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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Lurie, CEO and President of Rafael USA, joins the show to explain how High Energy Lasers and Iron Beam will change missile & air defense, not to mention warfare itself, forever.

▪️

Times

02:34 The evolution of missile defense

05:09 Iron Dome & Iron Beam

08:04 How do lasers work?

15:16 Limitations

20:07 Integrating systems 

25:28 Future applications 

30:09 Lessons from field testing

40:15 American interest

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

Find more content on our School of War Substack

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blake Seitz, Content Strategist at Palantir Technologies, and Mike Watson, Executive Director at The Alexander Hamilton Society, join the show to discuss America’s relationship with the world at the time of the Founding Fathers.

▪️

Times

02:45 18th Century geopolitical landscape

06:25 Yorktown

11:17 Diplomacy of the Founders 

16:23 Bold rhetoric 

19:37 Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists

25:45 Washington’s legacy 

32:42 The roots of isolationism 

36:38 Parallels and changes

44:16 What does it mean to be an American? 

47:20 A grounding in history

Read more - 1776: The Beginnings of American Exceptionalism Abroad

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

Find more content on our School of War Substack

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark Dubowitz, CEO of FDD, joins the show to bring us up to speed on widespread Iranian protests, the chances of American or Israeli intervention, and what intervention might achieve.

▪️

Times

02:15 Will we strike?

05:34 New Iran talks?

07:03 Nuclear concessions? 

10:35 Intervention possibilities

15:10 The Shah’s son and the Islamic regime

24:28 How do these protests compare to the past?

34:29 Public perceptions

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

Find more content on our School of War Substack

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices