NucleCast

Latest Episodes:

Matthew Kroenig - The Role of Nuclear Superiority Aug 17, 2023

Show notes

Dr. Matthew Kroenig is Vice President and Senior Director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and the Council’s Director of Studies. In these roles, he manages the Scowcroft Center’s bipartisan team of more than thirty resident staff and oversees the Council’s extensive network of nonresident fellows.

His own research focuses on US national security strategy, strategic competition with China and Russia, and strategic deterrence and weapons nonproliferation. Kroenig is currently a commissioner on the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States. He previously served in the Department of Defense and the intelligence community during the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations. He received the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Award for Outstanding Achievement. He was a national security adviser on the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney (2012) and Marco Rubio (2016).

Kroenig is also a tenured professor of government and foreign service at Georgetown University. A 2019 study in Perspectives on Politics ranked him one of the top twenty-five most cited political scientists of his generation. He is the author or editor of seven books, including The Return of Great Power Rivalry: Democracy versus Autocracy from the Ancient World to the US and China (Oxford University Press, 2020)and The Logic of American Nuclear Strategy: Why Strategic Superiority Matters (Oxford University Press,2018). Kroenig co-authors the bimonthly “It’s Debatable” column at Foreign Policy. His articles and commentary regularly appear in major media outlets, including: the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Politico, CBS, BBC, CNN, Fox News, and NPR.

He has held fellowships at the Council on Foreign Relations, Harvard University, and Stanford University. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and holds an MA and PhD in political science from the University of California at Berkeley.

EPISODE NOTES:

Follow NucleCast on Twitter at @NucleCast

Email comments and story suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.org

Subscribe to NucleCast podcast

Rate the show

Lieutenant General In-Bum Chun (ROK, Ret) - Korean Perspective on Nuclear Weapons and Korean Security Aug 15, 2023

Show notes

Lieutenant General In-Bum Chun (ROK, Ret) served his country with both honour and integrity for nearly four decades. Chun retired in 2016 after distinguished service in the South Korean Army.

During his military career which started in 1978 at the Korea Military Academy he ascended to positions of leadership that included, the Chief of the Election Support Branch, Civil Military Affairs/Strategic Operations Directorate of the Multinational Forces in Iraq, the Director of U.S. Affairs at the Ministry of National Defense (ROK), Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff of Operations for the U.S.-ROK Combined Forces Command, Senior member of the UNCMAC, the Commander of the ROK Special Warfare Command, and the Deputy Commander for the First ROK Army.

Chun is a holder of three U.S Legions of Merit, the US Bronze Star Medal and the USSOCOM Medal.

His interests and expertise in national defense and security policy saw him awarded positions that included Visiting Fellow at the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, Visiting researcher at the US-Korea Institute at SAIS, Johns Hopkins University and as Visiting fellow at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Georgia Tech.

Currently, Chun is serving as a Senior Fellow with the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) and the Vice-president of the Air and Space Forces Association (AFA) MIG Alley Chapter and is on the Advisory board for the National Bureau of Asian Research, the Global SOF Foundation, the Global American Business Institute and the Korean Modelers Association as well as a Senior Contributor for the Asia Society Korea and a fellow with the Institute of Corea American Studies and Distinguished Military Fellow with the Institute of Security and Development Policy in Sweden.

He is also a board member for the Korean Animal Welfare Association which advocates for animal rights and humane treatment of all animals.

In addition to his many roles with various military and defense organizations, he is active on social media as a military analyst with his YouTube channel where he uploads videos discussing defense and security matters related to South Korea and Northeast Asia.

EPISODE NOTES:

Follow NucleCast on Twitter at @NucleCast

Email comments and story suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.org

Subscribe to NucleCast podcast

Rate the show

Darwin Morgan - The History on the Nevada National Security Site Aug 10, 2023

Show notes

This is the first episode in ANWA Deterrence Center's Legacy Series where we look back at the Manhattan Project and the evolution over 80 years of the U.S. strategic nuclear deterrent. Darwin Morgan retired as Director, Office of Public Affairs, Nevada Field Office, National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) In March 2021. In retirement he serves as the President of the Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation. This Non-Profit organization oversees the Atomic Testing Museum, a Smithsonian affiliated museum dedicated to the history of atmospheric and underground nuclear weapons testing. In addition, he is a Historian with the NNSA’s Nevada National Security Site’s(NNSS’s).

As the former Director, Office of Public Affairs, he served as the advisor to senior management for public and congressional affairs and oversaw Freedom of Information/ Privacy Act and all outreach activities for the NNSA Nevada Field Office. He has also served as the Deputy Assistant Manager, Office of Public and Institutional Affairs, where he was responsible for quality leadership and diversity, public affairs and information, and economic diversification.

Morgan’s federal service began in 1989 as a Public Affairs Specialist with the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Nevada Operations Office of External Affairs. He provided public affairs support for the environmental management programs, Yucca Mountain Project, and the national security programs. In addition, he served on two Source Evaluation Boards for the site office, one as the chairperson. Morgan was awarded the NNSA Administrator’s Gold Medal and is a Graduate of the Federal Executive Institute.

