Rye Barcott, co-founder and CEO of With Honor, veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, and author of Courage Can Save Us, joins School of War to discuss the meaning of courage, the enduring value of service, and the challenge of bridging America’s growing political divides. What separates courage from bravery? Can military service help heal a polarized America? And what does principled leadership look like in an age of distrust?

01:28 - Murph challenge

03:08 - Rye's father and Vietnam

05:08 - Defining courage

07:57 - First to Fight

13:49 - Joining the Marines

14:22 - September 11th

17:42 - Bosnia, Africa, and Fallujah

19:16 - Marine commanders

23:52 - Life in Fallujah

26:05 - The With Honor mission

28:29 - America's polarization problem

30:05 - Veterans in politics

33:12 - The civil-military divide

37:23 - Courage in politics

41:57 - Congressman Jared Golden

44:19 - Senator Todd Young

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Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, returns to School of War to discuss the newly released memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran. What does the deal actually say? What are its biggest strategic implications? And is it comparable to the JCPOA—or something worse?

01:19 - Paragraph 1: Lebanon and Hezbollah

09:45 - Paragraphs 2–3: Sovereignty and the 60-day clock

11:24 - Paragraph 4: Lifting the blockade

16:37 - Paragraph 5: The Strait of Hormuz

23:48 - Paragraph 6: A $300 billion reconstruction fund

33:49 - Paragraph 7: Ending all sanctions

35:43 - Paragraph 8: Nuclear weapons and enrichment

39:12 - Paragraph 9: Maintaining the status quo

40:44 - Paragraph 10: Oil waivers and sanctions relief

43:48 - Paragraph 11: Releasing frozen funds

46:56 - Paragraph 12: Monitoring compliance

47:52 - Paragraph 13: Negotiating the final deal

50:59 - Paragraph 14: A UN Security Council resolution

51:13 - Squandering battlefield leverage

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Eliot Cohen, Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; professor emeritus at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, author of The Strategist: How to Think About War and Politics; and co-host of the Shield of the Republic podcast, joins School of War to discuss the recent agreement between the United States and Iran. Did the United States and Israel accomplish their objectives against Iran? What does the conflict reveal about the U.S. military's readiness for future wars? And did Trump negotiate from a position of strength, or squander one?

01:22 - Eliot Cohen on the war with Iran

03:34 - Judging Trump by outcomes

05:08 - A war 47 years in the making

06:45 - What we don't know about the air campaign

08:08 - Negotiating from strength?

09:10 - Trump's negotiating style

12:05 - Questions about America's conduct of the war

14:31 - The Strait of Hormuz becomes the objective

15:41 - Why the war ended when it did

17:25 - Trump and the nature of war

19:01 - Has Iran succeeded?

23:21 - The decline of the Iranian empire

28:09 - Why Trump got a bad deal

31:36 - Auditing the U.S. military

39:39 - Has warfare been transformed?

42:10 - What should America do next?

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Arthur Herman, senior research fellow at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas at Austin and author of Founder’s Fire: From 1776 to the Age of Trump, joins School of War to discuss how America’s Founding Fathers helped create a culture of innovation in technology, industry, and warfare. Who are the most important founders of the past and present? What lessons can they teach us about today’s revolution in warfare? And what makes American ingenuity so unique?

02:45 - Defining founders

10:56 - Technology at America's founding

 13:49  - Alex Karp and the founder mindset

14:45 - The creation of Springfield Arsenal

15:40 - Thomas Jefferson and American weapons

19:10 - Today's revolution in warfare

20:53 - AI on the battlefield

21:49 - Why a strong economy matters

24:40 - China's defense industry

26:32  - American industrial policy

29:11 - Lessons from Ukraine

31:29 - Declining competition in weapons manufacturing

33:38 - The burden of weapons regulations

37:50 - Elon Musk's founder mentality

41:52 - The future of American ingenuity

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Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ (FDD) Iran Program and a senior fellow specializing in Iranian security and political issues, returns to School of War to discuss the latest round of fighting between Israel and Iran. Why did this latest wave of Iranian missile attacks feel different? Why does a weakened Iran seem emboldened? Where is the regime most vulnerable? And will politics in Washington prevent the U.S. from doing what is necessary to stop it?

02:30 - Israel in Southern Lebanon

04:37 - Iran's Missile Barrage Against Israel

06:20 - FPV Drone Warfare in Lebanon

08:30 - A New Iranian Strategy?

12:16 - Cover for Terror Proxies

14:14 - The Danger of a Weakened Iran

17:44 - The Nazi Germany Comparison

21:00 - The Wehrmacht's Last Stand

22:07 - Iran's Reaction to Pressure

25:09 - Targets in Iran and Israel

30:15 - Where Is Iran Most Vulnerable?

31:47 - The Iran-Iraq War Analogy

32:44 - Exploiting Divisions in Iran

35:09 - Political Obstacles to Maximum Pressure

38:17 - Trump's Record on Iran Policy

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Anthony Vinci—co-founder and CEO of Vico, an AI company that empowers judgment and analysis in finance and national security, and author of The Fourth Intelligence Revolution—joins School of War to discuss the technological evolution of spycraft. How does an intelligence officer operate in a world of rapidly advancing technology? What happens when machines begin to assist, or even replace, human judgment? And are we being spied on constantly?

