A Better Peace: The War Room Podcast

The Vice [Chief of Staff] of the Army...came to the War College…and the first thing he said to me was something like 'Art why the hell does Senator Nunn want to talk to you about strategy...?' If you've ever participated in strategic-level professional military education you're probably familiar with his work. If you've ever listened to congressional testimony that involved a plan or policy you've...

In September 1944 defeat looked not only likely but imminent for the German Army. And It was at that point that Adolf Hitler told his generals that he was going to launch a winter offensive that would turn the war around. A BETTER PEACE welcomes David Hogan, Director of Histories at the U.S. Army Center of Military History. In our first ever phone interview David joins our own Podcast Editor Ron G...

Perhaps the biggest most powerful thing they can do is in the field of logistics. They can be prepared for the reception, staging and onward movement and integration of forces. A BETTER PEACE welcomes Paul T. Mikolashek and Gregory Cantwell to the studio to discuss the modern theater army. The two join Managing Editor Buck Haberichter to examine the importance of the  Army component in stage setti...

A BETTER PEACE welcomes award winning and internationally renowned author Margaret MacMillan. Perhaps best known for her study and writings of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, she joins our own Michael Neiberg to discuss her journey as an academic and an author. Faced with multiple rejection letters MacMillan recounts how what she affectionately refers to as "her obsession" was finally published.

When the local belligerents are still willing to fight and they've not stopped the war, dropping peacekeeping forces in the middle of that is not a recipe for immediate success. A BETTER PEACE welcomes Dr. Paul Williams from the Elliot School of International Affairs at the George Washington University. Williams, an academic expert and consultant in the politics and effectiveness of peace operatio...

Quite frankly a number of times in [Lee's] career he debates getting out of the Army to pursue other interests. A BETTER PEACE welcomes Paul Springer to the studio to discuss the influence of the West Point class of 1829. Springer joins our Editor-In-Chief Jacqueline Whitt to examine the unique experiences of this cohort, and how it influenced, not only their development as leaders, but several ge...

A BETTER PEACE welcomes Gail Fisher and Joel Hillison into the studio to examine the DoD's approach towards gaining and sustaining the competitive advantage over adversaries across the spectrum of competition. The DoD has no specific doctrine regarding this topic and all too often the response to the challenge falls to the acquisition community in the form of newer cutting edge technology. Fisher...

I'm using Kennedy's life to tell the story of America's rise, first to great power status and then superpower status. A BETTER PEACE welcomes Pulitzer Prize winning author Fredrik Logevall to discuss his newest project, a two-volume biography of John F. Kennedy. Logevall joins Michael Neiberg in the studio as they discuss the complexity of writing a biography. They relate thoughts behind research...

One of the things we're trying to do is encourage people...to start talking about older books, older readings, older things that are lost or never really well known that really should have been. A BETTER PEACE welcomes WAR ROOM editors Tom Bruscino and Jon Klug to explain the drive and desire behind the DUSTY SHELVES series. Podcast editor Ron Granieri moderates the discussion as all three examine...

We need to go back and think big, and We need to think big fast.   A BETTER PEACE welcomes Major General Eirik Kristoffersen, Chief of the Norwegian Army, to the studio to discuss his perspectives on strategic leadership. Major General Kristoffersen was in Carlisle to attend his induction into the International Fellows Hall of Fame at the U.S. Army War College. He becomes the 69th International Fe...

What are the costs for the U.S. of losing the war? And it's a sort of uncomfortable conversation in some ways because the answer may be not all that much. A BETTER PEACE returns with our three scholars of the American War in Vietnam and Editor-In-Chief Jacqueline Whitt to examine the Tet Offensive and its significance in the Vietnam War in Episode 2. Bob Brigham, Hang Ngyuen and Greg Daddis contin...

From an American-centric scholarship standpoint, I think much of it is driven by this search for finding a scapegoat to make it understandable for why we lost.   A BETTER PEACE welcomes three scholars of the American War in Vietnam to sit down with Editor-In-Chief Jacqueline Whitt to examine the Tet Offensive and its significance in the Vietnam War. Bob Brigham, Hang Ngyuen and Greg Daddis discuss...

