Editor of The Connecting File, joins the show to discuss the radical changes and surprising continuities in how America’s grunts will fight.

▪️

Times

02:25 The Connecting File

06:22 How is the infantry doing?

14:10 Companies of the future

23:22 Information and trust 

29:57 Innovative spirit

33:30 Light Armored Recon 

39:05 Drone battalions

42:24 Learning the right lessons from Ukraine

Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast

Find more content on our School of War Substack

David Shedd, former Acting Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and author of The Great Heist: China’s Epic Campaign to Steal America’s Secrets, joins the show to discuss Chinese spy craft.

▪️

Times

02:05 Early days

06:49 CIA

09:28 Sandinistas and revolutionaries 

15:14 IC preparation 

18:35 A great awakening

26:11 Industrial espionage 

30:50 National Intelligence Estimate

34:11 The MSS

44:19 The culture of the 18th Bureau 

50:17 Battlefield consequences 

55:20 Counterarguments

Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast

Find more content on our School of War Substack

Walter Russell Mead, Alexander Hamilton Professor of Strategy and Statecraft at the University of Florida's Hamilton Center and columnist for The Wall Street Journal, joins the show to discuss foreign policy in the Age of Trump.

▪️

Times

03:15 An extraordinary week

05:06 The Transatlantic relationship

09:02 Turning to China 

16:10 Greenland

27:03 Post-presidency Trump

32:25 Harder now

43:08 Zelenskyy

Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast

Find more content on our School of War Substack

Seth Jones, president of the Defense and Security Department and Harold Brown Chair at CSIS, joins the show to talk about how America has resurrected its defense industrial base in the past and why it should be doing so now.

▪️

Times

02:55 The British in the 1930s

05:58 Roosevelt’s decision

09:48 Re-orientation 

13:59 The B-29

16:00 Victory in Iraq 

27:54 Skunkworks

31:30 Xi comes into power

35:07 Disadvantages

39:07 What needs to be done? 

44:28 Fighting for 5%

47:43 Culture shift

Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast

Find more content on our School of War Substack