The Trident

Guests Dr. Bruce Hoffman and Jacob Ware join host Col. Dave Brown and co-host Dr. Timothy Hoyt to discuss the modern growth of Far-Right terrorism in the United States; its definitions and distinctions, historical roots, major groups, recruitment, connections to U.S. military services, international expansion, and policy options in confronting these emerging militant movements.

Articles:

• God, Guns, and Sedition - Far-Right Terrorism in America, B. Hoffman & J. Ware, Columbia University Press, Jan 2024
• Why the Far-Right Terrorist Threat Is Often Misunderstood and Underestimated, B. Hoffman & J. Ware, CFR, 26 Feb
• The Urgent Mission to Counter Military Extremism, B. Hoffman & J. Ware, U.S. NEWS, 19 Jan 2024
• How the United States Became a Leading Exporter of White Supremacist Terrorism, B. Hoffman & J. Ware, Foreign Affairs, 19 Sept 23
• The Terrorist Threats and Trends to Watch Out for in 2023 and Beyond, B. Hoffman & J. Ware, CTC Sentinel, Nov/Dec 2022, Vol 15, Issue 11.

Guests:

Bruce Hoffman, Ph.D. Shelby Cullom and Kathryn W. Davis senior fellow for counterterrorism and homeland security at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He has been studying terrorism and insurgency for almost half a century. He is a professor at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, and professor emeritus of terrorism studies at the University of St Andrews; and the George H. Gilmore Senior Fellow at the US Military Academy’s Combating Terrorism Center. He is the author of a number of books including Inside Terrorism, 3rd edition.

Jacob Ware: Research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where he studies domestic and international terrorism and counterterrorism. He was previously a research associate for counterterrorism at CFR. In addition to his work at CFR, Ware is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, where he teaches a class on domestic terrorism. He also serves on the editorial boards for the academic journal Studies in Conflict & Terrorism and the Irregular Warfare Initiative at the Modern War Institute at West Point.

Guests Jada Fraser and Dr. Scott Edwards join host Col. Dave Brown and co-host Dr. Curtis Bell to analyze the continuing and growing need for broad and comprehensive maritime collaboration to protect shared commerce and increase security across the vastness of the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific.

Articles:

• The Quad, AUKUS, and I2U2 formats: Major lessons from mini-laterals; J. Fraser, M. Soliman, 28 Jun 23
• An Allied Coast Guard Approach to Countering CCP Maritime Gray Zone Coercion; J. Fraser, 29 Mar 23
• Prospects for the Quad Coast Guards to Cooperate Toward Implementation of the Free and Open Indo- Pacific Vision; J. Bradford, K. Koga, S. Edwards, 12 Jun 23
• Fragmentation, Complexity and Cooperation: Understanding Southeast Asia’s Maritime Security Governance; S. Edwards, April 2022
• Surrounding the Ocean: PRC Influence in the Indian Ocean; D. Baruah, 18 Apr 23
• The Indo-Pacific Strategy: 2 Years Later; U.S. Dept of State, 14 Feb
• The Indian Ocean Strategic Map, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Freq Updated.

Guests:

Curtis Bell, Ph.D. – Associate Professor and Director of the Maritime Security and Governance Staff Course at the U.S. Naval War College. He has worked on five continents and presented to audiences including the African Union and United Nations. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Economist, several academic journals. He is also the founder of Stable Seas, and developer of the Maritime Security Index.

Jada Fraser: Graduate student in Asian Studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where she also serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Journal of Asian Affairs. Ms. Fraser recently studied Japanese in Tokyo and served on an internship with US Indo-PACOM command. She is an author in her own right on aspects of countering China maritime coercion and particularly security alliance partnering in the Pacific.

Scott Edwards, Ph.D.: Lecturer at the University of Reading and Research Fellow at the Yokosuka Council on Asia Pacific Studies. Dr. Edwards’ research and publication interests center on Southeast Asia’s maritime issues and the building of maritime security governance, within the Indo-Pacific. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Birmingham, and was formerly a postdoctoral research associate at both the University of Bristol and at the University of Leeds.

Guests LTG David Barno and Dr. Nora Bensahel join host Col. Dave Brown and co-host Dr. Timothy Hoyt to analyze emerging trends in the character of Irregular Warfare (IW), as seen in the on-going conflicts in both Ukraine and Gaza.

Article: Learning from Real Wars: Gaza and Ukraine - War on the Rocks, D. Barno & N. Bensahel, War on the Rocks, Dec 6, 2023.

------------------------

Guests:

Lieutenant General David W. Barno, USA (Retired): Professor of Practice at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He is also a contributing editor and columnist for War on the Rocks, and adjunct researcher at the Institute for Defense Analyses. General Barno completed a thirty-year active-duty Army career where he commanded at every level, culminating as the overall U.S. and coalition commander in Afghanistan from 2003-2005.

Nora Bensahel, Ph.D.: Professor of Practice at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and Contributing editor and columnist for War on the Rocks. She is an expert on U.S. defense policy, military operations, and the future of warfare. She and her co-author, retired Army Lieutenant General David Barno, have written over 100 articles on the changing character of war and contemporary challenges facing the US military; also, Adaptation Under Fire: How Militaries Change in Wartime.

Guests Robert S. Burrell, Richard Tilley, and David H. Ucko join host Col. Dave Brown to discuss the definition of Irregular Warfare (IW), its changing construct in DoD, and its overall utility. The group touches on the broader dimensions of the “competition” space indirectly affecting both IW and the larger international security environment.

Article: A Full Spectrum of Conflict Design: How Doctrine Should Embrace Irregular Warfare, Robert S. Burrell, March 14, 2023

Article: JP 1 Volume 1, Joint Warfighting, 27 August 2023

Article: Redefining Irregular Warfare: Legitimacy, Coercion, And Power, David H. Ucko and Thomas A. Marks, Oct 18, 2022

------------------------

Guests:

Robert S. Burrell, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Joint Special Operations University with several years of adult learning and teaching experience at the graduate and undergraduate level. My area of expertise and scholarship includes international diplomacy and human intelligence, as well as military history, theory, and doctrine. Previously, I taught history at U.S. Naval Academy. I am also the former editor-in-chief of special operations doctrine. A retired Marine with combat experience, I am an Asia-Pacific expert with 12 years living and working in Japan, Korea, Philippines, and Thailand, as well as a diplomatic tour at the U.S. Embassy in Australia.

Richard Tilley serves at the J7 office of IW & Competition. Formerly the principal advisor to Chairman Joint Chiefs and Joint Staff concerning ability to wage IW sustain campaigns of strategic competition against our adversaries. Directed CJCS’ Joint Irregular Warfare Assessment. Led efforts to institutionalize and integrate IW and strategic competition capabilities and activities across the Joint Force and in coordination with interagency, multinational, and other domestic and foreign interorganizational partners. Prior to joining the Joint Staff in 2021, Richard served as a strategist in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security analyzing adversarial competitive strategies and orienting the Department’s sensitive activities and special operations. Previously served as the national security advisor to a senior member of the HASC, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

David H. Ucko, PhD is a Professor at the College of International Security Affairs (CISA) of the National Defense University, Washington DC, where he teaches irregular warfare and strategy to international military and civilian practitioners. From 2019-2023, he was the chair of CISA's Department of War & Conflict Studies (WACS) and, from 2018-2022, the Director of the Regional Defense Fellowship Program, whereby he led the College's international deployment of mobile education teams. Dr. Ucko is an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University and a senior visiting fellow at the Department of War Studies, King's College London.