EPISODE NOTES:

Follow NucleCast on Twitter at @NucleCast

Email comments and story suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.org

Subscribe to NucleCast podcast

Rate the show

Colonel Glen Shilland- Deterrence on The Korean Peninsula Aug 08, 2023

Show notes

Colonel Glen R. Shilland assumed the duties of United States Air Attaché to the Republic of Korea in 2019.

Colonel Shilland entered the Air Force as a Distinguished Graduate of Officer Training School. In his first assignment as a satellite operations officer at Colorado Springs, Colorado, he performed command and control for surveillance, weather, and navigation spacecraft. He became a B-52H navigator and bombardier at Minot, North Dakota, and volunteered as an Air Liaison Officer, at Fort Campbell, Kentucky—deploying twice in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM with the 5th Special Operations Forces and the 101st Airborne Division Headquarters. He has been a B-52H instructor, flight commander, and deployed in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM as Assistant Director of Operationsin the 23d Expeditionary Bomb Squadron and 5th Operations Support Squadron.

He then served as the Strategic Plans Branch Chief at Air Force Global Strike Command Headquarters at Barksdale, Louisiana. After that, he was Commander of the 505th Combat Training Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Florida, in charge of 120 military, civilian, and contractor personnel supporting worldwide joint and combined operational-level air component command and control exercises. Colonel Shilland was also the Nuclear Air Tasking Order Coordinator at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Combined Air Operations Center, at Torrejón Air Base, Madrid, Spain. He was then assigned as the Commander of the 608th Air Operations Center at Barksdale, Louisiana—in charge of 230 personnel tasked with planning, executing, and assessing worldwide bomber operations.

EPISODE NOTES:

Follow NucleCast on Twitter at @NucleCast

Email comments and story suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.org

Subscribe to NucleCast podcast

Rate the show

Wally Clark, Ph.D. - 101 Level Weapons Effects Aug 03, 2023

Show notes

Dr. Wallace T. (Wally) Clark III retired as a civilian employee of the United States Air Force in November2020. Currently, he is a Senior Fellow at the National Institute for Deterrence Studies and via Banda GroupInternational, he a Senior Technical Adviser on Nuclear Explosive Safety to the NNSA.

Among Dr. Clark’s numerous positions in his 40+-year career are: ultra-high vacuum scientist at the DOEY-12 Weapons Plant and fiber-optic sensor scientist at AT&T Bell Laboratories. He was a rocket plumeelectromagnetic scientist for the U.S. Navythen Chief Scientist and data integrator of the first U.S.unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) for the Army and Marines. As a USAF contractor he was Chief Scientistat the Electromagnetic Pulse Simulatorsand Chief Scientist of the ARGUS Aircraft Program. As a USAFcivilian he was the Microwave Airborne Electronic Attack Technical Area Manager, the HPM TechnologiesBranch Chief, the Laser Division Chief where he led the scientific effort behind the Airborne Laser (ABL),and the Microwave Division Chief where he drove the successful flight test of the Counter Electronics HighPower Microwave Advanced Missile Project and deployment of a Counter Improvised Explosive Device(IED) system.

In the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, he served as the 498th Nuclear Systems Wing Chief Scientist (earning the “Grenade” call sign), the Systems Engineering Division Chief, the Enterprise Engineering Division Chief, the Weapon Effects Survivability Division Chief, and the Deputy Chief Scientist where he provided scientific and technological advice to the Commander and information on advanced science, technology, and innovation in coordination with the DoD, the DOE, academia, industry, and others. Grenade served on a Defense Science Board, contributed to two DoD Test Resource Management Center studies, was as a program manager, branch chief, division chief four times, and chief scientist five times. Throughout his career, he was foremost an R&D scientist. He is nationally and internationally known as a strong advocate for system survivability testing to weapon effects, especially nuclear electromagnetic pulse (EMP), often saying “proven survivability is deterrence.”

EPISODE NOTES:

Follow NucleCast on Twitter at @NucleCast

Email comments and story suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.org

Subscribe to NucleCast podcast

Rate the show

David Schild - Meeting the Challenge: Specialty Systems and Critical Applications in Dynamic Environments Aug 01, 2023

Show notes

David Schild is Executive Director of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America. An established leader and trusted advocate, he has over 20 years of experience managing political involvement, corporate public relations and public policy efforts for the aerospace and defense industry.

EPISODE NOTES:

Follow NucleCast on Twitter at @NucleCast

Email comments and story suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.org

Subscribe to NucleCast podcast

Rate the show

Raphael Cohen, Ph.D. - Big Ideas on War in Ukraine, Recruitment and Tri polarity Jul 27, 2023

Show notes

Raphael "Rafi" Cohen is the director of the Strategy and Doctrine Program of RAND Project AIR FORCE, and a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation. He works on a broad range of defense and foreign policy issues, including defense strategy and force planning, Middle East and European security and civil-military relations.

