War on the Rocks

In our latest episode, Usha Sahay and Ryan Evans were joined by Thomas Rid, Michael Sulmeyer, and a mystery guest (ok, ok, it's Corinna Fehst) to talk about cyber-security, election meddling, reports about U.S. intel agencies buying back pilfered hacking tools, going dark, legislatures as the vulnerable soft cyber underbelly of democracies, and the different threats posed by Russia and China. Also, "Password1" is not a good password according to our guests. So you should probably change that.

Two key strategy documents released by the Trump administration signal the United States is finally gearing up for a new era of great power competition. And China is the most daunting competitor on the horizon. Is this the right move? Is the president on board? Are America's allies up for it? What would a war of choice in North Korea do to a Sino-American competition? How can and should America compete politically, economically, and militarily? Was it naive to expect China to become a responsible stakeholder to begin with? To answer these questions and more, Kelly Magsamen of the Center for American Progress and Ely Ratner of the Council on Foreign Relations sat down with Ryan at WOTR HQ with the aid of three kinds of whisk(e)y. Both Kelly and Ely drew on their experiences in the Obama administration, in which they both served in senior capacities.

How did President Barack Obama leave America's strategic position when he left office? How is President Donald Trump doing so far? What is the role of the historian in sorting through these questions? Hal Brands and Francis Gavin — both of the Kissinger Center at SAIS — join Ryan Evans to debate these questions and many more over beers and through the lens of Hal's new book, American Grand Strategy in the Age of Trump.

Ryan spent a week in France earlier this year and was fortunate to meet with Gérard Biard, the editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo, the ever-irreverent French satirical magazine that made international headlines almost three years ago when jihadist terrorists attacked their office in Paris. Gérard spoke with Ryan about everything from the impact of the attacks on Charlie Hebdo, how the ideal of French secularism contrasts with its American counterpart, the nature of the satire they do better than anyone, and why some people still don't get it. They discussed why satirizing Islam and other religions when they the political arena is not just fair game, but even important. And they close with Charlie Hebdo's origins (Did you know the name in part comes from the fact that its predecessor magazine was the first to publish Charlie Brown in France?) and the challenges of satirizing Trump ("What could we write that would be funnier than a tweet from Donald Trump?"). Special thanks to Iskander Rehman, for doing the translation and voiceover, and Jamie McGuire, the sound engineer who worked with him on it. If you're a French speaker and want a version without an English voiceover, then click here, where you can download that as an mp3.

Weeks before Donald Trump took office, Ryan convened a group of professionals from in and around the intelligence community to talk about the incoming president's approach to intel ("He's Just Not That Into You: Trump, Intel, and the American Presidency"). In today's episode, Ryan brought the same group of people together (minus one). Tune in to hear Carmen Medina, Mark Stout, and Mark Zaid chat (over drinks, of course) about how the president has done so far.

History podcasting mastermind Mike Duncan joined Ryan for a few drinks in Washington for our latest episode. Rome is what brought them together — more specifically his New York Times best-selling book, The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic. The book tells the story of Rome from 146 to 78 BC. In this wide-ranging conversation, they cover the challenges of writing ancient vs. modern history, going from fishmongering to podcasting (and making a living at it!), his show Revolutions, and why those of us living at this particular time in history should be eager to understand what happened to the Roman Republic.

The bottom line of this episode is this: If you can identify with the experience of coming home from war or you want to better understand that experience, you should see the new film "Thank You For Your Service." When you go, be prepared for something powerful and heartbreaking, but also something necessary. In this episode, we hear from Jason Hall, the writer and director of the film, and Adam Schumann, the Army veteran played in the film by Miles Teller. The movie is based on the book of the same name by David Finkel and it tells the story of members of an Army unit once they've come home and left the military, only to do battle with the memories of their combat and the trauma of their experiences.