02:33 - The Job of an Intelligence Officer

03:43 - Technology and Intelligence Work

05:58 - Living Under Surveillance

07:43 - AI as an Intelligence Analyst

09:37 - The Origins of American Intelligence

10:15 - Who Was Wild Bill Donovan?

12:37 - The Modern Intelligence Community

14:25 - The Evolution of Spy Technology

16:39 - The Intelligence Gap Before 9/11

18:58 - A Mossad Chief's Critique

23:10 - The Fourth Intelligence Revolution

25:02 - AI and Autonomy

27:49 - Are We All Being Spied On?

30:05 - China's Political Warfare

34:00 - The COVID Intelligence Failure

39:59 - The Dangers of AI Language Models

48:37 - TikTok and Surveillance

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Rep. Michael Baumgartner, who represents Washington’s 5th Congressional District, joins the show from Singapore at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue. What was the tone and significance of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s speech? How are the Asian economies fairing in lieu of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz? And what is the future of the American-led order in East Asia?

03:07 - Tone of the Shangri-La Dialogue

05:30 - Asia and the Strait of Hormuz

09:35 - The UAE's Distance from Iran

11:47 - America's Role in Asian Security

13:06 - Asia's Reaction to Trump's China Summit

15:25 - The Diversity of Asia

16:54 - Pete Hegseth's Speech

19:07 - The CCP's Control of China

20:59 - Korean and Japanese Views on China

24:07 - Drones and Autonomous Warfare

24:50 - Vietnam's Reinvention

28:07 - Singapore-U.S. Relations

30:21 - Paused Arms Sales

34:00 - Iran and Electoral Politics

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Matti Friedman is an award-winning journalist and columnist at The Free Press. He joins the show to discuss his latest book, Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe. Whom were the Zionist Jews fighting on behalf of the British during World War II? What happened to the legendary Zionist figure Hannah Senesh? And how did a war story without battlefield success help give birth to a nation?

01:45 - The scene in British Mandate Palestine

07:30 - British MI9 unit

07:38 - Jewish military units

08:41 - Rescue missions into Europe

14:21 - Secret meeting in Tel Aviv

17:29 - Palestinian Jews’ view of European Jewry

21:51 - Hannah Senesh

24:46 - Parachuting technology in WWII

26:44 - Sword of Honour trilogy

29:48 - Discrimination against Jewish agents in Europe

32:54 - Chaos at the end of WWII

34:13 - Hannah Senesh’s doomed mission

43:10 - The escape of Hannah’s mother

47:43 - The importance of heroes and myths

49:06 - Understanding Zionism

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Jake Sullivan, former U.S. national security adviser under President Joe Biden, Kissinger professor of the practice of statecraft and world order at the Harvard Kennedy School, and co-host of The Long Game podcast, joins School of War to discuss geopolitics through the lens of today’s Democratic Party. Where do Democrats stand on China, Israel, Iran, and the war in Ukraine?

02:29 - China summit recap

04:03 - President Trump’s goals in China

05:44 - Taiwan threat level

08:50 - Democratic Party position on China

14:16 - Avoiding war with China

16:39 - Nature of competition with China

18:39 - Role of AI in power struggle

23:44 - Critique of Trump’s Iran policy

27:17 - Democratic Party position on Iran

32:30 - Iran’s nuclear program

35:25 - Democratic Party position on Israel

45:15 - Russia-Ukraine conflict

51:12 - Democratic Party restraint policies

52:56 - Weapon systems assistance for Ukraine

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Sir Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and columnist at The Free Press, joins the show in front of a live audience to discuss the perilous moment we find ourselves in and how it all relates to history. What is the status of the Iran war? What is influencing President Donald Trump’s policymaking? How do we defeat a dangerous wave of “anti-history”? And are we on the brink of a world war, a cold war, or something in between?

03:35 - Historical analogies for today

09:51 - Short war illusion

15:14 - We’re in a Cold War II

18:12 - Putin’s essay from 2021

19:50 - Russia-Ukraine war

25:29 - The American mythos of WWII

26:58 - Anti-history

30:04 - The life work of Bill Buckley

31:37 - Return of antisemitism and socialism

32:52 - President Trump’s worldview

36:37 - The war in Iran

47:45 - The new state of warfighting

53:53 - President Trump’s treatment of Ukraine

57:17 - Risks of Taiwan conflict

01:03:57 - Limits to air power

01:06:58 - Reversal of historical revisionism

01:12:30 - Story about Aaron’s father

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Christian Brose, president and chief strategy officer of Anduril Industries and author of The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare, joins the show to help us evaluate American performance against Iran so far and discuss the state of defense innovation in America. What is on the cutting edge? Where are we falling behind? And what happens if the war comes home? 

Times:

01:58 - Audit of Operation Epic Fury

05:04 - Munitions and weapons shortages

08:30 - New lower-cost weapons

10:56 - The Barracuda cruise missile system

15:04 - Lessons from the battlefield

15:41 - Missile defense systems

21:47 - Software, data, and AI

24:39 - Homeland defense

27:02 - Containerization

28:05 - Industrial capacity

31:36 - Bringing Americans back into defense manufacturing

34:43 - The defense budget

39:02 - Anduril fundraising

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