North Korea

Chatting with the Chief: A Conversation with General James C. McConville

General James C. McConville is the 40th Chief of Staff of the United States Army, filling a critical position for our nation once occupied by individuals such as General John J. Pershing, Douglas MacArthur, George Marshall, Dwight Eisenhower, and Omar Bradley. A West Point graduate, soldier, leader, and aviator, General McConville has commanded the famous 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and led in combat including in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Now, as Army Chief of Staff, his job is to ensure our soldiers have the training and equipment they need to accomplish their missions and return home safely. In this position, he’s also a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, helping to advise some of our nation’s senior civilian leaders on vital national security decisions.
General McConville sat down with Bradley Bowman — senior director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP), filling in for host Cliff May — just days after the one-year anniversary of Putin’s unprovoked large-scale invasion of Ukraine and amidst reports of Beijing considering the provision of lethal aid to Moscow for use against Ukrainians.
Bradley and General McConville discuss the war in Ukraine and what's at stake for Americans, how to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base, the nature of the threat from China, and what the Army is doing to deter aggression in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. Bradley also asks him for an update on the Army’s ongoing modernization efforts — the most significant the service has conducted in four decades and one that will determine whether Americans can prevail on future battlefields.

Guarding Contested Skies

China, Russia, Iran, North Korea — not to mention the persistent threat from terrorist organizations. The United States confronts an extraordinary array of threats, with many of our adversaries working together more closely than ever.
So, how should we respond? What kind of military do we need? And how can we ensure the United States continues to possess the most formidable air force in the world?
To discuss these questions and more, guest host Bradley Bowman — senior director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP), filling in for host Cliff May — is joined by U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Michael A. Loh.
He’s the Director of the Air National Guard where he is responsible for formulating, developing, and coordinating all policies, plans and programs affecting over 108,000 Air National Guard Airmen and civilians across 90 wings and 180 installations in 159 communities throughout the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands. He has served our country for decades in uniform, including as an F-16 instructor pilot and group and squadron commander — and he has deployed many times to combat.

Got Nukes?

During the Cold War, one of the few issues on which the United States and the Soviet Union agreed, was that other states should not have nuclear weapons. The likelihood that one of them would use those weapons – or transfer them to a regime or group that would was too great.
This was called the principle of non-proliferation. It was regarded as an established norm of international behavior, expressed most explicitly in the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons -- better known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT.
Is it still in force or relevant or even meaningful? What is being done to prevent the acquisition of nuclear weapons – as well as chemical and biological weapons – by regimes hostile to the United States and its allies?
FDD has a new Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program attempting to answer such questions and provide policy options.
Chairing the program is Ambassador Jackie Wolcott, former U.S. representative to the United Nations in Vienna and the U.S. representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Charles Kupperman, who served in senior positions in both the Reagan and Trump administrations, is a member of the program’s board of advisors.
They join Foreign Podicy host Cliff May to talk about nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. 

A Cyberspace Odyssey

Americans must be prepared to defend themselves from hostile armies, navies, air forces – and, not least, soldiers in cyberspace.
With that in mind, in 2019, Congress created the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, the CSC. Its mission: “to develop a strategic approach to defending the United States in cyberspace against cyber-attacks of significant consequences.”
The CSC operated successfully for two and a half years, publishing its flagship report in March 2020. It issued more than 80 recommendations to reform U.S. government structures and organization, promote national resilience, operationalize public-private collaboration, and preserve and employ military instruments of national power. Many of those recommendations have been implemented — but not all.
At the CSC’s planned sunset, the commissioners launched "CSC 2.0" to support the implementation of outstanding recommendations, provide annual assessments of progress, and conduct further research and analysis on cybersecurity issues.
It’s a critical project because there are still many gaping holes in America’s cyberspace defense capabilities.
To better understand what is being done and what still must be done to defeat this evolving threat, host Cliff May is joined by RADM (Ret) Mark Montgomery — former executive director of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, now senior director of FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation, CCTI, which houses “CSC 2.0” — and Jiwon Ma, a program analyst at CCTI, where she focuses on this new project. 
They recently co-authored the project’s 2022 Annual Report on Implementation which examines the progress of efforts to harden our national security in cyberspace.