If you read a story and it sounds just too good to be true -- either good or bad -- open  up another window and look for the same topic from a different outlet. A BETTER PEACE welcomes Amanda Cronkhite, a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of National Security and Strategy, to discuss the reality of media bias. She joins podcast editor Ron Granieri to take a critical look at the state of parti...

HISTORICALLY WE WANT THEM TO BE ABLE TO... READ ABOUT ANOTHER CULTURE, READ ABOUT THEIR HISTORY, THEIR ETHICAL DEVELOPMENT AND TO UNDERSTAND WHY A CULTURE DEVELOPED THE WAY THAT IT DID In a world that is dominated by discussions of artificial intelligence, increasing technology on the battlefield, and new domains in space and cyber, what part does history play in the development of today's militar...

Our students come with a professional ethos and a professional mindset of being apolitical and fundamentally the decisions... we're talking about often are happening in the political realm. In a rather momentous occasion, our Editor-In-Chief Jacqueline Whitt turns over the reins of podcast production to our new Editor of A BETTER PEACE, Ron Granieri. After the hand-off, the conversation turns to t...

Imagine a conflict, a real war with China…what does war termination look like in that environment? In our third and final episode our scholars continue the discussion of war termination, the latest calls for more lethality and persistent presence of politics in every conflict in modern times. A BETTER PEACE welcomes Emily Knowles of the Oxford Research Group to join our own faculty members Tino Pe...

…the claim that AI is changing the nature of warfare…it doesn't have to be backed up by any empirical evidence at all…simply saying that maybe gets you what you want In the first episode our scholars began the discussion of the nature versus the character of war. In episode 2 the conversation turns to AI and the marketing value of claiming nature IS changing and it eventually flows to war terminat...

I think it makes...strategic thinkers think that they're saying something profound when in fact they are not.   Scholars have long held that the nature of war is enduring and unchanging, while the character of war is in flux and subject to the whims of technology and modern thought. It is a concept often credited to von Clausewitz but odds are it's not that old an idea. A BETTER PEACE welcomes Emi...

When you're more focused on lethality you're less likely to look at ways the military can act to support things that will maybe avoid war in the first place During his tenure as the Secretary of Defense, James N. Mattis frequently used the term lethality in describing all aspects of the U.S. Department of Defense. It was described as a desired endstate for all acquisitions, it was the subject of c...

Words have meaning and all too often there is no common understanding of that intended meaning. When former Secretary of Defense Mattis placed an emphasis on intellectual leadership in “cultivating creative workforce talent” he surely had a specific idea in mind as to what that represented. Today’s panel takes a crack at just what intellect versus intelligence means and more importantly how to get...

The charter was...to look at preparation of the Navy for the defense of maritime security and the coasts In the early 1900's the U.S. Navy found itself creating strategy in an ad hoc manner in the midst of modernization and calls for officer corps structure and education reform. In response the Secretary of the Navy initiated efforts which led to the creation of the Naval War College and equally a...

Dickinson College...students marched on the War College but instead of violence we had discussion. In a time when the nation sees increasing political divides and claims that the civil-military gap is ever widening, one program reaches out to try and reverse the trend. Colonels Ed Kaplan and Mike Baim join WAR ROOM Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline E. Whitt, to highlight the contributions of the U.S. Arm...

In this episode in our Great Strategists series, U.S. Army War College historians Bill Johnsen and Con Crane present one of the more enigmatic figures in military theory, Baron Antoine-Henri Jomini. Historians have given Jomini mixed reviews in terms of evaluating his theories and contributions, but almost all recognize his influence. Modern analysts often pit Jomini and his contemporary, Carl von...

We continue our Great Strategists series with an episode on the man whose works serve as a foundation of strategic thought about war. Thucydides (c. 460-400 BC) was a Athenian general in the Peloponnesian War who, early on, recognized the War's potential for transforming the political and social structures of the period. Thus, he set out to write a detailed account of the War from its onset. His a...

Ah, writing ... that elusive skill. For all the advice and helpful books on the market, there is little substitute for developing the skill through practice and experience. But not everyone has the time, and even experienced writers can struggle to find the right words. In this episode of A BETTER PEACE, Jennifer Keene and Michael Neiberg discuss various tips on writing, especially history and oth...