Defense One Radio

View Top 200 Chart

Back to Rankings Page

News & Politics
**Defense One Radio**

A show about the defense industry. // “We want to become the Netflix of podcasts.” —Tim Hartman, CEO of Government Executive

Latest Episodes:

Air Force chief Gen. David Allvin Mar 21, 2025

Show notes

Guest:

U.S. Air Force commander Gen. David Allvin, interviewed by Defense One's Audrey Decker.

Catch our full State of Defense agenda and future events, running through the end of March, here.

Marine Corps. Gen. Eric Smith Mar 14, 2025

Show notes

Our annual State of Defense interview series begins with a commandant working to balance crisis response and modernization. Learn more about that series here.

Testing the Army's new fighting strategy on Ukraine's doorstep Feb 21, 2025

Show notes

Guest:

U.S. Army Col. Joshua Glonek, commander 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division.

Related reading:

"How two units are learning from each other as the Army moves to modernize," from Sam Skove reporting in October;
"Army embraces Ukraine-style warfare with new all-drone unit," also via Skove, reporting from Louisiana's Fort Johnson in September;
And in reruns there is "Defense One Radio, Ep. 161: A trip to Louisiana with the Army's new recon unit," featuring Skove speaking about his trip to Louisiana.

The Air Force's force-design leader Feb 04, 2025

Show notes

Maj. Gen. Joseph Kunkel discusses his how his service's modernization strategy will shape the future of air combat in an increasingly complex security landscape.

Guest:

Air Force Maj. Gen. Joseph Kunkel, director of Force Design, Integration and Wargaming at Air Force Futures; he's interviewed by Defense One air warfare reporter Audrey Decker.

Related viewing:

"AI in the Skies," January 28, 2025.

SecDef Austin's last trip to Europe Jan 17, 2025

Show notes

Patrick Tucker describes a Defense Department in transition as Russia's Ukraine invasion approaches the four-year mark.

Related reading:

"Ukraine military-aid donors aim to set Kyiv up through 2027, Pentagon says," Tucker reported on January 7;
And "Kyiv's donors set production goals to regularize arms donations to Ukraine," he reported two days later.

Year in review Dec 19, 2024

Show notes

We listen back on more than a dozen guests from conversations across 2024.

Guests (in order):

Fabian Hinz, research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies;
Bruce Hoffman, senior fellow for counterterrorism and homeland security at the Council on Foreign Relations, and co-author of "God, Guns, and Sedition: Far-Right Terrorism in America";
Karolina Hird, analyst and Russia Deputy Team Lead at the Institute for the Study of War;
Elliot Ackerman, co-author of "2054: A Novel";
Mackenzie Eaglen, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where she works on defense strategy, defense budgets, and military readiness;
Ankit Panda, Stanton Senior Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace;
Chris Blattman, economist, political scientist, and Ramalee E. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies at the University of Chicago, and author of the 2022 book, "Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace";
Mick Ryan, retired Australian Army major general, strategist, and author of "White Sun War: The Campaign for Taiwan";
Dmitri Alperovitch, chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator, a geopolitics think-tank in Washington, and author of "World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the Twenty-First Century";
Sam Skove, former Defense One staff writer;
Mark Montgomery, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington and senior director of FDD's Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation;
Peter Tamte, founder and CEO of Victura;
And Brent Sadler, retired Navy captain and senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

The Reagan National Defense Forum Dec 12, 2024

Show notes

Guests:

Audrey Decker, aerospace reporter for Defense One;
Patrick Tucker, science and technology editor at Defense One.

Related reading:

The decline of America's commercial shipbuilding industry Dec 06, 2024

Show notes

Guests:

Brian Potter, Senior Infrastructure Fellow at the Institute for Progress and author of "Why Can't the U.S. Build Ships?" from September 2024;
And Nicole Foy, ProPublica's Ancil Payne Fellow, writing on immigration and labor; her report "An Immigrant Died Building a Ship for the U.S. Government. His Family Got Nothing" was published in October 2024.

And don't miss our complementary podcast episode, "How U.S. Navy shipbuilding sank so low."

How U.S. Navy shipbuilding sank so low Nov 27, 2024

Show notes

Guests:

Matthew Paxton, president of the Shipbuilders Council of America;
Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va.;
Ret. Navy Capt. Brent Sadler, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation;
And Ret. Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Sources and additional reading:

Navy Force Structure and Shipbuilding Plans: Background and Issues for Congress (PDF);
U.S. Navy budget materials;
"Navy adds $1B to unconventional effort to boost sub production," by Lauren Williams, reporting Sept. 2024;
Defense Department's 2024 Defense Industrial Base strategy;
And "Restoring Our Maritime Strength: An agenda for the next president's first hundred days," by Brent Sadler and Jerry Hendrix, writing in the National Review in late October.