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Top 10 Net Assessment Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Net Assessment episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Net Assessment for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Net Assessment episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
The Meaning of Public Service
Net Assessment
04/02/20 • 46 min
Chris and Melanie sit down with Mark Cancian of CSIS to discuss the final report of the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service. They discuss what public service is, what role the government should play in encouraging it, and how COVID-19 and the response to it might affect what opportunities people see for service. Looking at military service specifically, they consider possible reforms to the Selective Service System and take up the commission's recommendation that women be required to register for the draft. Finally, Chris is making progress on a new book, Mark applauds the president for talking about COVID-19 and risks we may have to learn to deal with, and Melanie is grateful for the spontaneous public service we see from so many people during this difficult time.
Links
- "Most Women Oppose Having to Register for the Draft," Rasmussen Reports, February 10, 2016
- Christopher Preble, "Don’t Make Women Register for the Draft. Just End Draft Registration for Everyone," Washington Post, February 5, 2016
- “Poll: Include Women in U.S. Military Drafts,” Sachs Media Group, June 21, 2013
Defending U.S. Interests in Cyberspace
Net Assessment
03/19/20 • 52 min
Amidst the deepening Coronavirus crisis, Melanie and Chris discuss another type of invisible danger: the threats posed by both state and non-state actors in cyberspace. They’re joined by the Marine Corps University’s Benjamin Jensen, senior research director and lead writer for the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, which issued its report earlier this month. Ben offers an insider’s perspective on how the commission approached its work, and outlines its key findings. What strategies should the United States employ to reduce its vulnerability to cyber threats? And what must the U.S. government and private sector do to implement these strategies? Melanie delivers a heartfelt attagirl to her amazing mom; Ben praises Solarium Commission chairmen Sen. Angus King and Rep. Mike Gallagher; and Chris offers thanks to Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health.
Links
- Cyberspace Solarium Commission Report, March 2020,
- “Tracking the Coronavirus,”
- “The Ultimate Guide to Oregon Women's Basketball Star Sabrina Ionescu,” ESPN, February 29, 2020
- James Fallows, “2020 Time Capsule #2: The Exceptional Dr. Fauci,” The Atlantic, March 13, 2020
- Brandon Valeriano and Benjamin Jensen, “The Myth of the Cyber Offense: The Case for Restraint,” Cato, January 15, 2019
Trying Hard to be Good?
Net Assessment
01/23/20 • 44 min
Chris Brose of Anduril Industries joins Chris and Melanie to talk about Joseph Nye’s Texas National Security Review article, “What is a Moral Foreign Policy?” Should morality be taken into consideration when making foreign policy? How should we assess whether or not a president’s foreign policy is moral? Does using the language of morality make our foreign policy more or less clear? Do people in other countries view our foreign policy as moral? Should perception matter at home or abroad? Also, Chris Preble gets another opportunity to stick it to Saudi Arabia, Melanie shows some love for history, and Chris Brose recognizes the excellent work of some friends.
Links
- Joseph S. Nye Jr., “What is a Moral Foreign Policy?” Texas National Security Review, November 2019
- Joe Heim, "National Archives Exhibit Blurs Images Critical of President Trump," Washington Post, January 17, 2020
- Craig Whitlock, "Afghan War Plagued by 'Mendacity' and Lies, Inspector General Tells Congress," Washington Post, January 15, 2020
- Barack Obama, Presidential Study Directive 10, White House, August 4, 2011
- Rahul Sagar, "Rediscovering Indian Thought: How a Scholar Built a Database of Pre-Independence Magazines," Scroll, November 24, 2019
- "War with Iraq Is not in America's National Interest," New York Times, September 26, 2002
- Marc Fisher and Steven Zeitchik, “Saudi Crown Prince Implicated in Hack of Jeff Bezos’s Phone, U.N. Report Will Say,” Washington Post, January 21, 2020
- Heritage Pride Productions' Elf: The Musical, January 23, 24, and 25th
- “The Future of Progressive Foreign Policy: 2020 and Beyond,” Cato Policy Forum, January 28th, 5:00 PM
- "Is War Over?” Cato Policy Forum, February 6th, 12:00 PM
The Looming End of Pax Americana?
