Breakthrough in Singapore?; Q&A with Rep. Rob Wittman; D-Day special; and more.

06/08/18 • 65 min

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/

Previous Episode

Summit scramble; Hello, Indo-PACOM; All about Russian disinfo, and more.

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!

Next Episode

The Atlantic's Uri Friedman; Battle for Hodeida; New Special Ops gear, weapons and more.

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.