Tom Karako, Senior Fellow and Director of the Missile Defense Project at CSIS, joins the show to discuss what President Trump’s executive order on missile defense portends.

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Times 

    •      01:15 Introduction

    •      02:08 Dawn of missile defense 

    •     05:50 Ups and downs

    •      10:40 Arguments against 

    •      14:50 Capabilities  

    •      18:45 A layered defense

    •      22:20 Cost 

    •      26:42 Tried and tested  

    •      28:21 A “Pearl Harbor” Pearl Harbor 

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Eric Chewning and Thomas Moore of HII join the show to discuss America’s military shipbuilding challenges, and their potential solutions.

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Times 

    •      01:32 Introduction

    •      01:55 Origins 

    •     07:08 An eroded defense industrial base 

    •      10:20 Shipbuilding in 2025  

    •      17:11 Deindustrialization  

    •      21:46 Learning curves

    •      27:00 Contract economics 

    •      32:26 Japan and South Korea  

    •      37:39 Thinking about the whole problem   

    •      39:03 Manned and unmanned   

    •      42:25 Force protection 

    •      45:06 Soft kills and hard kills

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Diana Mara Henry and Gabe Scheinmann join the show to discuss the new book I Am André: German Jew, French Resistance Fighter, British Spy, which charts the astonishing, brave, and tragic World War II career of ‘André’ Joseph Scheinmann.

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Times 

    •      01:50 Introduction

    •      03:01 The story of a fighter 

    •     09:26 Born in Munich   

    •      11:87 Citizen without a country 

    •      17:08 Liaison to the High Command  

    •      21:46 MI6  

    •      25:20 Spycraft 

    •      30:27 London and capture 

    •      36:31 Interrogation  

    •      42:52 Max and Regina  

    •      46:40 Natzweiler 

    •      52:29 Dachau 

    •      55:30 America

    •      01:01:17 “Jews as fighters”

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Evan Mawdsley, Honorary Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow and author of Supremacy at Sea: Task Force 58 and the Central Pacific Victory, joins the show to discuss the successful 1944 U.S. naval campaign through the Central Pacific in World War II.

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Times 

    •      01:36 Introduction

    •      02:27 The Central Pacific 

    •      11:15 Carrier air power 

    •     14:31 Embracing the task force   

    •      20:00 Replenishment at sea 

    •      24:28 A campaign for airbases 

    •      27:56 Limiting loss  

    •      33:38 Spruance & Mitscher 

    •      38:36 Japanese defense doctrine 

    •      45:58 Parallels today    

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Dmitry Filipoff, associate research analyst at the Center for Navy Analyses, joins the show to discuss the U.S. Navy surface component and the grave challenges it faces.

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Times 

    •      01:19 Introduction

    •      02:09 Lessons from the Red Sea 

    •      06:35 Friendly fire  

    •      10:55 Depletion   

    •      13:45 2027  

    •      18:07 How do fleets fight? 

    •      21:47 Scope and scale   

    •      24:57 “Catastrophic destruction” 

    •      29:00 The first few hours

    •      34:30 Scripted exercises     

    •      37:15 Managing the chaos 

    •      41:34 Failing constructively  

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Nadège Rolland, Distinguished Fellow, China Studies, at the National Bureau of Asian Research and author of Mapping China's Strategic Space, joins the show to discuss how to better understand the geopolitical premises of China’s strategic elites.

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Times 

    •      01:36 Introduction

    •      02:04 Strategic space 

    •      05:05 Mao’s strategic vision  

    •      11:12 Origin points  

    •      17:10 Geopolitical dimensions 

    •      20:25 Finding answers 

    •      26:35 Encirclement   

    •      33:55 Core interests 

    •      38:56 China’s end goal 

    •      45:37 Multilateralism   

    •      49:04 Risk and overextension 

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Dan Blumenthal and Kyle Balzer, co-authors of The True Aims of China’s Nuclear Buildup for Foreign Affairs, join the show to discuss the geopolitical implications of China’s increasing and diversifying nuclear arsenal. 

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Times 

    •      01:24 Introduction

    •      02:40 China’s buildup 

    •      05:05 American perception  

    •     07:28 What is nuclear strategy?   

    •      11:49 Geopolitical vision 

    •      16:28 Shaping the world order 

    •      18:41 Restoring American credibility  

    •      25:10 Imagining failure 

    •      30:24 Prospects

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Rachel Kousser, professor of Classics and Art History at the City University of New York and author of Alexander at the End of the World, joins the show to talk about the violent, brilliant, complex career of Alexander the Great.

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Times 

    •      01:27 Introduction

    •      01:59 Early years and conquest

    •      05:45 Pragmatic opportunist  

    •     09:20 Persepolis burning   

    •      11:48 Darius 

    •      14:36 Alexander in the field 

    •      19:30 Understanding the geography  

    •      25:56 Dreamer 

    •      29:50 “A war of choice…”

    •      32:57 Building something new 

    •      34:36 Breaking point  

    •      38:00 King with consent 

    •      41:48 Harnessing strength

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Shyam Sankar, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Palantir Technologies, joins the show to explain the broken Defense Department acquisition process and how he believes it can be fixed.

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Times 

    •      01:24 Introduction

    •      01:39 Employee #13 

    •      03:14 Palantir 

    •      06:22 Monopsony  

    •      11:18 Messy and chaotic 

    •      14:40 Dual purpose companies 

    •      17:18 The buying process 

    •      23:50 Pushback

    •      25:59 Competing efforts

    •      27:37 Heretics and heroes 

    •      31:22 Thinking about future war  

    •      35:05 A changing selection criteria 

    •      36:47 “The future is software defined”  

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Mark Dubowitz, chief executive officer of Foundation for Defense of Democracies, joins the show to break down the collapse of the Assad regime and the implications for Israel, Turkey, and Iran.

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Times 

    •      01:23 Introduction

    •      02:49 What happened?  

    •      05:04 Rebels 

    •     08:17 Risk assessment  

    •      11:30 Factions

    •      17:10 Extremists and radicals 

    •      19:15 “Our enemies lie to us…”  

    •      24:19 Defensive reshuffle

    •      29:11 Nuclear Iran

    •      34:59 A powerful message

    •      42:40 Striking power  

    •      47:27 A new “Ring of Fire”

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Find a transcript of today’s episode on our School of War Substack