Net Assessment
12/12/19 • 53 min
The Net Assessment crew is back and this week they are breaking down an article written by Brian Stewart in Quillette titled, "Tensions in NATO and the Looming End of Pax Americana." Is NATO worth American attention and money? Why don't the Europeans just get their act together? The crew discusses what threat NATO is designed to counter and whether it should forget about Russia and focus on terrorism. Also, Bryan has a grievance with attorney general Bill Barr, Melanie takes issue with the Danish Atlantic Council, and Chris gives an attaboy to the students at the University of California, Washington Center. Join Melanie, Chris, and Bryan as they dive once more into the breach.
Links
- Brian Stewart, "Tensions in NATO and the Looming End of Pax Americana," Quillette, December 5, 2019
- Bret Stephens, "NATO is Full of Freeloaders. But It's How We Defend the Free World," New York Times, December 5, 2019
- "Emmanuel Macron in His Own Words," Economist, November 7, 2019
- Katie Benner, "Barr and Durham Publicly, Disagree with Horowitz Report on Russian Inquiry," New York Times, December 12, 2019
- Ben Werner, "CNO Gilday Releases New, Simplified Command Guidance to Fleet," USNI News, December 4, 2019
- Christopher Preble, "Cops of the World No More," CATO, January 30, 2015
- Craig Whitlock, “At War with the Truth,” Washington Post, December 9, 2019
- James Laporta, "Afghan War Report Enrages Veterans and Gold Star Families: Even as More of Us Died, They Lied," Newsweek, December 9, 2019
- Jonah Schepp, "A NATO Summit to End All NATO Summits," New York Magazine, December 5, 2019
- Mariel Padilla, "NATO Conference is Canceled after US Ambassador Barred a Trump Critic," New York Times, December 8, 2019
- "The Day Will Come," Netflix
- Orlando Parfitt, "The Day Will Come' Claims Top Prize at Denmark's Robert Awards," Screen Daily, February 6, 2017
Can Bryan Pass the Turing Test?
Net Assessment
11/14/19 • 52 min
Chris, Bryan, and Melanie talk about the Interim Report issued by the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence last week. What kinds of expectations should we have about AI being used for national security purposes? What kind of investments should be made in this technology, and where will the money come from? What about concerns that AI developed by American companies or the United States government might be used by authoritarian regimes to violate their citizens' human rights? Can we continue to reap the benefits of research collaboration with people from other countries, particularly China, and still protect national security secrets? Finally, Bryan tells us of his exploits in Italy, Chris gives a heartfelt appreciation to a friend and colleague, and Melanie looks forward to some long-awaited playtime with her nephews.
Links
- National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, Interim Report, November 2019
- Jacey Fortin, “Uber C.E.O. Backtracks After Comparing Khashoggi’s Killing to an Accident,” New York Times, November 11, 2019
- Andrew Bacevich, “The Berlin Wall Fell and the U.S. learned the Wrong Lessons. It Got Us Donald Trump,” Los Angeles Times, November 8, 2019
- Christopher Preble, John Glaser, and A. Trevor Thrall, Fuel to the Fire: How Trump Made America's Broken Foreign Policy Even Worse, (Cato Institute, 2019)
- Robert Work and Eric Schmidt, "In Search of Ideas: The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence Wants You," War on the Rocks, July 18, 2019
- Ilanit Chernick, "Holocaust Survivors Reunite with Rescuer at Yad Vashem," November 3, 2019, Jerusalem Post
- "Holocaust Survivor Reunited with a Baby He Saved During World War II," BBC, November 8, 2019
- Gina Kolata, "Vast Dragnet Targets Theft of Biomedical Secrets for China," New York Times, November 4, 2019
- Melanie Marlow, Tweets, November 11, 2019
- “Puffs,” Heritage Pride Productions, November 14-15-16, and 21-22-23
Strategy and Exit Strategies: Essential or Misleading?
