Defense One Radio

In this episode, recorded on Thursday, June 14, 2018: • The Atlantic's Uri Friedman on what lies ahead for the U.S. military on the Korean peninsula; • Then (35:27 with Meredith Stricker of the Soufan Center) we’ll get an update on the war in Yemen, which began a new chapter this week with a new offensive on the western port city of Hodeida (44:05 with Adam Baron of the European Council on Foreign Relations, from Beirut); • And after that, (at the 48:01 mark) we’ll travel down to Tampa where our own Patrick Tucker talks to the man who buys weapons for America’s special operators, Jim Smith. Today's roundtable participants include: • Uri Friedman, who writes about global affairs for The Atlantic; • Kevin Baron, Defense One executive editor; • Caroline Houck, Defense One staff correspondent; • And Ben Watson, Defense One news editor.

In this episode, recorded on Thursday, May 31, 2018: • The cancelled June 12 meeting in Singapore between President Trump North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un seems to be back on; • The Pentagon cozies up to India with a new combatant command name change; • We learn about the Special Operations Industry Conference last week in Tampa;  • And after our roundtable, (18:38) we’ll travel back to Bratislava, Slovakia, with our Tech Editor Patrick Tucker. He spoke with Vyacheslav Alekseyevich Nikonov of the Russian Duma, before pivoting to a discussion with Laura Rosenberger of the German Marshall Fund and the social media bot-monitoring project, "Hamilton 68"; • Then (41:45) we hear from the Atlantic Council's Elisabeth Braw, who explains how European countries are preparing for possible crises on the horizon.  Today's roundtable participants include:  • Kevin Baron, executive editor; • Brad Peniston, deputy editor; • Patrick Tucker, technology editor; • Caroline Houck, staff correspondent; • And Ben Watson, news editor. Thanks for listening!

In this episode, recorded on Thursday, June 7, 2018: • Ploughshares Fund's Joe Cirincione joins us to talk about nuclear expectations and grand strategy out of Tuesday's Trump-Kim summit in Singapore; • We’ll talk about what ISIS is believed to be up to in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago; • Then (at the 23:26 mark) we’ll hear from Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), who chairs the House's Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee. He tells us about his view of the Navy’s future — and his thoughts on the upcoming film, "Top Gun 2" — from his offices on Capitol Hill; • After that, (46:03) we’ll talk about the “War of Annihilation,” Amnesty International’s latest report on civilian casualties in the U.S.-led operation to drive ISIS out of Raqqa, Syria. We’ll also hear the coalition’s unhappy response to that report. And we end this week (57:00) with a commemoration of some borderline-lunatic heroism from the beaches and battlefields of D-Day, 74 years ago this week, with Army veteran Joseph Kassabian. Today's roundtable participants include:  • Joe Cirincione, president of Ploughshares Fund; • Kevin Baron, Defense One executive editor; • Brad Peniston, Defense One deputy editor; • Caroline Houck, Defense One staff correspondent; • And Ben Watson, Defense One news editor. References: Amnesty International's report: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/06/syria-raqqa-in-ruins-and-civilians-devastated-after-us-led-war-of-annihilation/ The counter-ISIS coalition's response to that report: https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/1541855/department-of-defense-press-briefing-by-colonel-veale-via-teleconference-from-b/source/GovDelivery/

In this episode, recorded on Thursday, May 24, 2018: • President Trump abruptly cancelled the June 12 meeting in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un; • The Pentagon is accelerating the sales of weapons to allies and pals around the world; • After our roundtable, we’ll speak with Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson from inside the Pentagon (at the 12:58 mark);  • And after that, we’ll travel all the way to a cafe on the banks of the Danube River in Bratislava, Slovakia. There, our Tech Editor Patrick Tucker talked about Iran, al-Qaeda and the war in Yemen with none other than Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash (at the 34:33 mark), he’s the Minister of State Foreign Affairs for the United Arab Emirates. Today's roundtable participants include:  • Marcus Weisgerber, global business editor; • Brad Peniston, deputy editor; • And Ben Watson, news editor. Thanks for listening!

This week on the program: • What’s next for Syria — where militaries from more than half a dozen nations are fighting ISIS and al-Qaeda? We sat down with Charles Lister (1:52) of the Middle East Institute to get his read on Middle East insurgencies, and the internet’s potential to inspire the next generation of terrorists. • Then Mara Karlin of the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies speaks to Brad Peniston (32:21) about three uncomfortable questions Mara says the Pentagon must ask before helping a fragile state. • And we’ll end (59:03) across the pond at the 2018 Farnborough Airshow in the United Kingdom — what the BBC calls the biggest event of the year for the aerospace industry. America’s newest aircraft, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was there. And so was Defense One’s Global Business Editor Marcus Weisgerber. He takes us beside the airfield where he spoke with Greg Ulmer, Lockheed Martin’s manager for the F-35 program.