RealClear Defense presents Hot Wash

Welcome to the new RealClearInvestigations Podcast on this feed! Each week J. Peder Zane, Editor of RealClearInvestigations, and RCI Senior Reporter James Varney discuss the week’s best investigative reporting and speak with journalists about cracking challenging stories. Whether it’s culture, politics, or the markets, RealClearIInvestigations should be your source for in-depth reporting from a wi...

In August of this year, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks announced the “Replicator Initiative” a new program to field thousands of less costly autonomous weapon systems. Aimed directly at offsetting China’s growing advantages in the Pacific, the ambitious program is set to deliver all within the next 18-24 months. Replicator is part of a growing concern that, as Chairman of the Joint Chi...

On today’s episode we return to an interview with Jonathan Schanzer, Senior Vice President for Research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and the author of “Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and Eleven Days of War”. Host John Sorensen and RealClearDefense editor David Craig spoke with Schanzer in November of 2021 about an attack from earlier that year when Hamas launched more than four...

As China’s military capabilities grow, discussions about the US posture in the Pacific often return to the question how large a force does the US need to deter or possibly confront the Chinese Navy? If China were to launch an attack on Taiwan, how do the US and Chinese navies match up? To find out, “Hot Wash” host John Sorensen speaks with Tom Shugart an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a N...

Note this episode contains explicit language and discussion of self-harm. On the RealClearDefense podcast “Hot Wash” John Sorensen and RCD contributor John Waters speak with Miles Lagoze, the documentary filmmaker behind “Combat Obscura” a gripping unfiltered look at the war in Afghanistan in 2011 and 2012 during his time as an eighteen year-old Combat Camera with the 1st Battalion 6th Marines. Mo...

On the RealClearDefense podcast “Hot Wash,” host John Sorensen speaks with Dr. Peter Feaver, a long-time researcher of civil-military affairs about his new book, a comprehensive study of public attitudes towards the military called, “Thanks for Your Service: The Causes and Consequences of Public Confidence in the US Military.” He is also a professor of political science and public policy at Duke U...

John Waters speaks with entrepreneur, Army veteran, and author Mike Erwin about applying lessons from the military to positive leadership off the battlefield. Erwin is a graduate of West Point and served as an Intelligence officer in Iraq and Afghanistan, earning two Bronze Stars. After studying positive psychology and leadership at the University of Michigan he founded “Team Red, White, and Blue”...

As Republican candidates prepare for the first debate, does the GOP have a China strategy? In a recent piece for the Wall Street Journal, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisconsin)  challenges the candidates and the party to confront what he calls “America’s greatest geopolitical threat.” RealClearDefense contributor John Waters and guest columnist Stephen Young speak with Gallagher about developing a clea...

The war in Ukraine has rapidly reshaped how strategists think about the modern battlefield, especially the use of drones, cyber, social media, and the importance of electronic warfare. Looking at a potential conflict with China, what would a military confrontation over Taiwan look like in this new technological era? On this episode of “Hot Wash,” host John Sorensen speaks with Retired Australian M...

On today’s “Hot Wash,” CNN’s Jake Tapper talks about his new fiction thriller “All the Demons Are Here” about an AWOL US Marine back from the Vietnam War and lost in the chaos of the 1970’s. We also discuss his nonfiction book, “The Outpost” about the heroism and tragedy of one of the deadliest battles in the Afghanistan War, and the coverage of the current Russian war against Ukraine. Subscribe t...

Welcome to the first episode of BLUF: Bottom Line Up Front, presented by Real Clear Defense, in which we ask a member of Congress 7 questions that cut to the chase of what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.  Today we hear from Republican Congressman Mark Green of Tennessee, who graduated from West Point, served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army, and later became an army physician servin...

Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated film “Oppenheimer” opens this weekend. For the story behind one of America’s most consequential and controversial scientific minds in his own words, listen to a mini-audio documentary about Robert Oppenheimer: his connections to the Communist party, his troubled relationship with President Truman, and the legacy of his work on the most devastating invention o...

On Friday June 23rd Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Russian mercenary Wagner Group, took to Telegram to announce that he would, “march for justice” to stop the Russian defense ministry “evil”. By Saturday morning Wagner forces had claimed control of Rostov-on-Don, the Russian military headquarters near the Ukrainian border. His forces proceeded in a convoy into Russia toward Moscow, getting t...