Building the Air Force the U.S. Needs

North Korea is again launching missiles, Iran continues inching towards a nuclear weapons capability, Russia is escalating its aggression in Ukraine, and China is sprinting to field a military capable of invading Taiwan and defeating any effort by Washington to intervene.
Considering these extraordinary threats, what kind of Air Force does the United States have — and what kind of Air Force does it need?
Which aircraft should be retired, and which should be fielded without delay?
The Air Force oversees two legs of the U.S. nuclear deterrent triad. So, with Russia and North Korea rattling their nuclear sabers, what about bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles?
Would the Air Force also have a role in sinking ships in a contingency in the Taiwan Strait?
What does the war in Ukraine tell us about the importance of Air Force capabilities?
To get answers, FDD's Bradley Bowman — filling in for host Cliff May — asks Lieutenant General Richard G. Moore of the U.S. Air Force.
Lieutenant General Richard G. Moore
Lt. Gen. Richard G. Moore is the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs at the United States Air Force, where he focuses on building the Air Force of the future to support the National Defense Strategy. 
Bradley Bowman
Bradley Bowman is the Senior Director of FDD's Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP).

Nonproliferation, Biodefense, and National Security

Jackie Wolcott previously served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in Vienna and as U.S. representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Anthony Ruggiero is the former White House National Security Council Senior Director for Counterproliferation and Biodefense.
Together, they are behind the wheel of FDD’s newly launched Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program — serving as Chair and Senior Director, respectively — where they’ll lead the Program’s efforts to prevent America’s adversaries from possessing and developing weapons of mass destruction (perhaps chief among the most pressing national security issues that we face).
Both join FDD Senior Advisor and former White House National Security Council Director for Countering Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction Richard Goldberg — filling in for host Cliff May — to discuss the Program’s timely objectives and the very hard work they’re going to tackle.

Why They Fight

Russia's war in Ukraine underscores, among other things, the urgency of boosting Taiwan's military readiness. Meanwhile, many Americans remain bitterly divided on what role of the U.S. should be in the world, and, therefore, on how strong America's military power ought to be.
To discuss these and other pressing issues facing the U.S. and broader free world, Foreign Podicy host Cliff May is joined by experts from FDD's Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP) — LTG (Ret.) H.R. McMaster and Bradley Bowman.
LTG (Ret.) H.R. McMaster formerly served as the U.S. National Security Advisor and was a commissioned officer in the United States Army for 34 years before retiring as a Lieutenant General in June 2018. He's a historian, an author, and a pundit. He now serves as the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution — and he also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Advisors at FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP).
Bradley Bowman is a West Point Graduate, who served as an active-duty U.S. Army officer, Black Hawk pilot, and top advisor to two U.S. Senators. He is also now with FDD's Center on Military and Political Power where he serves as the Center's Senior Director.

Why MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) Is No Longer Reassuring

Central to America's strategy in the Cold War was the principle of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). The idea was to make nuclear warfare a lose-lose proposition — a game you just can't win. Whichever side was attacked would retain the capability to counterattack. Both sides would end up devastated, if not annihilated.
But MAD works only if both sides are equally averse to mass death and destruction.
When it comes to Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Ali Khamenei, and Kim Jong-un, can we be confident of that?
If not, what replaces MAD? Perhaps robust deterrence and comprehensive missile defense systems — neither of which can be achieved easily, cheaply, or quickly. And we've really not yet begun to pursue such goals.
To unpack these issues, Foreign Podicy host Cliff May is joined by Rob Soofer. Formerly the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and Missile Defense Policy, Rob is now a Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University's Center for Strategic Studies. He also previously served as a professor at the National War College and as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve.
Also with us: Bradley Bowman, a West Point Graduate, who served as an active-duty U.S. Army officer, Black Hawk pilot, and top advisor to two U.S. Senators. Brad is now the senior director of FDD's Center on Military and Political Power.