Net Assessment
10/31/19 • 48 min
Melanie, Chris, and guest host Claude Berube discuss the promise and pitfalls of exit strategies. When policymakers plan to embark on foreign wars, should they also prepare a plan for extricating the nation from these wars when they are completed? Is an exit strategy a vital component of strategy? Or do exit strategies create unreasonable expectations of easy victory? Can an exit strategy focus attention on a desired end state, and prevent mission creep? Or are prudent adjustments only possible when policymakers are not shackled to pre-war objectives? Chris congratulates New England Patriots’ coach Bill Bellichick on victory number 300, Melanie blasts Sean Duffy for questioning a decorated U.S. Army officer’s patriotism, and Claude delivers a Net Assessment first -- a heartfelt attadog for his beloved four-legged companion, Reagan.
Links
- David Kampf, "When Are Exit Strategies Viable?" War on the Rocks, October 14, 2019
- Adam Wunische, "The Lost Art of Exiting a War," War on the Rocks, October 21, 2019
- Devon Clements, "Bill Belichick Becomes 3rd NFL Head Coach Ever to Accumulate 300 Career Wins," Sports Illustrated, October 27, 2019
- Christopher Preble, “New Rules for U.S. Military Intervention,” War on the Rocks, September 20, 2016
- Richard Fontaine, “The Nonintervention Delusion: What War Is Good For,” Foreign Affairs, November-December 2019
- Spencer Ackerman, “Baghdadi Is Dead. The War on Terror Will Create Another,” Daily Beast, October 28, 2019
- Doug Bandow and Christopher Preble, “Lost in the Furor Over Syria: Alliances Are a Means, Not an End,” War on the Rocks, October 23, 2019
- Ashley Feinberg, "This Sure Looks Like Mitt Romney's Secret Twitter Account," Slate, October 20, 2019
- "Sean Duffy on CNN," CNN, October 29, 2019
- Aaron Stein, "US Officials Ignored Trump on Syria and We are All Paying the Price," War on the Rocks, October 22, 2019
- "The Weinberger Doctrine," Washington Post, November 30, 1984
- Jason Whiteley, "No Exit, No Problem," Small Wars Journal, April 21, 2011
- James Nolt, "Exit Strategy," World Policy," World Policy, February 23, 2017
Mattispalooza: Deconstructing the Legacy of James Mattis
Net Assessment
09/05/19 • 50 min
Join Chris, Melanie, and Bryan as they assess Jim Mattis' legacy as secretary of defense and the media splash he is making while promoting his new book. Mattis is a complicated character, and his reasons for entering the administration, for leaving the administration, and for coyly restraining his comments after leaving are similarly complicated. Although President Donald Trump's early affinity for having former generals in key positions in his administration has cooled, the debate over the role retired flag and general officers should play in America's national security political discourse rages on.