The Kurds of Northern Iraq held an independence referendum, Iraqi federal forces seized Kirkuk, and the world wondered if we were on the precipice of another round of what could be described as one long-running Iraqi civil war involving the state, jihadists, tribes, sectarian militias, various Kurdish factions, and - of course - a bevy of outside powers. We haven't seen a descent into a new round of violence, at least yet. But what does the future hold for Iraq? Can the Kurds and Baghdad come to some sort of agreement? What do we mean when we say "the Kurds" anyway? What does this mean for Iraq and Iraqi nationalism now that the war to take back territory from the self-proclaimed Islamic State is winding its way to an end? What about the Shia militias raised for that fight? What place do they now hold in Iraq? To help him figure out these questions and more, Ryan Evans invited Rasha al-Aqeedi, Denise Natali, and Doug Ollivant on the show. And of course, there was whisk(e)y.

Since Donald Trump began to close in on the Republican nomination for the race for the White House, people have been debating the ethical implications of a Trump administration. And those discussions became more urgent and, in some cases, heated with Trump assuming office this year. Much of the focus has been on the ethics of public service during this presidency. Nine months have not delivered any sort of consensus. Is it ethical to serve this administration? Is it different for political appointees than civil servants? What about members of the military? Does President Trump force any new ethical questions? Ryan Evans turned to Pauline Shanks Kaurin and Shannon French, two philosophers who focus on military ethics, to help us parse these questions.

Ryan Evans had the pleasure to sit down with Oona Hathaway and Scott Shapiro, authors of the new book The Internationalists: How a Radical Plan to Outlaw War Remade the World. Remember that treaty you learned about in school that outlawed war after World War I - the Kellogg-Briand Pact? That's right, the one you laughed at. Well Oona and Scott -- both of Yale Law School -- make a pretty strong argument that it actually worked far better than we all thought. And, in doing so, they make a good case that international relations scholars should take the power of the law more seriously.

It's been 16 years since the 9/11 attacks. We thought a good way to commemorate the anniversary would be to take stock of the terrorist threats facing the United States today and to evaluate how the Trump administration is responding. Guest host Stephen Tankel tackles these issues with an all-star cast of experts, including Victor Asal, Tricia Bacon, Mia Bloom, Dan Byman, Julia Ebner, John Horgan, Gary LaFree, Phil Potter, Jake Shapiro, and Joe Young. This wide-ranging discussion touches on radicalization, allies in the fight against terrorism, intelligence gathering, the travel ban, Trump's inflammatory religious rhetoric, the relationship between far-right and Islamist violence, and more.

You've read a bit about our alliance with the Texas National Security Network, brought to you by the University of Texas. Now you get to be a guest at our launch party in DC, where we ate Blue Bell ice cream, drank Shiner Bock (and scotch, of course), and held an awesome panel with the hosts of Bombshell -- Radha Iyengar, Loren DeJonge Schulman, and Erin Simpson -- alongside Jim Goldgeier of American University's School of International Service as well as William Inboden and Paul Miller of the Clements Center at the University of Texas. Ryan Evans tried to keep this rowdy crew in line as they talked about the push and pull between academics and policymakers.

The War on the Rocks podcast is back with a big episode and an all-star cast. Hal Brands and Alex Bick of SAIS, Will Inboden of the Clements Center at the University of Texas, Kori Schake of the Hoover Institution, Colin Kahl of Georgetown, and Peter Feaver of Duke dish about the U..S. National Security Strategy, a report required by Congress meant to basically lay out how the president views America's role in the world and how he plans to exercise power. And having a bipartisan group of national security leaders around the table, Ryan Evans couldn't resist asking how they all felt the Iran deal was playing out at age two (yes, Ryan misspoke and says it's one year old in the intro - please forgive him).

"The blob" — an unflattering nickname for the U.S. foreign policy establishment coined by a senior Obama official — gets a bad rap these days. From Obama to Trump, Washington's foreign policy elite are blamed for being too hawkish, relying on tired conventional wisdom, and generally weakening America's foreign policy position. In this episode, two members of the blob (along with a mystery guest) push back...over drinks, of course. Listen to Jim Steinberg, a former Deputy Secretary of the State Dept, and Frank Gavin, the director of the Kissinger Center at SAIS, defend the blob. Their argument? You don't know how good you have it. As a bonus, we also nerd out on George Kennan a bit.

