Conversations on Strategy Podcast

This podcast was recorded on January 28, 2025, and updated on February 11, 2025.

In this episode, Dr. R. Evan Ellis discusses the Panama Canal, including its history and significance to the United States, China’s involvement in the region, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Panama in February 2025.

Keywords: Panama Canal, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, China, trade, President Jimmy Carter

Stephanie Crider (Host)

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Dr. James D. Scudieri and Colonel Jon Klug analyze Lieutenant General Robert C. Richardson Jr.’s extensive operational reports and his role as Theater Army commander under Admiral Nimitz. The discussion highlights Richardson’s advocacy for Joint operational planning and the importance of interservice cooperation. They explore his unique command challenges, including a notable civil-military incident, and reflect on how his strategi...

This episode’s topic is A Call to Action: Lessons from Ukraine for the Future Force, with Dr. John A. Nagl and Colonel Katie Crombe. They discuss the project’s origins and its goal to extract key lessons from the Russia-Ukraine War for US military strategy. Nagl outlines the collaborative research behind the publication, while Crombe highlights strategic lessons related to US military preparedness. The conversation covers the impac...

LTG Ben Hodges (US Army, retired) America and the International Order

In this episode, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges (US Army, retired) discusses America’s role in the international order. The podcast covers the Russia-Ukraine War and what it means for NATO, maintaining stability in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, strategic competition between China and the United States in the Indo-Pacific, the economic and technological competit...

This episode delves into the concept of strategic culture and how it influences international relations, military strategy, and deterrence, particularly between the United States, China, and Russia. Dr. Scobell and Dr. Kuznar share insights from their extensive research and highlight the nuances of strategic culture in peacetime, crisis, and conflict scenarios. 

Keywords: culture China, Taiwan, strategy, strategic culture 

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In this episode, Lieutenant Colonel Zachary Griffiths, Colonel Todd Schmidt, and Major Brennan Deveraux from the Harding Project and Army University Press discuss the how-to edition of Military Review, including the initiative’s goal to enhance professional military writing by providing essential guidelines and resources for Army units. Griffiths highlights the need for writing support, while Schmidt recounts the collaboration’s or...

In this episode, Dr. Darrin L. Frye, associate professor of science and technology and innovative futures at the Joint Special Operations University, discusses the profound implications of nanotechnology in modern warfare. He explores the concept of the “resolution revolution,” examining how emerging technologies shift battlefields from traditional domains to the microscopic realms of biology, where threats can operate invisibly at...

In this episode, COL Thomas Spahr and Zach Kallenborn discuss technology and warfare and what practitioners and leaders can learn from America’s past wars and the Russia-Ukraine War. 

Keywords: Afghanistan, Russia, Ukraine, AI, drones

E-mail usarmy.carlisle.awc.mbx.parameters@army.mil to give feedback on this podcast or the genesis article.

Download the transcript:

https://media.defense.gov/2024/Sep/17/2003545729/-1/-1/0/20240917_SPAHR...

If leaders of terrorist organizations can recruit, indoctrinate, plan, and operate using AR with little drop-off in effectiveness while staying safely in hiding, the challenges faced by national security and law-enforcement organizations will increase exponentially. Keywords: animaia, augmented realty, AR, virtual reality, terrorism E-mail usarmy.carlisle.awc.mbx.parameters@army.mil to give feedback on this podcast or the genesis c...

Dr. Sarah Lohmann discusses the use of AI in terrorism, emphasizing its potential for both good and malicious intent. She highlights terrorists’ utilization of AI tools for recruitment and accessing sensitive data, posing cybersecurity risks. Lohmann also touches on AI regulation efforts, disparities between regions, and the importance of innovation and transparency in AI governance. Global cooperation is crucial in mitigating secu...

Colonel Eric Hartunian and Lieutenant Colonel Paul Milas, co-editors with Susan Sims of Emerging Technologies and Terrorism: An American Perspective, discuss their newly published collaborative study from the US Army War College Press. The publication focuses on how terrorists may exploit emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, augmented reality, biotechnology, and nanotechnology from an American ...

Lieutenant Colonel Zachary Griffiths and Sergeant First Class Leyton Summerlin of the Harding Project discuss military discourse and why it matters, the impact of professional writing, tips for aspiring writers, and more. Named after Major General Edwin Forrest Harding, the Harding project focuses on US Army professional publications with the intent to renew and revive them. 

Keywords: Harding Project, professional discourse, US Arm...

Lieutenant Colonel Zachary Griffiths and Sergeant First Class Leyton Summerlin of the Harding Project discuss military discourse and why it matters, the impact of professional writing, tips for aspiring writers, and more. Named after Major General Edwin Forrest Harding, the Harding project focuses on US Army professional publications with the intent to renew and revive them. 

Keywords: Harding Project, professional discourse, US Arm...

Contesting Paul Scharre’s influential vision of “centaur warfighting” and the idea that autonomous weapon systems will replace human warfighters, this podcast proposes that the manned-unmanned teams of the future are more likely to be minotaurs, teams of humans under the control, supervision, or command of artificial intelligence. It examines the likely composition of the future force and prompts a necessary conversation about the ...

Contesting Paul Scharre’s influential vision of “centaur warfighting” and the idea that autonomous weapon systems will replace human warfighters, this podcast proposes that the manned-unmanned teams of the future are more likely to be minotaurs, teams of humans under the control, supervision, or command of artificial intelligence. It examines the likely composition of the future force and prompts a necessary conversation about the ...

The likelihood China will attack Taiwan in the next decade is high and will continue to be so, unless Taipei and Washington take urgent steps to restore deterrence across the Taiwan Strait. This monograph introduces the concept of interlocking deterrents, explains why deterrents lose their potency with the passage of time, and provides concrete recommendations for how Taiwan, the United States, and other regional powers can develop...