Mike Waltz: Warrior Diplomat and Congressman

Michael G. Waltz served as a Green Beret in the Middle East and Africa, and commanded a Special Forces company in the mountains of Afghanistan.
He served as a counterterrorism advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney, and director for Afghanistan policy in the office of the Secretary of Defense.
He is the author of a marvelous 2014 book: Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret’s Battles from Washington to Afghanistan, the proceeds of which continue to benefit the Green Beret Foundation.
He was also – we’re proud to say – a non-resident senior fellow at FDD years ago.
He now serves in Congress, where he’s a member of the House Armed Services Committee. He continues to serve in the National Guard.
He joins Foreign Podicy host Cliff May to talk about a range of critical national security and foreign policy issues.

The Army and the Indo-Pacific

Beijing is conducting the most ambitious military modernization and expansion effort in the history of the People’s Republic of China. And the more powerful the People’s Liberation Army becomes, the more aggressively Beijing is behaving.
Given the vast distances and expanses of ocean, when Americans think of the Indo-Pacific and the Pentagon’s role there, they may think first of the U.S. Navy and Air Force. Those services will, indeed, play a pivotal role in deterring and defeating aggression in the Indo-Pacific. Fully funding and supporting a modernized, capable, and forward-positioned U.S. Navy and Air Force is vital. 
But what about the U.S. Army? That service plays a vital role in Europe and on the Korean peninsula, for example. But what role does the U.S. Army currently play in the larger Indo-Pacific? And what role could and should the Army play there going forward in terms of defending U.S. interests, building partner capacity, and defeating adversaries?
As Congress allocates finite resources to and within the Pentagon, and as the Department of Defense conducts its own generational modernization effort and develops new operational concepts, these questions are fundamental.
General Charles A. Flynn serves as commander of U.S. Army Pacific. He has served in a variety of important leadership positions, from platoon leader to division commander in operational units and as a deputy chief of staff for Army operations, plans, and training at the Pentagon. He has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and now he focuses on the Indo-Pacific, leading the Army’s largest service component command.
In this special edition of Foreign Podicy, General Flynn joins Bradley Bowman, senior director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power.

The Unruly and Not-So-Orderly Rules-based International Order

John Bolton has had quite a few challenging jobs. Among them: presidential national security advisor, ambassador to the United Nations, and several senior positions in the State Department. He has an original and provocative new essay in National Review on the so-called “rules-based international order.” He discusses that and other current issues, crises, and conflicts with Reuel Marc Gerecht, a senior fellow at FDD, formerly a case officer at the CIA, and Foreign Podicy host Cliff May.

Nuclear and Chemical Watchdogs or Lapdogs?

Back in 1957, the same year the Soviets put Sputnik — the world’s first artificial satellite — into orbit, and Elvis Presley’s “All Shook Up” hit the top of the Billboard charts, the UN established the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The goal was to promote peaceful uses of atomic energy, provide assistance on nuclear safety, and prevent nuclear materials from getting into the wrong hands.
How has that worked out? FDD Research Fellow Andrea Stricker has taken a hard look at the IAEA and written a chapter about it for FDD’s recently published monograph: “A Better Blueprint for International Organizations.”
Andrea also has been keeping track of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), another UN offspring.
She joins Foreign Podicy host Cliff May — as does FDD Senior Fellow Anthony Ruggiero, who has served on the National Security Council advising the White House on a range of issues including weapons of mass destruction.
Participating in the conversation, too: Richard Goldberg, senior advisor to FDD, who has served in the National Security Council and in both houses of Congress. A senior advisor to FDD, he’s the editor of the monograph on international organizations.

Predators in the Global Jungle

David Kilcullen is an Australian-American soldier and scholar who served as a top advisor to the U.S. military in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
He also has worked in Pakistan, the Horn of Africa, and Southeast Asia.
And he’s an advisor to FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP).
His new book, The Dragons and the Snakes: How the Rest Learned to Fight the West, looks at the military threats facing America and its allies, including what the dragons — Moscow and Beijing — and the snakes — Tehran, Pyongyang, and non-state jihadi groups – are learning from each other. He suggests the options that need to be considered if free nations are “to evolve and survive the long twilight struggle ahead.”
He discusses these and related national security issues with host Cliff May on episode 54.