This week, Loren, Radha, and Erin discuss the North Korean assassination (beware the perfume lady) and take questions from listeners (what is inter-service rivalry anyway?). Kori Schake joins to dissect the defense budget, H.R. McMaster's challenges at the National Security Council, Thucydides, and why she hates Moneyball.

In this special episode, Ryan Evans sat down with Ben Buchanan of the Belfer Center at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and in front of an audience! Ben and Ryan chatted about his new book with Oxford University Press, The Cybersecurity Dilemma: Hacking, Trust and Fear Between Nations. There were some great questions from members of the audience. Enjoy!

How has counter-terrorism changed from 9/11 to today over three presidencies? To answer that question, Ryan Evans sat down with two guests with deep perspective on counter-terrorism: Colin Kahl was the national security adviser to Vice President Biden and, earlier in the Obama administration, was the deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East. He is now associate professor in the Security Studies Program at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service. Stephen Tankel is an assistant professor in the School of International Service at American University, an adjunct senior fellow at CNAS, and a senior editor at War on the Rocks. He previously served as a senior adviser for Asian and Pacific security affairs at the Department of Defense. Stephen is the author of the forthcoming book, With Us and Against Us: America's Partners in the War on Terror.

In this episode, WOTR's Ryan Evans interviews John Bew about the state of the "special relationship" between the United States and the United Kingdom as the presidency of Donald Trump unfolds. How is Prime Minister Theresa May trying to manage British relations with the United States? Is Parliament making it easier or harder for her? What does Brexit mean for British power? Will Britain start to more seriously commit to a higher defense budget? Is the Winston Churchill bust in the White House a useful symbol of the special relationship (spoiler: no)? John tackles these questions and more, ending on a note of optimism on this most resilient of alliances. But that's not all! There's also a dash of Asia in this episode. Ryan called up Van Jackson, the host of Pacific Pundit, about the grand American presidential tradition of ignoring North Korea. About our guests: John Bew is Professor of History and Foreign Policy at the War Studies Department at King's College London. He is the author of Realpolitik: A History and, most recently, Clement Attlee: The Man Who Made Modern Britain. John is leading a project on Britain's place in the world for the think tank Policy Exchange. Van Jackson is a senior editor at War on the Rocks. Van is the author of Rival Reputations: Coercion and Credibility in US-North Korea Relations. He is an associate professor at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS) and an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). The views expressed are his own. Please check out his podcast, Pacific Pundit.

This week on Bombshell, we walk through the first week of the Trump administration. Sit down and listen to Radha Iyengar Plumb, Loren DeJonge Schulman, and Erin Simpson discuss America First, cabinet confirmations, Chelsea Manning, Wall of Stars + Hall of Heroes, re-organization of the National Security Council, and the immigration order. Stick around for our favorite podcasts and thoughts on Sherlock.

Just an hour before Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, Ryan Evans sat down with Richard Haass in New York at the Council on Foreign Relations. Given the momentous changes that seem to be underway, the topic under discussion was fitting: world order. Richard's new book - A World in Disarray: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order - seeks to explain the origins of the current world order, the shifts currently underway, and how the United States should seek to shape the next world order. Ryan and Richard also discussed negotiating approaches to Russia and China and early decisions made by the Trump team. Richard, who served in four presidential administrations, ends by giving career and life advice to people leaving the Obama administration and others who thought they would be serving in a Clinton administration.

Welcome to Bombshell. This new bi-weekly series, brought to you by War on the Rocks, is hosted by three of your favorite Washington insiders who will dissect today's foreign policy crises and tomorrow's security challenges. Our hosts — Loren DeJonge Schulman, Radha Iyengar Plumb, and Erin Simpson — will talk military strategy, White House mayhem, and the best cocktails known to (wo)man. In this episode, our hosts introduce themselves and each other before launching into a guide to what is going to face the Trump administration as it takes hold of the reins of power. If you're wondering about new appointments, how the new National Security Council could run, and possible crises that could erupt as soon as day one, this is the episode for you. The first two episodes will be on the War on the Rocks feed. Don't forget to sign up for the Bombshell feed on your podcast app of choice (Note: Most apps use the iTunes feed and iTunes is taking their sweet time approving it. Keep trying).

