RealClear Defense presents Hot Wash

On today’s episode of the RealClearDefense podcast “Hot Wash,” host John Sorensen, and RCD contributor John Waters speak with journalist and combat veteran Ben Kesling about his new book, “Bravo Company: An Afghanistan Deployment and Its Aftermath”. It is the story of one unit of the famed 82nd Airborne, their tour in Kandahar’s notorious Arghandab Valley and the impact on their lives in the years...

On today’s episode of the RealClearDefense podcast “Hot Wash,” RCD contributor John Waters speaks with Bill Bee and Wills Robinson the authors of “The Shot: The Harrowing Journey of a Marine in the War On Terror.” 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, ve...

On the RealClearDefense podcast "Hot Wash", host John Sorensen and RCD Contributor John Waters speak with Stephanie Savell, the Co-Director of the Costs of War project at the Watson Institute for International Relations at Brown University. Savell is an anthropologist, who researches militarism, security, and civic engagement in relation to the United States post-9/11 wars. The Costs of War projec...

On today's episode of the RealClearDefense Podcast "Hot Wash" host John Sorensen and RCD contributor Todd Carney, speak with Jason Kander, veteran, politician and most recently author of “Invisible Storm: A Soldier’s Memoir of Politics and PTSD”  In 2006, Kander served as a military intelligence officer in Afghanistan for the Army Reserve. After returning to civilian life, Kander entered politics...

On today's RealClearDefense podcast "Hot Wash," host John Sorensen and RCD Editor David Craig, talk with Jamie Roberts, the director of a new documentary on HBO/Max “Escape From Kabul” about the chaotic evacuation of civilians from Afghanistan in August of last year. The documentary uses never before seen archival footage and interviews with participants and eyewitnesses from the Marines on the gr...

Today on the RealClearDefense podcast “Hot Wash” RCD editor David Craig, contributor John Waters, and host John Sorensen speak with retired Marine Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller, about holding the political and military leadership accountable for the chaotic withdrawal and ultimate Taliban victory in Afghanistan. Scheller, an infantry officer who in part became well known for viral videos on F...

On this edition of the RealClear Defense podcast Hotwash, John Sorensen hosts retired Marine Colonel Andrew Milburn, Founder and CEO of the Mozart Group, an organization that is training Ukrainian frontline units in the war against Russian occupation. Milburn retired from the Marine Corps as a colonel in 2019. His last position in uniform was as deputy commander of Special Operations Command Centr...

Writer/Director Abi Damaris Corbin discusses her new film, "Breaking," based on the real-life story of the late Brian Brown-Easley, a former Marine Corps veteran who robbed a Wells Fargo Bank with a bomb threat in 2017. Sign up for the RealClearInvestigations Newsletter.  Watch each episode on the RealClearPolitics YouTube Channel Contact us with your thoughts and feedback: jpederzane@realclearinv...

RealClearDefense Contributor John Waters and "Hot Wash" host John Sorensen speak with Michael Gordon national security correspondent at the Wall Street Journal, about his new book “Degrade and Destroy: The Inside Story of the War Against the Islamic State, From Barack Obama to Donald Trump.”  Subscribe to the RealClearDefense Podcast "Hot Wash" Subscribe to the Morning Recon newsletter for a daily...

This week a look at the documentary, “Who Killed Lt. VanDorn?” In a January 2014 training exercise off the coast of Virginia, pilot Lt. Wes VanDorn, his co-pilot Lt. Sean Snyder, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Brian Collins died when VanDorn’s MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter caught fire and crashed into the frigid Atlantic. The MH-53E is the Navy’s largest, oldest, and most deadly aircraft. Today, we sp...

Today on the RealClearDefense podcast "Hot Wash", host John Sorensen and RCD contributor John Waters talk to Retired Marine Major Fred Galvin about his new book, “A Few Bad Men: The True Story of US Marines Ambushed in Afghanistan and Betrayed in America.” Galvin enlisted in the Marine Corps as a 17-year-old and quickly deployed to combat in the Persian Gulf. A few years later, he commissioned as...

On today’s RealClearDefense podcast "Hot Wash", RCD Editor David Craig and Contributor John Waters speak with retired four-star Admiral James Stavridis about his new book, “To Risk It all: Nine Conflicts and the Crucible of Decision.” It's a gripping collection of stories of Naval heroes demonstrating how to make decisions under pressure. As much a book about leadership as it is naval history, Sta...

Today on the RealClearDefense podcast "Hot Wash", RCD Editor David Craig looks at competing with China’s military on the technology front. The US military has long enjoyed dominance in its ability to leverage connected communications and data for its warfighters, but peer competitors like China could challenge the US in crucial areas like advanced computing and Artificial Intelligence. The Defense...

On the RealClearDefense podcast “Hot Wash”, RealClearDefense editor David Craig speaks with retired Army Colonel and former General Counsel at US Cyber Command about Cyber and the Russian war in Ukraine. Corn is also a professor at the American University Washington College of Law's Tech, Law and Security program. What are the implications for the law of war, and how cyber might provoke larger NAT...

Today on the RealClearDefense podcast "Hot Wash," host John Sorensen and RCD contributor John Waters speak with Matthew Cole about his new book, “Code Over Country: The Tragedy and Corruption of SEAL Team 6." Cole is an investigative journalist at ‘The Intercept’ and has covered national security since 2005, traveling extensively in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East to cover American confl...

Today on the RealClearDefense podcast "Hot Wash", host John Sorensen and RCD Editor David Craig continue coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine by speaking to David Lasseter, former Deputy Assitant Secretary of Defense for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction and a visiting Fellow at the National Security Institute. He is also recently the author of an article on RealClearDefense, “Putin’s...

On the RealClearDefense podcast “Hot Wash”, in light of what appears to be a full scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the largest conventional conflict in Europe since WWII, we’ve asked Ben Connable to return to update us on his views of this rapidly evolving situation, and to discuss his recent commentary on RealClearDefense “Will the Ukrainians Fight?” RealClearDefense editor David Craig speaks...

On the RealClearDefense podcast “Hot Wash”, host John Sorensen and RealClearDefense contributor John Waters speak with Dr. Ben Connable, a retired Marine Corps intelligence officer, a senior nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council, adjunct professor of security studies at Georgetown University. And author of an article for RealClearDefense, “Troop-to-Task: A Russian Invasion of Ukraine.” What w...

In this episode of the RealClearDefense podcast “Hot Wash”, host John Sorensen and RCD contributor John Waters speak with journalist and author Toby Harnden about his new book, “First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA Mission to Avenge 9/11.” Based on original interviews with CIA officers, paramilitary and special forces members of the small team inserted into Afghanistan after 9/11, Harnden t...

Although the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act funding the military passed with bipartisan support, the appropriations bill has not. This puts the entire military and much of the intelligence community under a Continuing Resolution since October 1, freezing new spending, stalling dozens of major programs, and holding spending military-wide to 2021 levels. In a time of rising inflation, the e...

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...

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...

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...

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...

"Congress must untie Biden's hands on Taiwan" by Rep. Elaine Luria 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 YouTub...