China and the Future of Defense

The Chinese Communist Party represents a multi-faceted and increasingly formidable threat to the United States and its democratic allies. In this intense competition with Beijing, the U.S. must ensure its war fighters have the most capable and technologically advanced weapons in the world.
If America’s technological superiority is allowed to deteriorate, Beijing may be tempted to undertake aggression that the U.S. could struggle to defeat — aggression that could have been avoided.To prevent this from happening, the House Armed Services Committee has established a Future of Defense Task Force focused on the U.S. defense innovation base.
On this special edition episode of Foreign Podicy, Bradley Bowman — Senior Director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP)— is joined by the task force’s co-chair — Congressman Seth Moulton, a Democrat from Massachusetts — to discuss the goals of the task force, the health of the U.S. defense innovation base, and the growing threat from China.

Future Wars: a Conversation with H.R. McMaster

H.R. McMaster served as a U.S. Army officer for thirty-four years—including deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan—before retiring as a Lieutenant General in June 2018. He then served as White House national security advisor. Now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, he also chairs the Board of Advisors at FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power.
He joins host Cliff May for a discussion about national security during a challenging and dangerous time—a time when the U.S. is threatened by a motley crew of rivals, adversaries and sworn enemies.

The Uses of Military Power

The United States has the most powerful military in world history. But after 17 years fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, an American victory is nowhere in sight.
With that and many other threats and challenges in mind, FDD has opened a new Center on Military and Political Power.
CMPP will attempt to promote—on a bipartisan basis—better understanding of the defense strategies, policies and capabilities that can most effectively deter adversaries, and defeat those who cannot be deterred.
CMPP’s board of directors is a veritable ‘who’s who’ of leading national security thinkers—including former White House National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster (who serves as CMPP chairman) and former Defense Secretary and CIA Director Leon Panetta.
Bradley Bowman, CMPP’s senior director, served as an active-duty U.S. Army officer for more than 15 years, taught as an Assistant Professor at West Point, and most recently worked as a National Security Advisor to members of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees.
He joins host Clifford D. May today to discuss America’s military challenges and how CMPP plans to add value to the urgent debates underway—as well as the urgent debates that need to begin.

A Conversation with Ambassador Nikki Haley

Jeane J. Kirkpatrick was one of the visionaries who helped create the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies soon after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Six years ago, FDD inaugurated an award in honor of the first woman to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations — a statesman who vehemently opposed totalitarianism and resolutely defended American values.
 
This year, FDD’s Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Statesmanship Award was presented to Ambassador Nikki R. Haley who has brought a precise moral compass and a distinctly American voice to the United Nations. She sat down with FDD president and Foreign Podicy host Clifford D. May to discuss human rights, U.N. reform and other consequential national security issues we face today.
 
Resources:Woman of the world — Clifford D. May; The Washington Times
FDD’s National Security Summit featuring Ambassador Nikki Haley (Video available here; transcript available here)
 

Nothing but Net: Cyber-Enabled Economic Warfare

A peril that may not be on your radar screen: Cyber-Enabled Economic Warfare (CEEW). Computers and the Internet have made our lives easier but they’ve also left us vulnerable to an arsenal of cyber weapons that threaten us as much as terrorists, guns and bombs.Foreign Podicy host Clifford D. May is joined by Dr. Samantha Ravich, a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies as well as a principal investigator for FDD’s Cyber-Enabled Economic Warfare project, to discuss CEEW, and what must be done to combat it.
Episode resources:
http://www.defenddemocracy.org/content/uploads/documents/MEMO_CyberDefinitions_07.pdf
http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/samantha-ravich-cyber-enabled-economic-warfare-assessing-us-strategy/
https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1282920/dod-initiates-elevation-process-for-us-cyber-command-to-a-unified-combatant-com
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/senate-confirms-paul-nakasone-to-lead-the-nsa-us-cyber-command/2018/04/24/52c95ca4-47e8-11e8-9072-f6d4bc32f223_story.html?utm_term=.bc6091cfdaff
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Countering Kim’s Nuclear North Korea

Cliff May is joined by FDD's North Korea expert, Anthony Ruggiero, to discuss whether North Korea's most recent missile test is a game-changer, whether a nuclear North Korea is a foregone conclusion, and how the U.S. can leverage economic warfare to counter the Kim regime's illicit activities.