If you follow international affairs, it often feels like you can't go to a lecture or read an article without being told that the world's economic and military center of gravity is shifting from West to East. Michael Auslin takes a different view in his new book, The End of the Asian Century: War, Stagnation, and the Risks to the World's Most Dynamic Region (Yale University Press, 2017). We sat down at the Tabard Inn in Washington, DC to talk about it. Auslin argues that Asia's golden age is over and the region is likely to be approaching an era of instability when it comes to economies, political systems, demographics, and war. Our conversation ranged broadly from U.S. interests in the region, the state of America's alliances, China's anxieties, and President Obama's missed opportunities. We also preview a new series on "Reclaiming Realism" and I tease a new bi-weekly podcast we have rolling out early next week called Bombshell. Have a listen!

One thing is clear about President-elect Donald Trump: He is skeptical of the U.S. intelligence community. With the aid of a bottle of bourbon, War on the Rocks assembled a top-notch group of experts to talk about what Trump means for the intelligence community. Our guests in this episode included Carmen Medina - a 32-year veteran of the CIA; David Priess - author of The President's Book of Secrets and a CIA veteran; Mark Stout - a WOTR senior editor, program director at Johns Hopkins, and a veteran of the CIA and the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research; and Mark Zaid - a prominent national security attorney and the head of the James Madison Project.

In this episode of the War on the Rocks podcast, editor-in-chief Ryan Evans sat down with Michael S. Neiberg, author of the new book, The Path to War: How the First World War Created Modern America. Neiberg, an accomplished historian who holds the Chair of War Studies at the U.S. Army War College, covered a range of topics, starting with America and World War I, the Treaty of Versailles, World War II, the use and abuse of historical analogies, doing historical research, and advice for young historians.

Revelations over emails are going to be roiling this election season to the very end. This is, in no small part, due to a series of targeted hacks and leaks that cyber-security experts and the U.S. intelligence community have attributed to Russia. In this episode, we address this unprecedented Russian-directed information operations campaign targeting the U.S. presidential election and, indeed, the fundamental legitimacy of the American system of government. From email hacks to electronic voting machines, major vulnerabilities have been exposed and could change how we approach national campaigns forever, not just in the United States but in other democracies as well. Think I am overstating it? See what you think by the end of this episode. I gathered together an all-star group of experts to help me figure out exactly how this all happened, including Dmitri Alperovitch of Crowdstrike, Ben Buchanan of the Belfer Center, Shane Harris of The Daily Beast, Susan Hennessey of Brookings and Lawfare, Michael Poznansky of the University of Pittsburgh, and Benjamin Wittes of Brookings and Lawfare (who throws down the gauntlet for Sean Hannity). Have a listen! Ryan Evans is the founder and editor-in-chief of War on the Rocks.

In an "around the world" edition of our podcast series, Ryan Evans convened a top-notch group to discuss everything from Cuba to the Middle East to Russia to deterrence to China to personnel issues along with a whole range of big issues for the first 100 days of the next administration. Tune in to listen to Elbridge Colby (CNAS), Radha Iyengar (RAND), Will McCants (Brookings), and Bill Rosenau (CNA) talk about some of the world's most pressing issues with the aid of a few drinks. We also briefly remember the respected scholar and international security analyst, Angel Rabasa, who recently passed away. Image: U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Michel Sauret

In the latest episode of our podcast, editor-in-chief Ryan Evans sat down with Gen. Jim Mattis and Kori Schake of the Hoover Institution to talk about civil-military relations, the subject of their new book Warriors and Citizens: American Views of Our Military. This is the first major study of civil-military relations in years. The conversation also turned to strategy, with Mattis observing that Washington is a "strategy-free environment" and that this is a problem that goes back through two administrations. Next, Ryan sat down with Richard Fontaine, the president of the Center for a New American Security, to discuss his summer in Australia, where he was an Alliance 21 Fellow at the U.S. Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. Fontaine was there to take an up close look at the U.S.-Australian relationship and hard questions related to American strategy in Asia. Have a listen! Image: U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Cpl. Thor J. Larson

