A Better Peace: The War Room Podcast

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NO LONGER SKINNY, BUT DOES THE NSS HAVE HEFT? Oct 25, 2022

Show notes

Dating back to 1987 and the Goldwater-Nichols Act, the National Security Strategy (NSS) has become perhaps the most powerful single document to communicate the Executive branch's vision to Congress, the American people, the many departments of the U.S federal government, as well as foreign friends and foes. When President Biden took office in January 2021, his administration produced an interim NSS that many nicknamed the "skinny NSS" and released it March of that year. On 12 October 2022, the Biden-Harris administration released an updated NSS. We've got Carrie A. Lee and J.P. Clark in the studio to examine the contents of the new document and talk about what has changed, what is emphasized and what the new NSS communicates to the world. They join podcast editor Ron Granieri to highlight the themes and messages in the new product that is now twice as large as the original interim NSS.

THE FUTURE IS EXPEDITIONARY: JOINT WARFIGHTING HQ Oct 11, 2022

Show notes

Successful military organizations are always assessing and adapting; this includes methods of command and control. The joint task forces with constituent air, land, and maritime components currently used by the U.S. military have demonstrated benefits, but are all too often ad hoc structures that take too long to stand up and fight as a cohesive team. Tom Bruscino and Lou Yuengert are in the studio to talk about their recently released manuscript, The Future of the Joint Warfighting Headquarters: An Alternative Approach to the Joint Task Force, which they wrote with fellow authors Eric Bissonette, Kelvin Mote, Matthew Powell, Marc Sanborn and James Watts. Tom and Lou argue that now is the time to create standing, numbered, and regionally aligned joint warfighting headquarters— American Expeditionary Forces (AEFs)—around a command council and a staff organized into Joint centers and cells. They join host Darrell Driver to share the thought process behind the organizational structure and why the U.S. military must become a superior and sustainable joint force sooner than its adversaries.

A TUMULTUOUS MARRIAGE: THE MILITARY AND THE MARKET Oct 04, 2022

Show notes

Since President Eisenhower first named and warned against the military-industrial complex in his farewell speech, the relationship between "the military and the market" has been the subject of heightened scrutiny from Congress, the press, and scholars. A new book by that name provides new and surprising perspectives by taking the long view of two centuries of the economic dimensions of the military from entrepreneurs and new technologies to consumer products and sex workers. A BETTER PEACE welcomes editors and contributors Kara Dixon Vuic, Jennifer Mittelstadt and Mark R. Wilson as they discuss they discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of the military-industrial complex and beyond with podcast editor Ron Granieri. Find the book here: https://www.pennpress.org/9781512823233/the-military-and-the-market/

SHARING THE BURDEN: FACULTY GOVERNANCE IN PME Sep 27, 2022

Show notes

Getting faculty governance right in higher education can be a difficult endeavor. There are multiple models that can be employed, personalities always play a role and leadership has to agree on the value that the faculty's experience contributes. Getting it right in the world of professional military education (PME) adds a whole new twist. Nicholas J. Rowland and Matthew Woessner are back in the studio with podcast editor Ron Granieri to discuss shared governance in PME. Their conversation builds on their previously published work Shared Governance for Intellectual Overmatch as they still strive to provide the best form of governance to create the finest strategic leaders in the world.

HOW TO WRITE THE HISTORY THAT HASN’T ENDED: IAN ONA JOHNSON (ON WRITING) Sep 20, 2022

Show notes

A BETTER PEACE welcomes Ian Ona Johnson to the studio to discuss his new book Faustian Bargain: The Soviet-German Partnership and the Origins of the Second World War. Ian joins our own Michael Neiberg to not only discuss his writing, editing and publication process but their conversation ventures into the usefulness of history. Written before the hostilities in Ukraine began, the alliances of the interwar period that the book examines offer great insights into the behavior of Russia and a number of the nations affected by the war. Their conversation even turns to the latest debate amongst historians regarding presentism or the tendency to interpret past events in terms of modern values and concepts.

