Midrats

Stowaways, poaching, piracy, smuggling, and murder - the global commons of the open ocean is as wild of a place as it is vast. Using as a baseline his series on lawlessness on the high seas in the New York Times, The Outlaw Ocean, our guest for the full hour to discuss the anarchy of crime and violence on the high seas in the 21st Century will be Ian Ubina. Ian is a reporter for The New York Times...

We've had a lot of new listeners in the last three years, so it was time to bring back Norman. What makes a class of warship a success, a failure, or a missed opportunity? What fundamentals consistently result in a success, and what common threads need to be avoided in order to not repeat the mistakes of the past? What decision and results we have seen in previous classes of warships are we seeing...

From the Balitic to the Black Sea, the last year has seen the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) return to its roots - the defense of Europe from Russian aggression. The names and players have changes significantly since a quarter century ago - but in many ways things look very familiar. To discuss NATO's challenge in the East in the second decade of the 21st Century for the full hour will...

Are there lessons one can learn from the most exceptional edges of the military experience that can be useful to the civilian world? Was there something from the experience of American prisoners of war imprisoned at the "Hanoi Hilton" during the Vietnam War that had to do with their success in their subsequent careers? Our guests to discuss for the full hour will be Peter Fretwell and Taylor Baldw...

They never really went away, but for almost 20 years the world had a holiday from an old challenge and a new one; Russia and the prospect of nuclear war. Some thought, and more hoped that with the end of the Cold War, a newer world order would emerge that would enable an era of stability and peace. In a way, it did – but only in spots and for short periods of time. While for the last 15 years most...

If people are your most important asset, as the hardware people look to a future of F-35s, SSBN(X), and the FORD Class CVN, what are the steps being taken to set of the personnel structure to address future requirements? Our guest to discuss this and more for the full hour will be Brad R. Carson, Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. Mr. Carson was appointed by President O...

This summer, the terrain shifted in the long war that we thought we needed to bring back one of our regular guests, Bill Roggio, to discuss in detail for the full hour. Bill is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Bill is also the President of Public Multimedia Inc, a non-profit news organization; and the founder and Editor of The Long War Journal, a news site devoted to c...

A reminder that this war predates 11 September 2001, we just didn't want to admit it. Our guest this Sunday for the full hour will be Kirk Lippold, CDR USN (Ret), Commanding Officer of the USS COLE (DDG-67) at the time of her attack 12 OCT 2000 in the port of Aden, Yemen - and author of the new book, a first hand account of the attack from the Commander's perspective, Front Burner: Al Qaeda's Atta...

Never in our history have we fought a war where law, lawyers, and layers of legalese have impacted all levels of the war, Political, Strategic, Operational, and Tactical. Why do we find ourselves here and in what direction are we going?   From Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and even domestically, the legal definition of the use of military power is evolving. To discuss the impact of Lawfare fo...

Are the growing feelings of crisis, confusion and strategic drift in the national security arena not so much the result of external challenges, but the result of poor thinking and intellectual habits on our part? Using his article in The National Interest, “The Real Problem with the American Military” as a starting point, our guest for the full hour will be Dakota Wood, Senior Research Fellow on D...

So much has happened since we had this interview 2.5-yrs ago focused on NATO, but the points are still spot on. Well worth the revisit, especially if you missed it the first time. NATO continues to test what kind of alliance it is after the fall of the Soviet Union roughly a quarter-century ago. Where does the alliance stand, and what direction is it going? Are the roles of the member states chang...

It is time to catch up with Putin's Russia, her domestic developments, involvement in Ukraine, and the changes she is forcing on border nations and the near abroad. To discuss this and more, for the full hour we will have returning guest Dr. Dmitry Gorenburg, Senior Analyst, CNA Strategic Studies, an Associate at Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, an author, and host of the R...

Join Sal from "CDR Salamander" & EagleOne from "EagleSpeak" with their returning guest, author David Sears for the full hour to discuss his latest book, Pacific Air: How Fearless Flyboys, Peerless Aircraft, and Fast Flattops Conquered the Skies in the War with Japan. For WWII and aviaition fans - this is a show you do not want to miss!