The Ataturk Cultural Center in Istanbul was closed down during the Gezi Park protests in 2013. This former symbol of Turkey's revered founding father is today adorned with large photos of its current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who successfully defeated an attempted military coup d'etat on Friday evening and Saturday morning. Some of you might have chimed into yesterday's live Google Hangout on Turkey's thwarted coup. For those who didn't and prefer audio to video, we've adapted it into an episode of our podcast series. WOTR's Ryan Evans spoke with Selim Koru of TEPAV in Turkey, Burak Kadercan of the U.S. Naval War College, Aaron Stein of the Atlantic Council, and Joshua Walker of the German Marshall Fund to try to sort through the violent events of last weekend in Turkey and the heated political aftermath. Listen here!

What big think books on strategy in history should you add to you shelf this summer? Our editor-in-chief, Ryan Evans, sat down with two authors of two of his favorite books this year. First, he spoke to Hal Brands, author of the new book Making the Unipolar Moment: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Rise of the Post-Cold War Order (Cornell). Hal has just taken up a professorship at the Kissinger Center at the School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. Next, Ryan sat down with John Bew of the King's College London War Studies Department, author of Realpolitik: A History (Oxford), and interviewed him with the help of Iskander Rehman of the Brookings Institution, who reviewed John's book. (As a teaser for some of our nerdier listeners out there, I tempt Iskander and John into attacking American political science near the end.) Hal's book tells the story of how America understood (and often misunderstood) its own power from the 1970s through the end of the Cold War, taking us through the Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush administrations. In Realpolitik, John tells the story of this often misused word from its origins in 19th century Germany all the way through the Obama administration. Both books are sweeping, engaging, original, and readable. Have a listen!

Is Barack Obama's foreign policy "failing at nearly every turn," as Speaker Paul Ryan and many other Republicans contend? Or has the president actually crafted a wiser, more effective approach to America's place in the world that sets this country up for success? Derek Chollet, a six-year veteran of the Obama administration, takes the latter view in his new book, The Long Game: How Obama Defied Washington and Redefined America's Role in the World (PublicAffairs). Ryan Evans, WOTR's editor-in-chief, sat down with Chollet, currently at the German Marshall Fund, and Richard Fontaine, the president of the Center for a New American Security, for an energetic debate on the legacy that this president will leave behind.

We're going to try something a little different with this episode of the podcast, and I think you're going to like it. If you listened to our last episode, you know our focus was on the Munich Security Conference – a major annual event that hosts heads of state, ministers of foreign affairs and defense, thought leaders, and, this year, whisky-swilling editors like me. In this episode, the focus is Russia, and especially U.S. Russian relations. To do that, we tell a story that starts with Vladimir Putin's 2007 speech at the Munich Security Conference and ends with Russian Prime Minister Medvedev's speech at this year's conference. Between 2007 and 2016, U.S.-Russian relations have gone from bad to good (sort of) to bad again. To tell that story, I conducted interviews in Munich with Richard Fontaine of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), Senator John McCain, and Svitlana Zalishchua of the Ukrainian parliament. Back in Washington, I conducted more interviews with Elbridge Colby of CNAS, Matt Rojanksy of the Kennan Institute, and Michael Kofman of CNA and the Kennan Institute. Have a listen and let us know what you think about this new format. This special episode of our podcast series is sponsored by American University's School of International Service, which prepares graduates for global service in government, nonprofits, and business. Applications for Fall 2016 are still being accepted. Click here for more information on a variety of Master's programs for mid- and early-career professionals online or on campus. Image: NATO

The Munich Security Conference brings together leaders from all around the world to discuss defense, foreign policy, and strategy - the bread and butter of War on the Rocks. It has been called the Davos of international security. Our editor-in-chief, Ryan Evans, was privileged to join the U.S congressional delegation to this year's conference. While he was there, he interviewed a number of key leaders and thinkers. This episode of our podcast series is the first of two to come out of these interviews and discussions. They are sponsored by American University's School of International Service. Listen here for Ryan's interviews with Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Senator David Perdue (R-GA), and former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who is now the President of the Asia Society. They discuss the state of the world, American power, Syria, Ukraine, Europe, China, and more, offering diverse opinions and views informed by their decades of experience in politics, diplomacy, and business. This special episode of our podcast series is sponsored by American University's School of International Service, which prepares graduates for global service in government, nonprofits, and business. Applications for Fall 2016 are still being accepted. Click here for more information on a variety of Master's programs for mid- and early-career professionals online or on campus.