Links
- Jim Mattis, "Duty, Democracy and the Threat of Tribalism," Wall Street Journal, August 28, 2019
- Jeffrey Goldberg, "The Man Who Couldn't Take It Anymore," Atlantic, October 2019 Issue
- Dan Lamothe and Greg Jaffe, "Emerging from His Silence, Mattis Faces Criticism for Trying to Take the 'Middle Road' on Trump," Washington Post, August 29, 2019
- Jim Mattis and Bing West, Call Sing Chaos: Learning to Lead, (Random House, September 2019)
- Jim Mattis, "Letter from Secretary James Mattis," Defense, December 20, 2019
- Mallory Hughes, "When a Boy with Autism was Overwhelmed on the First Day of School, Another Little Boy Held His Hand," CNN, August 27, 2019
- Tyler Jost and Joshua D. Kertzer, “Armies and Influence: Public Deference to Foreign Policy Elites,” American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, 2019,
- Hannah Natanson, “A Broken Bingo Machine Left Rhis D.C. Veterans’ Retirement Home Mourning. A 16-year-old girl decided to help” Washington Post, September 2, 2019
- Stephen Wertheim, “The Quincy Institute Opposes America’s Endless Wars. Why Should that Be a Scandal?” Washington Post, August 30, 2018
- The Human Costs of War: Assessing Civilian Casualties since 9/11, Policy Forum, Cato Institute, September 11, 2019
- Ted Galen Carpenter, NATO: The Dangerous Dinosaur, Cato Institute, October 18, 2019
08/21/19 • 43 min
This week the gang talks about President Trump’s trade policies and why trade wars can be bad and hard to win. Do we have a strategy for success, or is the president simply venting frustration through erratic policies? What is the endgame? How do America's economic policies, especially with regard to China, affect U.S. national security? Other highlights: Chris condemns Trump’s attempt to buy Greenland, Melanie finds a CEO worthy of immense respect, and Bryan explains why real British royalty isn’t as appealing as the Netflix version.
Links
- Chad P. Bown and Douglas A. Irwin, "Trump's Assault on the Global Trading System: And Why Decoupling from China Will Change Everything," Foreign Affairs, September 2019
- Chad P. Bown and Melina Kolb, "Trump's Trade War Timeline: An Up-to-Date Guide," Peterson Institute for International Economics, August 13, 2019
- Madeleine Kearns, "Royals, Climate Change, and Private Jets," National Review, August 19, 2019
- Scott Lincicome, CATO Institute
- Simon Lester and Huan Zhu, "Closing Pandora's Box: The Growing Abuse of the National Security Rationale for Restricting Trade," CATO Institute, June 25, 2019
- "Clashing over Commerce: A History of U.S. Trade Policy," Cato Institute, January 24, 2018
- Pierre Lemieux, “Peter Navarro’s Conversion,” Regulation, Fall 2018
- John Harwood, “Americans Overwhelmingly Support Free Trade as Concern Grows About Trump’s Economy: NBC/WSJ Poll,” CNBC, August 19, 2019
- Scott Lincicome, "The ‘Protectionist Moment’ That Wasn’t: American Views on Trade and Globalization," Cato Institute, November 2, 2018
- "Former Danish PM Lied About Iraq War Plans," Local, July 3, 2015
- Tim Marcin, “Denmark to Trump: Seriously, Greenland Isn't for Sale,” Vice News, August 19, 2019
- Maggie Fitzgerald, “Here’s What New Tariffs Will Cost the Average American Household,” CNBC, August 19, 2019
- “Exploring the Militarization of US Foreign Policy,” American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, August 31, 2019
- “The Human Costs of War: Assessing Civilian Casualties since 9/11,” Cato Institute, September 11, 2019
Explaining Mission Creep in Afghanistan
Net Assessment
08/08/19 • 46 min
Special guest Rick Berger joins Bryan and Chris for a discussion of the U.S. war in Afghanistan and the state of civil-military relations. The post-9/11 mission expanded from counterterrorism to nation-building, but this occurred, according to CSIS’s Mark Cancian, without a serious "discussion about the relationship between the desired end state and the military effort required to reach it." Bryan, Rick, and Chris disagree on whether that’s actually true — and whether it matters. Bryan gives kudos to National Review’s Kevin Williamson for making the case for independent thinking, Chris knocks CNN and the Democratic debaters for spending too little time on foreign policy, and Rick praises newly installed Secretary of Defense Mark Esper for his plan to beef up conventional deterrence in the Asia-Pacific.