RealClearDefense contributor John Waters speaks with Wall Street Journal National Security reporter Brett Forrest about his new bestselling book, "Lost Son: An American Family Trapped Inside the FBI’s Secret Wars.” Expanding on his investigation for the Journal, Forrest explores the disappearance of Billy Reilly, a gifted civilian who volunteered as an undercover FBI source inside Russia. When the...

Did the Cold War really end? As recently as this week, the New York Times confirmed that in 2020 Russian intelligence attempted to assassinate a defector on US soil, crossing a major red line even during the height of the Cold War. On today’s episode of the RealClearDefense podcast “Hot Wash” host John Sorensen and RCD contributor John Waters speak with Calder Walton, the historian who uncovered t...

On today's "Hot Wash," RCD contributor John Waters talks to the authors of a new book, “Unwavering: The Wives Who Fought to Ensure No Man is Left Behind.” It is the story of how the wives of Prisoners of War and those Missing In Action during the Vietnam War compelled the military and the US government to change policy and focused a nation on the unfinished business of a war it would rather forget...

On today's "Hot Wash," RCD contributor John Waters talks to the authors of one the site's most popular recent articles, “The Navy SEAL Who Went to Ukraine Because He Couldn’t Stop Fighting.” The tortured story of Daniel Swift, a decorated Navy SEAL who went AWOL, only to end up on the frontlines of Ukraine's war with Russia. It's a story about the complicated relationship some of America's most ex...

Visit RealClearPublishing for more information on“Kissinger’s Betrayal: How America Lost the Vietnam War” "Follow Hot Wash on Twitter @hotwashrcd Email comments and story suggestions to  editors@realcleardefense.com Subscribe to the RealClearDefense Podcast "Hot Wash" Subscribe to the Morning Recon newsletter for a daily roundup of news and opinion on the issues that matter for military, defense,...

Follow Hot Wash on Twitter @hotwashrcd Email comments and story suggestions to  editors@realcleardefense.com Subscribe to the RealClearDefense Podcast "Hot Wash" Subscribe to the Morning Recon newsletter for a daily roundup of news and opinion on the issues that matter for military, defense, veteran affairs, and national security. Sign up for the RealClearInvestigations Newsletter .  Watch ea...

Follow Hot Wash on Twitter @hotwashrcd Email comments and story suggestions to  editors@realcleardefense.com Subscribe to the RealClearDefense Podcast "Hot Wash" Subscribe to the Morning Recon newsletter for a daily roundup of news and opinion on the issues that matter for military, defense, veteran affairs, and national security. Sign up for the RealClearInvestigations Newsletter .  Watch ea...

Follow Hot Wash on Twitter @hotwashrcd Email comments and story suggestions to  editors@realcleardefense.com Subscribe to the RealClearDefense Podcast "Hot Wash" Subscribe to the Morning Recon newsletter for a daily roundup of news and opinion on the issues that matter for military, defense, veteran affairs, and national security. Sign up for the RealClearInvestigations Newsletter .  Watch ea...

Subscribe to the RealClearDefense Podcast "Hot Wash" Subscribe to the Morning Recon newsletter for a daily roundup of news and opinion on the issues that matter for military, defense, veteran affairs, and national security. Sign up for the RealClearInvestigations Newsletter .  Watch each episode on the RealClearPolitics YouTube Channel Contact us with your thoughts and feedback: jpederzane@re...

Read the article on RealClearDefense  Why America Loses Wars Follow Hot Wash on Twitter @hotwashrcd Email comments and story suggestions to  editors@realcleardefense.com Subscribe to the RealClearDefense Podcast "Hot Wash" Subscribe to the Morning Recon newsletter for a daily roundup of news and opinion on the issues that matter for military, defense, veteran affairs, and national security. Sign u...

On this episode of "Hot Wash" we look at the US military’s peer adversaries from a “Free Markets” perspective. Are defense budgets bloated by threat inflation?  RCD contributor John Waters and I speak with John Tamny, a frequent commentator on financial markets and the economy and the Editor at RealClearMarkets, the Vice President at the small government advocacy group FreedomWorks, and the author...

Follow Hot Wash on Twitter @hotwashrcd Email comments and story suggestions to editors@realcleardefense.com Subscribe to the RealClearDefense Podcast "Hot Wash" Subscribe to the Morning Recon newsletter for a daily roundup of news and opinion on the issues that matter for military, defense, veteran affairs, and national security. Sign up for the RealClearInvestigations Newsletter .  Watch eac...