We have a two-parter for you in this episode. First, WOTR's Ryan Evans spoke with Steve Blank of Silicon Valley fame about his new course, "Hacking Defense." The class just launched at Stanford, but Steve has plans to proliferate it around the country. Will this course help change the way we approach national defense? Next, Ryan sat down with Basam Ridha Al Hussaini. Basam works for Iraqi Prime Minister Abadi and was in Washington to talk to U.S. officials about the Popular Mobilization Units, a Iraqi security program that mobilizes armed groups - including sectarian groups responsible for terrible violence during the Iraq War - to fight the Islamic State. While these groups are controversial and - some say - too close to Iran, they have been undeniably important in rolling back the Islamic State. Hear Basam make the case for this program and talk about its future in Iraq, post-Islamic State. Have a listen!

The relationship between journalists and the U.S. military is simultaneously intimate and distant. In the last several decades and the last two in particular, many things have changed in the way that journalists cover the military, but perhaps not as many as you think. Three defense and national security journalists of different generations joined Ryan Evans of War on the Rocks to talk about how covering the military has and has not changed over time: David Wood, the veteran, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist at The Huffington Post Nancy Youssef, senior national security correspondent for The Daily Beast Paul Shinkman, national security reporter for U.S. News & World Report Have a listen! Image: U.S. Navy photo by Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway

WOTR's Ryan Evans sat down with Colin Kahl, the National Security Advisor to Vice Present Joe Biden, to talk about the mess of the Middle East and what the Obama administration is doing about it. From Iran to the Gulf states to Syria to Iraq to Turkey and beyond, Kahl explains how the White House views the problems and opportunities there. He also discusses what it's like to be in a presidential administration in its final year. If you like this podcast, be sure to check out our last conversation with Kahl about the Iran nuclear agreement. Image: USAF, Senior Airman Matthew Bruch

We are trying something a little new with our podcast series. Segments! And music! In the first segment of our new podcast, Ryan Evans sits down with Claude Berube to talk about his new novel, Syren's Song. Ryan then joins Gen. Bob Scales to talk about his recent trip to Europe where he looked at the ability of U.S. and European forces to fight Russia in the event of a war. Gen. Scales expands on some of the concerns he expressed in the Wall Street Journal. Happy listening!

How will the U.S. military stay competitive? This is about far more than platforms, bombs, and guns. It is fundamentally about people. And with archaic personnel systems plaguing the armed forces and the Department of Defense, our talented young men and women are being drawn away into the private sector in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter sat down with WOTR's Ryan Evans to talk about the Force of the Future initiative - a sweeping program of reforms that aims to bring the Department of Defense into the 21st Century in terms of how it manages its most important asset: human beings. TRANSCRIPT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RYAN EVANS: Welcome a very special edition of the War on the Rocks podcast series, with Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter. Thanks for making the time for us, Mr. Secretary. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ASH CARTER: Ryan, thanks for being here. Welcome to the Pentagon. EVANS: We're here to talk about Force of the Future. It's a program of reforms, aimed at changing the way the Department of Defense handles its human capital. And you have just announced the first sort of tranche for these reforms earlier this afternoon. Personnel reforms are not generally considered the sort of sexiest topic out there, when you look at Defense, particularly when you're competing with attention in terms of issues with the Islamic State, Russia, what just happened in France. Why should the American people care about what you're trying to do with Force of the Future? SEC. CARTER: Well, they care about having, in the future, as they have now, the finest fighting force the world has ever known. That's what protecting them tonight; that's what's fighting ISIL; that's what is keeping the peace and making a better world for our children everywhere in the world. Now, we have, today, the best. In addition to using that wisely, as we do, we need to make sure that ten years, 20 years from now, since we don't know what the future will hold, that we have the very best men, also. That means attracting the people who are young people today to be part of our future. So, my job, as secretary of Defense, on behalf of our people is to -- both to deal with today's crisis and to leave behind me, to my successor and my successor's successor as fine a fighting force as it is my privilege to lead. And we're good for lots of reasons. We're good because we have great technology, we're good because we stand for great values, we're good because we have lots of friends around the world, because people like working with Americans. But the chief reason we're the best is because we have the best people. Now, you say this is kind of an abstract thing; maybe it is to most Americans, but I don't want them to think that way. I want them to think that -- as many Americans, in fact, do -- how can I make a contribution? Many of them saw what happened in Paris over the weekend, and I was talking to a group of college students today, and I hope they're asking themselves, how can I contribute to making a better world? Some of them will join the military, but that's not the only way they can contribute. They could join DOD in other ways. And -- but I want to create as many different avenues as I can, to make sure that the talented people who are part of our future join our force. And the last thing is, Ryan, I mean, it may be abstract in some way to the general citizen, but for our millions of people -- military, civilian, and by the way, contractors who do a lot of our work as well -- that's what they do in life. And they want to -- I need to make sure that they continue to improve themselves, keep up with the latest technology, get advanced degrees. That they have opportunities to take care of their families, to have children if they want to have children. And that -- to the extent I can, consistent with military needs and with the profession of arms,

