NucleCast

Bruce Klingner specializes in Korean and Japanese affairs as the senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at The Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center.Klingner has testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He is a frequent commentator in U.S. and foreign media. His articles and commentary have appeared in major American and foreign publications and he is a regular guest on broadcast and cable news outlets. He is a regular contributor to the international and security sections of The Daily Signal.From 1996 to 2001, Klingner was CIA’s deputy division chief for Korea, responsible for the analysis of political, military, economic and leadership issues for the president of the United States and other senior U.S. policymakers. In 1993-1994, he was the chief of CIA’s Korea branch, which analyzed military developments during a nuclear crisis with North Korea.Klingner is a distinguished graduate of the National War College, where he received a master’s degree in national security strategy in 2002. He also holds a master’s degree in strategic intelligence from the Defense Intelligence College and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Middlebury College in Vermont.He is active in Korean martial arts, attaining third-degree black belt in taekwondo and first-degree black belt in hapkido and teuk kong moo sool.

Colonel Keith J. Butler is the Commander of Detachment 5, Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. He is the Operational Commander of all B-2 Spirit and T-38 Talon aircraft assigned to the world’s only stealth bomber base and is responsible for the combat readiness of $45B in Air Force assets and 400+ Airmen. Former F-16 and F-117 pilot. Col. Butler served in the Rapid Capabilities Office and Joint Staff, graduated from National Defense University's Center For The Study of WMD Studies, Air Force Institute of Technology, is a former Secretary of Defense Executive Fellow at Autodesk and a former National Technical Fellow at Lawrence Livermore National Lab.

The sixteenth episode of NucleCast features Dr. Rob Soofer, a Senior Associate (non-resident) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Security Studies (CSS), teaching courses in nuclear strategy, missile defense, and arms control. He serves as a consultant for the Sandia and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories.Rob was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and Missile Defense Policy from April 2017 to January 2021. Previously, Rob served for eight years as Professional Staff Member and Republican staff lead for the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces of the Senate Armed Services Committee and as Strategic Forces Policy Advisor to Senator Jon Kyl, the Republican Whip. Rob also was Military Legislative Assistant to Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA) and Professional Staff Member on the Senate Republican Policy Committee. He joined the National War College for three years as Professor of National Security Policy, and served for eight years in various policy and international affairs positions with the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization/Missile Defense Agency. In 2003, he was called to active duty as a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve and assigned to the newly created Terrorist Threat Integration Center.

Dr. John R. Harvey is a physicist with over 40 years of experience working nuclear weapons and national security issues, first at LLNL, then at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Arms Control and in senior positions in the Departments of Defense (twice) and Energy. From 2009-2013, he served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs. In this role, he was Undersecretary Ash Carter’s “go to” person for the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review, and for interactions with the NNSA on joint oversight of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. Dr. Harvey provided oversight to DoD acquisition programs to sustain and modernize nuclear weapons delivery systems and systems for their command and control. He has written and spoken extensively on these issues. On retiring from government service in 2013, he consults with, among others, the Defense Science Board, Institute for Defense Analysis, Los Alamos National Laboratory, U.S. Strategic Command’s Advisory Panel on Nuclear Command and Control and NNSA’s Defense Programs Advisory Committee.

Dr. Brent Park is a physicist and a former government official; appointed to a position at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) – by the President and in just 6 weeks confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate on March 22, 2018. Brent develops policy and technology solutions to real world challenges by leading and coordinating R&D program-development efforts in high-performance computing, big data analytics and decision applications, cyber security, mechanical and electrical engineering, materials science and engineering, physical sciences, and nuclear science and engineering. Prior to joining NNSA, Brent served as Associate Laboratory Director at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and was the director of NNSA’s Remote Sensing Laboratory.

Episode 13 of NucleCast features the Honorable William C. Ostendorff! Bill Ostendorff has a distinguished career as an engineer, legal counsel, policy advisor, and naval officer. He currently serves as a nuclear industry adviser for several companies. In addition, he co-chairs a National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine Committee on Risk Analysis for Nuclear War and Nuclear Terror. He also serves as a member of the Intelligence Community Studies Board at the National Academies which advises the Director of National Intelligence on Science and Technology. He served as Principal Deputy Administrator at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in the Bush administration (2007-2009) and as a Commissioner at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (2010-2016) in the Obama administration.

Episode twelve of NucleCast features an interview with Jim Howe. Jim Howe has extensive experience in nuclear energy, national and homeland security, policymaking, and communications. He has spent the last 12 years working in the nuclear industry, where he was deeply involved in the deployment of state-of-the-art uranium enrichment technology. Jim has worked with a number of advanced reactor developers as they bring their technologies to market, and has collaborated with numerous partners in Congress, the executive branch, trade associations, and industry, in the U.S. and internationally.

