A Better Peace: The War Room Podcast

You cannot help but approach your sources from your own experiences and backgrounds Our three-part roundtable on the "Lessons" of History continues as Con Crane, Jacqueline E. Whitt, and Andrew A. Hill discuss the roles of military historians in professional military education and the practical uses of military history in general. If history doesn't teach clear lessons, what use is it to policymak...

HISTORY IS NOT A BOX OF FACTS, IT IS A STATE OF MIND History teaches us ____________." Many listeners have probably heard that opening a few times, usually followed by a claim that is apparently profound and timely, but also probably poorly supported and problematic. Why does this construction persist, then? Is it because of an innate human quest for simple answers to intractable problems? Or is i...

Every major thread in the world's wisdom has some aspect of contemplative practice in it How can senior leaders cope with the overwhelming amount of information and constant high demand for complex decision making and action? A recognized barrier is a natural limitation of a leader's ability to focus on the situation at hand. Instead, the mind wanders. The possible negative effects of distraction...

We definitely want leaders that know how to win A BETTER PEACE welcomes Admiral John Richardson, the 31st Chief of Naval Operations, to present his perspectives on strategic leadership. Admiral Richardson's talk focuses on the qualities necessary to lead in an environment of growing great power competition -- integrity, toughness, accountability, and initiative. How should leader develop these qua...

The Europeans should not be happy about [the US withdrawal] ... even if it is a good thing for the U.S. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (also known as INF) has garnered significant attention in the latter half of 2018 as President Trump announced that the US would withdraw from it. But before then, the INF was rather obscure and not well known. Thus, A BETTER PEACE explores the histor...

The INF was a successful treaty, in that it was fully implemented. ... [and it was] intended not to be easy to pull out The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (also known as INF) has garnered significant attention in the latter half of 2018 as President Trump announced that the US would withdraw from it. But before then, the INF was rather obscure and not well known. Thus, A BETTER PEACE exp...

How do you explain how well-intentioned, patriotic, bright people make poor judgments that lead to so much suffering? Historian and U.S. Naval Academy Professor Brian VanDeMark joins the podcast to discuss his acclaimed new book, Road to Disaster: A New History of America's Descent into Vietnam.  How do advances in cognitive psychology help explain how intelligent, well-intentioned leaders led Ame...

Napoleon stands out in history for being an individual who understood the interplay between war and politics WAR ROOM welcomes Lieutenant General Christopher Cavoli, Commander of U.S. Army Europe and Seventh Army, to discuss his perspectives on strategic leadership. In this interview, he uses the examples of prominent historical figures to describe the qualities of strong strategic leaders, and th...

The promise of much of this outsourcing was to reduce cost. ... but the total costs [of all contracts] have gone up. So contracts are not cheaper The joint force has long depended on the private sector to provide necessary goods and services to support and sustain the warfight. This has been true since the days of the American Revolution, but reliance on contracted support has steadily increased o...

At its best, integrating women or any new group of people makes you re-evaluate where the Army is as a whole The current discourse on the inclusion of women in combat roles follows a long history of questions surrounding the roles and restrictions afforded to women in the military. Positive change often came about out of necessity, as the demands of war exceeded available manpower, leading to oppo...

A day in the Army where you don't learn something new is a day wasted WAR ROOM welcomes Lieutenant General Wayne Eyre of the Canadian Armed Forces to the studio to discuss his perspectives on strategic leadership. He focuses most of his comments toward colonels entering the strategic level and the need for them to show self-awareness, develop their character, be lifelong learners, and lead teams....

If you look at all the civil wars over the past two hundred years, you can document foreign fighters in more than a quarter of them Foreign fighters are "individuals who are not citizens of a state where there is a conflict but who travel to that state to become part of the non-government forces participating in insurgencies," according to our guest speaker Dr. David Malet of American University....