In histories of the Second World War, the Vatican has not fared well. Pope Pius XII has been condemned as "Hitler's Pope" and the Church castigated for not doing enough to avert war and save the victims of the Third Reich. Enter Mark Riebling's new book, Church of Spies: The Pope's Secret War Against Hitler. After years of painstaking research in the Vatican's archives, Riebling has a different and heart-pounding story to tell of the Pope's network of spies that fought to bring about Hitler's downfall. In this podcast, WOTR's Ryan Evans and Mark Stout (himself a veteran of the CIA) sits down with Riebling to chat about this amazing book that combines the rigor of history with the storytelling of a novel. His final verdict on Pius XII: "He wasn't Hitler's Pope, but he wasn't Anne Frank's Pope either." Listen! Image: Public Domain

What's going on around the world? For our latest podcast, WOTR editor-in-chief Ryan Evans was joined by a great group to talk about Russia and its intervention in Syria, the Middle East more broadly, America's approach to foreign policy, the refugee crisis in Europe, the international economy, and Congress. Our guests were Justin Johnson of the Heritage Foundation, Denise Natali of the National Defense University, Bill Rosenau of CNA, and Erin Simpson of Caerus Associates.

Will McCants of the Brookings Institution and David Ignatius of The Washington Post sat down with Ryan Evans to chat about the topic of Will's new book, ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State. In this wide-ranging conversation, our guests reached back into the origins of the Islamic State and came all the way up to the storm of violence that covers so much of the Middle East today. Have a listen!

Dmitry Gorenburg, an occasional WOTR contributor and expert on Russian military affairs at the CNA Corporation, sat down with Ryan Evans to chat about the state of Russia's armed forces, its campaigns in Ukraine and Syria, Putin as a strategist, and how one becomes an expert on Russian military affairs. Have a listen!

Ah, the 2016 presidential election. Trump still leads the GOP field, Hillary has been challenged in the polls by Bernie Sanders and the shadow of Joe Biden looms large over the Democratic hopefuls. And whether it's the Islamic State, Russia, cybersecurity, or the politics of the Iran deal, national security issues are going to play a central role. So to kick off our newest channel, #NatSec2016, we brought together two experts from different parts of the political spectrum - Doug Ollivant and Mike Waltz - as well as Greg Jaffe of The Washington Post to explore the 2016 politics of national security. Have a listen and enjoy!