Episode eleven of NucleCast has a very special interview with Brigadier General Stacy Jo Huser, the Principal Assistant Deputy Administrator for Military Application, National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy, Washington, D.C. Where she assists the Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs to maintain the safety, security, and reliability of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile.

Episode ten of NucleCast features Curtis McGiffin. Curtis is currently a Visiting Professor with the Department of Defense and Strategic Studies at Missouri State University where he teaches graduate and doctorate courses on deterrence and grand strategy. Previously, he was the Associate Dean of the School of Strategic Force Studies at the Air Force Institute of Technology, where he led a robust portfolio of USAF professional continuing education programs supporting the AF nuclear enterprise. He also has ~27 years of experience in the USAF as an aviator, commander, staff officer, and educator, most of which was supporting the USAF’s nuclear enterprise.

Episode nine of the series features the Honorable David J. Trachtenberg is Vice President of the National Institute for Public Policy, a nonprofit research center in Fairfax, Virginia. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 17, 2017 as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and served in this capacity until his retirement from government service in July 2019. Until January 2018, he also served as the Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, the principal civilian adviser to the Secretary of Defense on policy matters. He was also the senior Department of Defense civilian official responsible for DoD policy on civilian casualties resulting from military operations.

Episode 8 of the NucleCast series features Patty-Jane Geller. Patty-Jane Geller is the Senior Policy Analyst for Nuclear Deterrence and Missile Defense at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense, where she conducts research, writes, and engages audiences on a variety of issues related to strategic forces.

Episode seven of NucleCast featuring Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota! Kevin Cramer was elected to the United States Senate on November 6, 2018 after serving three terms as North Dakota’s At-Large Member of the United States House of Representatives. He serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee and offers Senate perspectives on strategic nuclear modernization and deterrence.

The sixth episode of NucleCast stars David Cherington and Jeff Crater, co-founders and managing directors of the Advanced Nuclear Weapons Alliance(ANWA) Deterrence Center. ANWA Deterrence Center raises awareness and educates about the modernization of the U.S. strategic nuclear deterrent. ANWA Deterrence Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Episode five of NucleCast features Dr. Brad Roberts, who has served as director of the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory since 2015. From 2009 to 2013, he was deputy assistant secretary of defense for Nuclear and Missile Defense Policy. In this role, he served as policy director of the Obama administration’s Nuclear Posture Review and Ballistic Missile Defense Review and led their implementation. Prior to entering government service, Dr. Roberts was a research fellow at the Institute for Defense Analyses and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, editor of The Washington Quarterly, and an adjunct professor at George Washington University. Between leaving the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 2013 and assuming his current responsibilities, Dr. Roberts was a consulting professor at Stanford University and William Perry Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). While at CISAC, he authored a book entitled The Case for US Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century, which won the Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Title in 2016.

The fourth episode of NucleCast features Dr. Stephen J. Cimbala, a Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Penn State Brandywine. He is the author of numerous works in the fields of national security studies, nuclear deterrence and arms control, and other topics. An award-winning Penn State teacher, Dr. Cimbala recently co-authored U.S. National Security (Sixth Edition) with John Allen Williams and the late Sam Sarkesian.

Episode three of the NucleCast series features Dr. Mark Schneider, a Senior Analyst with the National Institute for Public Policy. Before his retirement from the Department of Defense Senior Executive Service, Dr. Schneider served in a number of senior positions within the Office of Secretary of Defense for Policy including Principal Director for Forces Policy, Principal Director for Strategic Defense, Space and Verification Policy, Director for Strategic Arms Control Policy and Representative of the Secretary of Defense to the Nuclear Arms Control Implementation Commissions. He also served in the senior Foreign Service as a Member of the State Department Policy Planning Staff.

The Second Episode of NucleCast: Dr. Lisa J. Porter and Dr. Michael D. Griffin are the Co-Founders and Co-Presidents of LogiQ, Inc., a company providing high end management, scientific, and technical consulting services. Adam asks important questions about hypersonics, what are they, how are they used and why are they so important.

The first official episode of NucleCast! Adam interviews Peter Huessy who is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute, where he focuses on nuclear deterrence and modernization, arms control, and defense policy. Mr. Huessy has spent the past four decades laying out the requirements for nuclear deterrence and modernization, arms control, and defense policy, as well as the companion efforts on missile defense, space, non- and counterproliferation, particularly using public diplomacy to further US policy. Help us spread the word.