Episodes

In gross or raw potential, the United States remains the world’s leading global military power. At present though, American power is either dormant in or ill-adapted to many if not most of the world’s most important competitive spaces. American military position and influence are most immediately under duress in the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) Area of Responsibility. In PACOM, enduring U.S. defense objectives and the nation’s most active, complex, and dangerous multi-domain security challenges ...

On 13 October, President Trump announced his intention not to certify Iran’s compliance with the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) and threatening to leave the nuclear deal altogether if it was not amended in various ways. Why did the President announce this? Meanwhile, there are reports that some of his senior advisors opposed this move — what were their counterarguments? More broadly, what is the outlook with regard to Iran’s nuclear program? To discuss these issues and more, SSI host...

Continuing security challenges in Eastern Europe, as well as saber-rattling on the Korean Peninsula, have raised questions once again about the capabilities, posture, and positioning of U.S. overseas forces. In this podcast, SSI Live host Dr. John R. Deni examines the reasons why the Army has become an increasing U.S.-based force, assesses the shift toward rotational peacetime deployments over the last several years, and offers a series of practical recommendations for returning balance to the A...

On 21 August, President Trump announced a new strategy toward the conflict in Afghanistan, America’s longest war. What’s new about the strategy? Does a renewed focus on Pakistan, and the role it plays in Afghanistan, have any chance of succeeding? And how will the new approach toward the war affect broader U.S. objectives with regard to Afghanistan? The SSI’s Dr. Chris Mason, author of "The Strategic Lessons Unlearned from Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan," discusses these and related questions wi...

How does DoD go about defining, identifying, and mitigating risk? Are DoD risk assessment practices and procedures effective and useful to the Department and other stakeholders? SSI Research Professor Nate Freier joined Dr. John R. Deni to discuss the release of a major U.S. Army War College study on DoD risk assessment. Prof. Freier led an interdisciplinary team of faculty and student researchers in researching and writing At Our Own Peril: DoD Risk Assessment in a Post-Primacy World. Keywords...

Is the Army ready for a ‘Great Power War’ against a peer competitor, in terms of the number of Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs)? If the Army had to double in size, what challenges would it face in terms of expanding the number of maneuver units? What steps should the Army consider to overcome these hurdles? Over the last nine months, an interdisciplinary team of Army War College student researchers, under the direction of Dr. Tony Echevarria, have examined issues related to great power war and whethe...

Is the Army ready for a ‘Great Power War’ against a peer competitor, in terms of its organization and materiel? If the Army had to double in size, what challenges would it face in terms of expanding its organization and ensuring sufficient materiel? What steps should the Army consider to overcome these hurdles? Over the last nine months, an interdisciplinary team of Army War College student researchers, under the direction of Dr. Tony Echevarria, have examined issues related to great power war a...

Is the Army ready for a ‘Great Power War’ against a peer competitor, in terms of personnel? If the Army had to double in size, what challenges would it face in terms of expanding its personnel pool? What steps should the Army consider to overcome these hurdles? Over the last nine months, an interdisciplinary team of Army War College student researchers, under the direction of Dr. Tony Echevarria, have examined issues related to great power war and whether the Army is ready. One of those team mem...

Is the Army ready for a ‘Great Power War’ against a peer competitor, in terms of military intelligence? If the Army had to double in size, what challenges would it face in terms of expanding its intelligence capability and capacity? What steps should the Army consider to overcome these hurdles? Over the last nine months, an interdisciplinary team of Army War College student researchers, under the direction of Dr. Tony Echevarria, have examined issues related to great power war and whether the Ar...

Is the Army ready for a ‘Great Power War’ against a peer competitor, in terms of its force generation installations? If the Army had to double in size, what challenges would it face in terms of using its Mobilization Force Generation Installations (MFGIs) to leverage the reserve component? What steps should the Army consider to overcome these hurdles? Over the last nine months, an interdisciplinary team of Army War College student researchers, under the direction of Dr. Tony Echevarria, have exa...

Is the Army ready for a ‘Great Power War’ against a peer competitor, in terms of expanding its Special Operations Forces? If the Army had to double in size, what challenges would it face in terms of increasing Special Operations Forces? What steps should the Army consider to overcome these hurdles? Over the last nine months, an interdisciplinary team of Army War College student researchers, under the direction of Dr. Tony Echevarria, have examined issues related to great power war and whether th...

Is the Army ready for a ‘Great Power War’ against a peer competitor, in terms of maintaining and sustaining an expanded Army? If the Army had to double in size, what challenges would it encounter in maintaining and sustaining that large of a force? Over the last nine months, an interdisciplinary team of Army War College student researchers, under the direction of Dr. Tony Echevarria, have examined issues related to great power war and whether the Army is ready. One of those team members, COL H.R...

On 24-25 May, NATO heads of state and government will meet in Brussels. This will be President Trump’s first NATO summit, and although the meetings will lack the scope and number of initiatives and other deliverables many have come to expect from a formal alliance summit, there are some key, even contentious issues that will be addressed. In addition to whether and how the alliance contributes to the anti-ISIS coalition, burden-sharing is expected to be a major focus. Although not the worst in t...