The Debrief with Jon Becker

The evolution of special tactics in the United States is a complicated story whose roots lie in the violent social and political environment of the late 1960s.  Highly unusual and televised events like the Texas tower sniper in 1966 and the Munich Massacre in 1972 created the need to develop special units to respond to events that were beyond the capabilities of patrol officers.  While Southern Ca...

My guest today is Lionel D. Lio is a retired team leader who spent 15 years with the Belgian National Police - Directorate of Special Units, or DSU, also know as Group Diane. I am excited to have Lio on The Debrief because his former unit is a fantastic team who are constantly on the front lines for European counter terrorism operations, like the one we will discuss today. The operation we will be...

In late August of 2020 the Kentucky State Police Special Response Team attempted to execute search and arrest warrants on a family compound in Johnson Hollow, a heavily wooded and very rural area of Kentucky.  The suspect, who was being sought on potential murder and drug related charges, had hiding locations and weapons throughout the compound and had built a series of hardened firing positions f...

My guest today is Dr. Dan Dworkis.  Dan is a board-certified emergency physician, an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, the founder of The Emergency Mind Project, and the Chief Medical Officer at the Mission Critical Team Institute. Dan performed his emergency medicine residency with Harvard Medical School at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine R...

Welcome to Battle Proven Leadership.  My guest today is Bill Kirst.  Bill is an author, poet, podcast host and one of LinkedIn’s Top Thought Leadership Voices on Change Management. Bill authors a monthly newsletter called “Leading Change in the Era of AI” which poses powerful questions while untangling the complex concerns posed by Artificial Intelligence.   Bill has worked at Adobe, Microsoft, IB...

My guest today is Rich Diviney. Rich is a retired Navy SEAL officer whose career spanned more than twenty years and included more than thirteen overseas deployments – eleven of which were to Iraq and Afghanistan. As the officer in charge of training for an elite Navy SEAL command, Rich spearheaded the creation of a directorate that fused physical, mental, and emotional disciplines. Since his retir...

Pete Blaber commanded at every level of one of the most elite counter-terrorist organizations in the world, The US Army’s First Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta. His time with The Unit included most of recent history’s significant military and political events (Panama, Colombia, Somalia, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq). In 2006 Pete retired from the military and transitioned from leading...

My guest today is Dr Claire Park. Dr. Park is a Consultant in Pre-Hospital Emergency Medicine for London HEMS, and Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine at Kings College Hospital in London. She is also an army consultant with over 20 years of deployed military experience. Claire is the Medical Adviser to the Specialist Firearms teams of the Metropolitan Police Service and has worked closely with a...

Welcome to Battle Proven Leadership.  My guest today is Mark Polymeropoulos. Mark is a retired Senior Intelligence Officer for CIA who spent 26 years working in field operations and leadership roles.  Marc is one of the intelligence communities most decorated officers and the author of "Clarity in Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the CIA." His book is a fantastic journey though the lesson...

My guest today has such a diverse skillset and resume that its almost hard to summarize. Andy Stumpf enlisted in the Navy while he was a Junior in high school, entering military service in 1996. After completing boot camp he went on to Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, also known as BUD/s. After earning his trident he began his SEAL career attached to SEAL Team Five, in Coronado Californi...

It's been an amazing year on The Debrief. In the 18 months since we launched the show, we've accomplished more than we ever thought we could. To date there have been more than 100,000 downloads of the show. We've recorded 31 episodes of The Debrief and 5 episodes of Battle Proven Leadership and covered a wide variety of topics. To end our second season, we thought it might be fun to...

On July 22, 2011 Norway experienced two terrorist attacks (a bombing at a government building in Oslo and a mass shooter event at a youth camp on nearby Utoya Island). These were perpetrated by a lone rightwing extremist. These attacks were unprecedented for the peaceful county of Norway and stretched the Norwegian first responders to their limits. My guest today is an active member of Norway’s mo...

My guest today is Dr. Kelly Starrett. Kelly is a world-renowned physical therapist, a strength and conditioning coach to Olympic and World Champion athletes, a 3x best-selling author, a speaker, and a two-time national kayaking champion. Kelly and his wife and partner Juliet launched one of the first CrossFit gyms in 2005, created the website Mobility WOD, and created the highly praised fitness bl...