Links
- Mark F. Cancian, "Tell Me How This Ends: Military Advice, Strategic Goals, and the "Forever War" in Afghanistan," CSIS, July 10, 2019
- Caroline Dorminey and Eric Gomez, "America's Nuclear Crossroads: A Forward-Looking Anthology," CATO Institute
- Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Julian E. Barnes, "S. Military Calls ISIS in Afghanistan a Threat to the West. Intelligence Officials Disagree," New York Times, August 2, 2019
- Felix Tam and Anne Marie Roantree, "Trump Says It's Up to China to Deal with Hong Kong Riots," Reuters, August 2, 2019
- "Interview with Kevin Williamson," C-Span, July 19, 2019
- Max Boot, "The Case for American Empire," The Weekly Standard, October 15, 2001
- Justin Logan and Christopher Preble, “Fatal Conceit,” National Review, August 12, 2010
- Fred Kaplan, “Five Minutes to Explain the World,” Slate, August 1, 2019
- Congressional Budget Office, "Funding for Overseas Contingency Operations and its Impact on Defense Spending," October 2018
- Rick Berger, "Why Withdrawing from Syria and Afghanistan Won’t Save Much Money," Defense One, February 26, 2019
Masterpiece Theater
Net Assessment
03/21/19 • 49 min
In this episode, Chris, Bryan, and Melanie take a broad look at the administration's FY2020 defense budget request. They discuss whether or not it is the "masterpiece" that Pat Shanahan promised, and agree (!) that the budget process is in need of serious reform. They ask whether it aligns with the National Defense Strategy, what Congress (especially the Democratic House with many domestic priorities) will think of it, and how it will be paid for in a time of ever-growing deficits. Finally, Chris takes the secretary of state to task, Melanie is irritated with what's going on in higher ed, and Bryan welcomes a friend home.
Links
- "Defense Budget Overview: United States Department of Defense Fiscal Years 2020 Budget Request"
- Marcus Weisgerber, "2020 Budget Request Reveals Slow Shift Toward Great Power War," Defense One, March 2019
- John McCormack, "Why Did Ben Sasse Vote to Uphold the National Emergency?" National Review, March 2019
- Claude Berube, United States Naval Acadamy
- "Overseas Contingency Operations Spending Would Be 2nd Largest Federal Agency," Taxpayers for Common Sense, March 2019
- Fred Kaplan, "Trump's Record-Setting Military Budget is Bloated, illegal, and Doomed," Slate, March 2019
- Daniel Larison, "Pompeo's Obnoxious Yemen Lies," American Conservative, March 2019
- Daniel Larison, "The WSJ's Despicable Defense of the War on Yemen," American Conservative, March 2019
- Bridget Bowman and Simone Pathé, "Meet the 12 GOP Senators Who Voted to Terminate Trump's National Emergency," Roll Call, March 2019
- "Clear and Present Safety: The World Has Never Been Better and Why That Matters to Americans," CATO Institute, March 2019
- "Two Roads to War: How (and Why) America and Britain Decided to Invade Iraq," CATO Institute, April 2019
- Patrick Porter, Blunder: Britain's War in Iraq, (Oxford University Press, 2019)
- Michael Mazarr, Leap of Faith: Hubris, Negligence, and America's Greatest Foreign Policy Tragedy, (Public Affairs, 2019)
- Nicholas Kristof, "This 8-Year-Old Chess Champion Will Make You Smile,"New York Times, March 2019
- Samuel Abrams, "When A Student Mob Came For My Job, My College Did Not Support Me," Spectator, March 2019
- Steven Elbow, "UW Student Alleging Bias in Political Science Prof's Syllabus Now Expects Class to Be Objective," Cap Times, January 2019
- Ben Leonard, "Admission Scandal Rocks Higher Education," Duke Chronical, March 2019
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FAQ
How many episodes does Net Assessment have?
Net Assessment currently has 156 episodes available.
What topics does Net Assessment cover?
The podcast is about News, International, Trade, Podcasts, War and Politics.
What is the most popular episode on Net Assessment?
The episode title 'Sources of American Power' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Net Assessment?
The average episode length on Net Assessment is 55 minutes.
How often are episodes of Net Assessment released?
Episodes of Net Assessment are typically released every 14 days.
When was the first episode of Net Assessment?
The first episode of Net Assessment was released on Oct 1, 2018.
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