Cohen previously held research fellowships at the Brookings Institution, the American Enterprise Institute and the National Defense University’s Center for Complex Operations. He has written for a variety of forums, including the Journal of Strategic Studies, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Fox News, War on the Rocks, Lawfare, The Hill, The National Interest and other publications. He also served as a staffer on the Congressionally-appointed 2018 National Defense Strategy Commission and is now the deputy executive director of the 2023 National Defense Strategy Commission.

A military intelligence branched lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, Cohen has held a variety of command and staff positions in both the active and reserve components, including during two combat tours in Iraq from 2005 to 2006 and again from 2007 to 2008. He holds B.A. magna cum laude in government from Harvard University and an M.A. in security studies and Ph.D. in government from Georgetown University.

EPISODE NOTES:

Follow NucleCast on Twitter at @NucleCast

Email comments and story suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.org

Subscribe to NucleCast podcast

Rate the show

Brian Green - Unpacking Deterrence Strategy and Missile Defense Jul 25, 2023

Show notes

Brian Green is a non-resident Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Missile Defense Project. Prior to his current position, he was the founder and principal at Impact Strategies, a national security consulting firm, and served as Executive Director of Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Washington Operations Office, with planning and execution responsibilities for the company’s defense business development and government affairs in the DC area. Prior to his work at Aerojet, he was the Director of Strategic Force Assessments at Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc.

In his government service, he served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategic Capabilities in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy, with oversight and policy development responsibilities for US nuclear forces, missile defense, military space, information operations, and arms control. He also served as the staff lead for the Strategic Forces subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and the lead for strategic programs on the House Armed Services Committee, in which he had legislative and oversight responsibilities for nuclear, missile defense, and military space programs. Prior to those assignments, he served on the staff of the Air Force Association, the Aerospace Education Foundation, and the Heritage Foundation.

EPISODE NOTES:

Follow NucleCast on Twitter at @NucleCast

Email comments and story suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.org

Subscribe to NucleCast podcast

Rate the show

Carl Rhodes, Ph.D. - Australia's Defense Strategic Review Jul 20, 2023

Show notes

Carl Rhodes Ph.D. is the founder of Robust Policy, a Canberra-based business that provides evidence-based analysis on defense topics. Carl worked at RAND Corporation from 1997-2021, including four years as director of RAND Australia. Prior to moving to Australia, Carl spent twenty years as a researcher and manager in RAND’s Project AIR FORCE. His research portfolio has covered topics including long-range strike, ISR, sovereign weapons, nuclear deterrence, unmanned systems, and stressors facing 20th Air Force.

EPISODE NOTES:

Follow NucleCast on Twitter at @NucleCast

Email comments and story suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.org

Subscribe to NucleCast podcast

Rate the show

Wendy Baca - From the Manhattan Project to Present: Preserving and Transferring Knowledge to the Newest Generation Jul 18, 2023

Show notes

Wendy Baca started her career in 1987 with the Department of Energy in what was then known as the Albuquerque Operations Office. She was hired to fill the W87-1 Small Inter-continental Ballistic Missile (SICBM) Program Engineer position where one of her first tasks was to issue the Phase 3, Development Engineering, authorization to the DOE Nuclear Weapons Complex. Although the program was canceled a short time later, she continued to work in numerous Federal Program Manager roles for the next 25 years. The majority of Wendy’s work focused on the ICBM programs where she was also the Director of the DOE’s and later, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA’s), ICBM Division for 9 years. During that time, her primary focus was the First Production Unit through completion of the W87 Alt 342, which was also referred to as the W87 Life Extension Program. Wendy’s other Federal Program Manager positions included the Pantex Stage Right Program, the AT-400A Pit Container, the DOE/NNSA Dismantlement Program, Plutonium Sustainment, and the Modernization Programs.

After retiring from DOE/NNSA in 2012, Wendy worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) as an Executive Advisor in the Principal Associate Directorate for the Weapons Program. In 2015, Wendy became the Director of the Integrated Program Management Office in the Plutonium Science and Manufacturing Division where she focused on the ongoing LANL Production Agency efforts to include plutonium pits.

Wendy worked at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) from February 2017 until October 2022. She started in the Military Liaison Department as the W80-1/W84 Field Engineer and she finished her SNL career as the Manager of the Accident Response Group and Legacy Hardware Laboratory Department.

In 2021, Wendy joined TechSource Inc’s Weapons Knowledge Preservation and Transfer Program where she works with the team to develop and deliver instructional modules for new and mid-career employees across the Nuclear Security Enterprise. As a Subject-Matter-Expert, Wendy provides lessons learned, experiences, and perspectives regarding the NNSA’s Weapons Acquisition Process that she has gained over the past 35 years.

Since November 2022, Wendy has also been a consultant with MELE Associates where she is part of the NNSA’s Office of Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation “Reserve Force” which is a cadre of retired employees that provides expertise and support to the NNSA’s Nuclear Emergency Support Team.

EPISODE NOTES:

Follow NucleCast on Twitter at @NucleCast

Email comments and story suggestions to NucleCast@anwadeter.org

Subscribe to NucleCast podcast

Rate the show

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected