CDSN Podcast Network

Welcome to Spring and to a new episode of Battle Rhythm, with co-host Thomas Hughes, Assistant Professor at Mount Allison University. Steve and Thomas discuss European reactions to the US demands for assistance and how this may affect the upcoming NATO Summit in Ankara as Canada meets its 2% of GDP defence investment and the New York Times reporting that the arctic may be too cold for the Canadian Armed Forces to operate in. Today’s Feature Interview is with CDSN Co-Director and Continental Defence expert, Dr. Andrea Charron. Dr. Charron holds a PhD from the Royal Military College of Canada (Department of War Studies). She obtained a Masters in International Relations from Webster University, Leiden, The Netherlands, a Master’s of Public Administration from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from Queen’s University. Dr. Charron worked for various federal departments including the Canadian Privy Council Office in the Security and Intelligence Secretariat. She is now Professor (IR), Political Studies and Director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies. Dr. Charron has been featured in the Economist twice for her Canadian foreign policy and NORAD expertise (2019 and 2021) and on the CBC radio show Ideas (2020). She has 4 peer reviewed books (2011, 2022, 2023, 2023) on NORAD, sanctions and 9/11. She is on the editorial board of the Canadian Foreign Policy Journal, the Journal, the Canadian Naval Review and the Army Journal. She has peer-reviewed articles in International Affairs, International Studies, Strategic Studies Quarterly, International Journal, Canadian Foreign Policy Journal and others. Check-Out Thomas’s forthcoming book: Military Exercises and Threat Perception in Europe: NATO, Russia, and the Politics of War Games, 1975–2018 https://www.routledge.com/Military-Exercises-and-Threat-Perception-in-Europe-NATO-Russia-and-the-Politics-of-War-Games-1975-2018/Hughes/p/book/9781041234210

Welcome to a new episode of Battle Rhythm, with co-host Anessa L. Kimball, Ph.D., Professor at Université Laval; Steve Saideman and Anessa discuss perspectives on the Iran war, US Secretary of Defense’s war crimes announcement, and Canada’s role in it as an oil producing middle power. The hosts also discuss PM Carney’s ‘our north, strong and free’ tour to friendly Arctic nations and what the future trade-offs may be for more alliance relationships. In today’s feature interview, Steve speaks with Canada’s Space Division Commander, Chris Horner. Brigadier-General (BGen) Christopher Horner joined the Canadian Armed Forces as an Aerospace Controller on 20 Jun 1998. After graduating from the Royal Military College of Canada and completing his initial training at Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Control Operations in 2003, he began his career as an Air Battle Manager. Over the course of the next decade, BGen Horner held various operational positions from deep within NORAD’s underground complex of Canadian Air Defence Sector, served as an Air Weapons Officer and Evaluator Senior Director with the United States Air Force E-3 AWACS Program, and finally as Mission Crew Commander and Director of Operations within 21 Aerospace Control and Warning Squadron, North Bay. Operating with Joint and Allied forces around the globe, BGen Horner amassed nearly 1,300 hours on the E-3 AWACS including over 430 combat flight hours supporting Operations ENDURING and IRAQI FREEDOM, in counter-narcotics missions supporting Operation CARRIBE, and both in the air and on the ground throughout the United States and Canada actively supporting Operation NOBLE EAGLE counter-terrorism missions. Prior to assuming command of the Canadian Joint Warfare Centre in July 2022, BGen Horner was fortunate enough to command 51 Aerospace Control and Warning Squadron (2013-15) and later serve as Commandant of the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Control Operations (2017-19). Apart from his operational focus and command appointments, BGen Horner filled various staff roles at 1 Canadian Air Division Headquarters, the Strategic Joint Staff at National Defence Headquarters, and within CAF Strategic Response Team on Sexual Misconduct. Having admitted to once owning a Commodore 64, he returned to operations and was appointed Deputy Joint Force Cyber Component Commander in 2019 where he remained until his selection as Special Advisor to the Commander Canadian Joint Operations Command in 2021. BGen Horner was promoted to his current rank and assumed the role of Commander 3 Canadian Space Division in 2024. BGen Horner holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration, a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Economics and Political Science, a Master of Arts in Defence Management and a Master of Science in Leadership. He is a graduate of the Canadian Forces College Joint Command and Staff Program and the United States Air Force Air War College. Together with his spouse and their three boys, BGen Horner tries hard to find balance between hobbies that won’t be fatal and life experiences that make great memories. Of all his adventures, those he shares with his family remain his greatest passion.

This episode examines Canada’s emerging leadership in integrating sex-specific data and human systems integration into military equipment design, with implications for both domestic force readiness and international support to Ukraine. Although women now constitute over 16% of the Canadian Armed Forces and nearly 14% of NATO forces, legacy validation standards for ballistic protection, load carriage systems, and personal protective equipment were historically based on homogeneous male datasets. This structural bias shaped procurement processes and industrial design incentives across the Alliance. Canada has begun to shift this paradigm. Through deliberate incorporation of women’s morphology into testing standards, expanded anthropometric datasets, dynamic biomechanical analysis, and targeted user trials, Canada is moving beyond “general usability” toward survivability-centered design for the full force. Frieda Garcia Castellanos is joined by Dr. Linna Tam-Seto (University of Toronto), Emma Moon (Department of National Defence), and Melanie Lake (Deputy G1 of the NATO Committee on Gender Perspectives). The discussion highlights: ● The integration of women’s morphology — including breast tissue considerations — into global ballistic testing standards ● Canadian field trials evaluating operational performance under varied armor configurations ● NATO Summary of National Reports data demonstrating uneven equipment adaptation across allies ● Emerging battlefield lessons from Ukraine linking equipment fit to fatigue, secondary injuries, and survivability under delayed evacuation Canada’s approach reframes equipment adaptation as a combat effectiveness and casualty - reduction imperative, rather than a symbolic inclusion measure. At stake is a fundamental institutional question: whether defense modernization will continue to operate from a legacy “default body” model, or whether it will deliberately design for the full operational force from the outset. Produced by Frieda Garcia Castellanos

Welcome to a new episode of Battle Rhythm, with co-host Anessa L. Kimball, Ph.D., Professor at Université Laval; Steve Saideman and Anessa discuss recent Canadian public opinion on threat perception and translating this into a defence spending strategy, while Vancouver and other Canadian cities jockey to host a new NATO Bank of Investment for Security and Defence and finally who wants more NATO in the arctic and why. In today’s Feature Interview, Anessa Kimball speaks with Dr. Bohuslav Pernica, Assistant professor in the Department of International Relations and European Studies at Masaryk University while he visits Quebec. Lt. Col. (ret.) Dr. Bohuslav Pernica is an adjunct professor at the Faculty of Social Studies at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, a consultant to the Czech Ministry of Defence, and a member of the Czech anti-corruption watchdog (Kverulant). He also served in the Czech Armed Forces from 1992 to 2014. Links: Data Dive with Nik Nanos: Canadians are clamouring for a stronger military: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-data-dive-with-nik-nanos-canadians-are-clamouring-for-a-stronger/