Is the American defense industry ready for what is coming next? Can it adapt, survive, and thrive in an era of paradigm-changing new technologies? Can the industry maintain America's military superiority in the face of the U.S. government's stifling contracting regulations? What can the U.S. government and the defense industry learn from Silicon Valley? We brought together three experts - Stephen Rodriguez, Sam Zega, and Paul Scharre - the talk about how we can hack the defense industry. Have a listen! Image: Dammit, CC

In the latest installment of our podcast, we gathered some top Asia wonks - WOTR Senior Editor Van Jackson of CNAS, Evan Montgomery of CSBA, Mira-Rapp Hooper of CSIS, and Samm Sacks of the Eurasia Group. The topic? The state of U.S.-China relations and the major issues likely to occupy President Barack Obama when Chinese President Xi Jinping comes to town. Have a listen! Image Credit: thierry ehrmann

One organization has been behind America's most daring raids, from the deserts of Iraq and Syria to the hills of Pakistan to the jungles of South America. That organization is Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Ryan Evans, editor-in-chief of War on the Rocks, sat down with Sean Naylor of Foreign Policy and author of the new book, Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command. Have a listen! Image: U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Paul Peterson

TM Gibbons-Neff of The Washington Post (and formerly of the U.S. Marine Corps) and ​Dr. Bruce Gudmundsson of Marine Corps University joined WOTR's Ryan Evans to talk about TM's recent reporting from the front in Eastern Ukraine through the lens of the history of infantry combat. Image Credit: TM Gibbons-Neff

In this week's podcast, navalists B.J. Armstrong and Scott Cheney-Peters joined Alex Hecht, the editor of the Molotov Cocktail channel, and Ryan Evans for a carousing (but responsible) imbibing of naval history through four naval drinks: grog, the rum flip, the daiquiri, and the gimlet. Have a listen and drink along with us! The recipes are below. Grog: 4 ounces lime juice 1/4 pound brown sugar 4 oz. dark rum 8 oz. water 2 sprigs mint Rum Flip: 4 oz. Gosling's Rum 1 oz. simple syrup 2 egg yolks Grated nutmeg Daiquiri: 3 oz. silver rum 1.5 oz. simple syrup 1.5 oz. lime juice Gimlet: 3 oz. London dry gin 1.5 oz. simple syrup 1.5 oz. lime juice Image: Wikimedia Commons. Illustration from the book "Songs, naval and national" by Thomas Dibdin, published in London, England in 1841. The caption is "Saturday Night At Sea," and shows a group of sailors amusing themselves while off duty by singing. The illustration itself is by George Cruikshank (d. 1878).

At War on the Rocks, we are re-vamping our podcast series. We will be holding one podcast a week. The first of each month will be 'round the world. We will discuss the most pressing global security issues...over drinks of course. Have a listen! This week, we were joined by: Richard Fontaine, President of the Center for a New American Security Frank Hoffman, Senior Research Fellow at the National Defense University's Institute for National Strategic Studies (all of his opinions are his own, of course, and not those of NDU, the Dept. of Defense, or the U.S. government) Justin T. Johnson, Senior Policy Analyst for Defense Budgeting Policy at the Heritage Foundation Afshon Ostovar, a Middle East analyst at CNA Mira Rapp-Hooper, the Director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at CSIS Erin Simpson, CEO of Caerus Associates.

In today's podcast, John Amble talks to August Cole of the Atlantic Council's Art of Future Warfare project and B.J. Armstrong, a historian and naval officer, about how we approach the critical task of forecasting the future of warfare. In the discussion, we examine the comparative merits of history and fiction as sources of lessons with which to understand, make predictions about, and prepare for warfare in the future. Somewhat sadly, this podcast's title isn't entirely accurate. This is one of those rare War on the Rocks podcasts that we did not record over drinks. I trust you'll make up for our shortcoming in this respect by imbibing on our behalf while you listen. Buy August's book, Ghost Fleet, and B.J.'s book, 21st Century Sims. B.J.'s opinions, of course, do not represent those of the U.S. Navy or the Department of Defense. Photo credit: k rupp (adapted by WOTR)

I had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with PW Singer and August Cole to talk about their new book, Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War. Yes, these two wonks wrote some fiction and it's an impressive piece of work. In Ghost Fleet, they bring us into the future - not too far away - and show us how this war could very well be fought, examining the social, political, and technological issues through the eyes of a massive cast of characters. The way they portray military technology and its myriad effects was, in particular, fresh and interesting. Listen to this awesome podcast (courtesy the awesome media team at the New America Foundation) here: Image: Spike, Art of Future Warfare, Atlantic Council