The Navy's trying to figure out, 'how can you expand your reach.' ... And in all the agreements that they forge with the studios, at no point is the Navy supposed to be paying for any of this WAR ROOM welcomes Ryan Wadle from Air University to discuss the history of how the war film industry emerged out of the interwar period. Focusing on the Navy, he relates how the military's relationship with H...

Even a big country like the United States can't efficiently produce everything we need and want The third and final installment in our economic series focuses on how U.S. post-World War II "leadership" in the international system and burgeoning global economy has shaped U.S. strategy ever since. C. Richard Neu and Joel Hillison discuss how the U.S. once served as the exemplar of prosperity that ot...

How do I stay true to two masters--the Army & Air Force, and also the employers? Our series on Senior Leader Perspectives continue with an interview with the 28th Chief of the National Guard Bureau, Air Force General Joseph Lengyel. In the past two decades, the roles and commitments of the National Guard have grown tremendously, with ten percent of the force engaged worldwide whether for contingen...

There's twenty-four outcomes that you're supposed to do, they would come in and go 'Prove to me your assessment on all twenty-four of these things.' The 2018 National Defense Strategy includes the following stark assessment of Professional Military Education, or PME: "PME has stagnated, focused more on the accomplishment of mandatory credit at the expense of lethality and ingenuity." Externally, P...

We want ... to start the conversation with this current generation of military officers. The half-life of a military officer's career is pretty short The U.S. military and the militaries of many of its partner nations regard themselves as professional organizations and comrades in the profession of arms. The military is heralded as a profession composed of professionals who enact a unique domain o...

His strategy was to strike directly at the heart of Rome ... [he selected] terrain well and positioned himself in a way that almost secured victory Hannibal Barca (247-183 BC) was a Carthaginian general at a time when the Roman Empire was growing in power and influence across the Mediterranean. Hannibal demonstrated his prowess as a tactical commander and strategic leader during the Second Punic W...

When military historians study battles or campaigns, what purpose does it serve? To immerse oneself deeply in the period and master the details, or to connect events of the past to the present? These and other questions are addressed in this conversation between two renowned military historians--Robert Citino of the World War II Museum and Michael Neiberg of the U.S. Army War College. They also ad...

[Washington] believes that if the Army is forced to disperse in order to feed itself, he will lose this part of the war. The harsh winter of 1777-1778 saw the American Revolution at a crossroads. Despite growing popular support among colonists for independence, the Continental Army was in a difficult state. Battle weary and low on money and supplies, the Army was neither in a position to mount a w...

He understands the psychology of war matters, and he is intent on trying to get the war over as quickly as possible. We continue our series on Great Captains with a look at William Tecumseh Sherman, one of the more controversial figures in the Civil War due to his actions in the South during the latter stages. A brilliant leader who understood well the impact that war has on soldiers and societies...

I wrote to my mother, who was living in France, saying, 'We're not going to win this war. We're making the same mistakes the French made only on a larger scale.' Every late summer, resident War College students immerse themselves in the Theory of War and Strategy, a challenging core course that covers the fundamentals of war at the national level. But for those who have fought, war is anything but...

The real competitive strength of the U.S. is in our [political and economic] system, particularly the interaction between the two. The politics generally keeps its hands off. C. Richard Neu, former economist at RAND and U.S. Army War College Professor Joel Hillison return to the WAR ROOM studio for the second installment of our podcast series on economics and strategic leadership. "Preserving Peac...

Young people are capable of extraordinary things as long as they are given the opportunity by the adults in their lives An all-volunteer force depends on the willingness, capabilities, and capacities of a nation's youth to serve. While much has been made of the paucity of youths who meet the physical and moral qualifications to serve in the military, there are also open questions about the desire...

They saw airplanes ... come into reality as weapon systems ... and they became strong advocates. We continue our Great Strategists series with a look at three pioneers of airpower -- Giulio Douhet from the Italian Armed Forces, Billy Mitchell of the U.S., and Hugh Trenchard, the "father" of the British Royal Air Force. In the early 20th century, these three great innovators and thinkers saw the ba...