18 June will be the 200th Anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, fought in present-day Belgium.    Just in time, regular guest to Midrats, John Kuehn has his latest book out, Napoleonic Warfare: The Operational Art of the Great Campaigns where he covers the operational level analysis of European warfare from 1792 to 1815,  including the tactics, operations, and strategy of major conflicts of the t...

As the world has set its own course as we have been planning other things, some believe that the 2016 election will be more focused on foreign policy and defense issues that any of the candidates thought would be the case at the end of last year. What will be the above-the-fold topics? The baseline was set by the '16 budget battle last year and the winding down and a post-mortum on the sequestrati...

Midrats is back live this Sunday at 5-pm Eastern; tanned, rested and ready for the summer. Join EagleOne from EagleSpeak and Sal from CDR Salamander for the full hour as they cover the major national security and maritime issues that are set to dominate conversations as the kids get out of school and that moving trucks start to roll. From China's sand islands, the Islamic States expansion, the res...

On Friday, 22 May 2015 a great warship was decommissioned, the USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS (FFG-58). In her honor, we will replay our show on the day that defined her. Little has changed since the USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS (FFG-58) struck a mine, and in retribution, the US Navy launched Operation PRAYING MANTIS. The tactical and operational aspects of each, as well as combat leadership, remain constant even...

Lost to many whose news sources in the USA consists of the major newspapers and the standard networks, for most of the last dozen+ years, the conflict in Afghanistan has not been a USA-Centric battle; it has been a NATO run operation. When the Commander of the International Security Assistance Force has been an American 4-star, the visuals can be misleading. For most of the last decade, American f...

Excuse the host's audio quality ... but the guest's audio is perfect. For America's natural position as a naval and aerospace power, are we thinking correctly on how to best leverage our resources and strenghts? How should we be using sea power and air power to create the right effects during peace, yet be poised to have the best utility at war? Are there concepts, habits, and systems that have ha...

Loyalty goes both ways, the old saying goes. One shows loyalty up the chain, because one expects the same in the other direction.  They system, however, is built upon the timbers of the imperfect human condition.  What happens when you have conflicting narratives, but the system that you thought was there to serve you as you served it decides to take the counter-narrative without question?  Is the...

For the Sailor, nothing is more immediate, more "now" and of more impact to their personal and professional lives than their next set of orders. For our Navy, nothing defines present operational performance, the development of future leaders, and ensuring success at war for the next few decades than personnel policy. Our guest for the full hour this Sunday from 5-6pm Eastern will be the Chief of N...

The next book from USNI's 21st Century Foundations series is 21st Century Ellis, edited by Capt. B.A. Friedman, USMC. This book covers the work of Lt. Col. "Pete" Ellis, USMC who in 1921 predicted the coming war with Japan. Included in this collection are some o f his articles on counterinsurgency and conventional war based on his experiences in WWI and the Philippines. Capt. Friedman will be with...

We are frmly in the middle of the 2nd decade of the 21st Century. What path were we put on at the start 21st Century that got us here? How do we evaluate the right decisions, the neutral decisions, and the less than optimal calls of the last decade and a half? What lessons can we take away now in order to make decisions to best position the Navy on the approaches to 2030? Our guest for the full ho...

With Kenya back in the news, this Easter I thought it would be good to bring back one of our shows from last year. This Sunday we're going focus the full hour discussing the eastern part of Africa with a returning guest Alex Martin who will give us a first hand report from a personal and professional perspective. Alex graduated with distinction from the U.S. Naval Academy and went on to lead infan...

This week we will return to the “unsexy but important” topic, specifically that of “alternative naval platforms and missions.” In part, the concepts that underlay Jerry Hendrix’s “Influence Squadrons” are in practice on a smaller scale today. In most cases they are being conducted using Military Sealift Command assets and the Navy Reserve. To focus on this part of our maritime power, our guest for...