RECRUITING WOES: A CASE OF SELF SABOTAGE? Sep 13, 2022

Show notes

The U.S. military is struggling to recruit and it's not just quality, it's quantity as well. The all volunteer force is at risk. Falling recruiting rates can be compensated for by higher retention rates for a time, but eventually the lack of new talent will be felt across the force. Allison Abbe is in the studio to discuss a recent article in which she points out policies that have created the insular military communities that may be raising retention but harming recruiting. Allison joins podcast editor Ron Granieri to explain her thoughts on the three policies that might be doing more harm than good, and how they could be changed for the better.

EAT YOUR ACADEMIC SPINACH: DEFENSE MANAGEMENT Sep 06, 2022

Show notes

It has been recognized since antiquity that victory in war often goes to those who best organize "the sinews of war" (money, equipment, and supplies). Yet at the U.S. Army War College the Defense Management course that teaches these topics has often been maligned. For a time, a heavy focus on acronym-heavy process caused many students to roll their eyes and ask, "Why do I have to learn this? I'm not a force manager, or budgeteer, or program manager etc." Tom Galvin and Doug Waters are in the studio to explain how the course is evolving to better demonstrate why everybody needs a little Defense Management in their lives. In one of the final components of the core curriculum, War College students get a healthy dose of the other strategic triad -- force structure, readiness, and modernization. Galvin and Waters join podcast editor Ron Granieri to discuss how this course is changing and why everybody needs to just eat their academic spinach because the students are going to "speak defense management" in their coming assignments.

YOU DON'T MAKE POLICY AND THEN TALK ABOUT IT Aug 30, 2022

Show notes

John Roderick is back in the studio w/ Ron Granieri for pt 2 of their discussion but the topic has moved on to #podcasting & the power of #conversations in our lives. Can we talk?

WAR COLLEGE FROM THE VIEW OF A CONSUMMATE CIVILIAN Aug 23, 2022

Show notes

Each year, in the final week of instruction at the U.S. Army War College there is a four-day event that takes place known as the National Security Seminar (NSS). The resident seminars grow by six to seven members apiece as approximately 160 invited guests from many walks of life across the country join the students to engage in candid dialogue about national security issues, the U.S. military and the viewpoints of the citizenry of the nation. The new seminar members typically have no close association with the military and are invited via a nomination process. The four-day itinerary includes distinguished speakers covering topics of civil-military relations, globalization, foreign policy, international security issues and the role of the United States in the world. The guests are able to attend several social events where the conversation is less formal, and they close their week with a staff ride tour of the Gettysburg Battlefield. In 2022 one of those guests was John Roderick, a musician, singer, songwriter, podcaster and politician. He was in podcast editor Ron Granieri's seminar and he's in the studio today to share his experiences during his four days in Carlisle. This is part one of a two-part episode.

THE EISENHOWER SERIES COLLEGE PROGRAM: 50 YEARS OF OUTREACH (BACK TO SCHOOL) Aug 18, 2022

Show notes

We'll wrap up back to school week at the U.S. Army War College with the re-release of a great discussion between Ed Kaplan, Mike Baim and former Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline E. Whitt, to highlight the contributions of the U.S. Army War College's Eisenhower Series College Program (ESCP). In a time when the nation sees increasing political divides and claims that the civil-military gap is ever widening, this program reaches out to reverse the trend. Ed and Mike explain how each academic year a joint cohort of military officers and national security professionals reach out to colleges and town halls across the nation to introduce War College students to audiences that may have little direct knowledge of the military. Their goal is to have reasoned and thoughtful discussions with the society they serve and protect. And for more than 50 years the Eisenhower Program has succeeded in closing that gap with both the rising and established generations in those communities. Ed Kaplan moved on to become the Dean of the School of Strategic Landpower, but the ESCP is still going strong under the leadership of Col Leon Perkowski in the Department of National Security and Strategy. If you're interested in participating in the program or if your institution is interested in potentially scheduling a speaking engagement with the ESCP, you can contact Col Perkowski at leon.perkowski@armywarcollege.edu

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