My guest today is Michael Lumpkin. Michael has served many roles in his extremely distinguished career including Navy SEAL Captain, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflicts, Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Deputy Chief of Staff for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Special Assistant to Sec Def, and a Special Envoy at the Department of State....

Today’s episode of The Debrief  features a unique format: this episode was recorded live at the National Tactical Officers Association Annual Conference in Aurora, Colorado. I was fortunate to moderate a panel discussion that included the presidents of five separate tactical associations including: Brent Straton from the California Association of Tactical Officers, Chris Eklund from the Florida SW...

In June of 2018, just two years after the PULS nightclub attacks, Orlando Police officers responded to a domestic violence call. As officers attempted to contact the suspect, he fired a shot though his door striking Officer Kevin Valencia with wounds that he would eventually succumb to.  The suspect then barricaded in his apartment with his 4 children as hostages.  This event, which would last mor...

On July 2, 2020 patrol officers attempted to contact a suspect about moving an illegally parked automobile at the Three Rivers Mobile Home Park in Hastings, MN. As officers spoke to the suspect’s wife and two of his four children the suspect locked and barricaded the door to his trailer with his other two children inside.  Over the course of the next 15 hours, in sweltering heat, the South Metro S...

My Guest today is a true legend who is one of only three people to have served at all of the roles in LAPD D-Platoon: Chief Mike Albanese. Mike has spent 52 years in law enforcement with 37 of those spent at LAPD, 26 of which was spent in SWAT and Crisis Negotiation. Mike is one of only a handful of people to have ever served in the 10 David or SWAT commander role at LAPD. Since retiring from LAPD...

My Guest today is a true legend who is one of only three people to have served at all of the roles in LAPD D-Platoon Chief Mike Albanese. Mike has spent 52 years in law enforcement with 37 of those spent at LAPD, 26 of which was spent in SWAT and Crisis Negotiation.  Mike is one of only a handful of people to have ever served in the 10 David or SWAT commander role at LAPD. Since retiring from LAPD...

My guest today is Dr. Kevin Menes.  Kevin is an emergency room physician and tactical team doctor who led a team that managed to treat and save hundreds of patients following the active sniper attack in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017.  Kevin’s insights into the Las Vegas attack are unique and offer us clear lessons learned in preparing for mass casualty. Too often active shooter preparation ends at...

My guest today is Tom Satterly.  Tom is a highly decorated combat veteran, having served in the Army 25 years, with the last 20 in the US Army’s most elite Tier One unit, Delta. During his career Tom was involved in, and led, some of our nation’s most important military campaigns including the Battle in Mogadishu portrayed in the film Blackhawk Down and the capture of Saddam Hussein. Tom is the re...

My guest today is Chief John Perez. John recently retired as the Chief of Police for the Pasadena California Police Department. In his nearly 37 years of service to Pasadena, John served at literally all ranks in the department. During his career John worked patrol, narcotics, counter terrorism, and as a swat sergeant, lieutenant, and commander, John helped to form the first generation of Pasadena...

My guest today is a legend in the US tactical community Chief Phil Hansen. Phil recently retired after serving as the Chief of Police for the Santa Maria California Police Department. But prior to Santa Maria Phil retired as a Captain from the Los Angeles Country Sherriff’s Department where he served for 36 years. During his tenure at LASD he spent more than 24 years in full time tactical and emer...

My guest today is Jordan MacWilliams.  Jordan is a 15 year member of the RCMP Lower Mainland Division Integrated Emergency Response Team, the second largest tactical unit in Canada.  On November 7, 2012 Jordan fired a single shot which killed a hostage taker who pointed a gun at the team after a five-hour standoff at the Starlight Casino in New Westminster, British Columbia. Although it was a comp...

My guest today is Gareth Lock.  Gareth spent 25 years in the Royal Air Force as a flight instructor, a navigator on C-130 Hercules, a systems engineer and a requirements manager. Following his retirement from the RAF in 2015 he started work in high-risk industries teaching Human Factors and Crew Resource Management (CRM).  Eventually Gareth turned his attention to diving, applying a military syste...