Shows / School of War
School of War
In School of War, CBS News National Security Analyst and Free Press columnist Aaron MacLean sits down with secretaries of state, top military historians, war planners, and key political decision-makers to help understand the lessons of war. Tune in as School of War takes you to the front lines. Aaron MacLean is a former senior fellow at Hudson Institute. He has worked as a foreign policy advisor and legislative director to Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and spent seven years in the U.S. Marine…
Episodes
- School of War
Has America Fought Well in the Iran War? With Mick Ryan
Major General Mick Ryan, Australian Army (retired), Senior Fellow for Military Studies at the Lowy Institute, adjunct fellow with the Center for Strategic and…
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The Future of Warfighting Technology Is Now with Aviv Shapira
Aviv Shapira, the co-founder and CEO of XTEND, joins the show to discuss his journey from competitive drone racing to building groundbreaking defense…
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How Trump’s Blockade of Iran Actually Works with Sal Mercogliano
Sal Mercogliano, professor of history at Campbell University and host of the What’s Going on with Shipping YouTube channel, joins the show once again to…
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The Strategic View From the Baltic Sea with General Michael Claesson
General Michael Claesson is Sweden’s Chief of Defence Staff and Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces. How did Russia’s annexation of Crimea change…
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Danger Lurks In J.D. Vance’s Negotiations with Iran
Mark Dubowitz, chief executive of FDD, joins Aaron to discuss the ceasefire negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. What are the fears surrounding the talks?…
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Is the Strait of Hormuz Closed Forever? with Sal Mercogliano
Sal Mercogliano, professor of history at Campbell University and host of the What’s Going on with Shipping YouTube channel, joins us to discuss the strategic…
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America’s Incredible Rescue of its Downed Airmen in Iran and Trump’s Strategic Options Ahead with Rich Goldberg & Garrett Exner
Rich Goldberg, senior advisor at FDD, and Garrett Exner, adjunct fellow at Hudson Institute, join the show to breakdown the dramatic events of the weekend and…
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Trump Says We’re ‘Winning’ in Iran. It’s More Complicated.
The Strait of Hormuz is closed. Iran’s nuclear program survives. And while the regime has been weakened, it remains intact. So what has President Trump…
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Even as America Fights Iran, It’s Not Ready for China—with Eyck Freymann
Eyck Freymann, Hoover Fellow at Stanford University and author of Defending Taiwan: A Strategy to Prevent War with China, joins the show to explain the…
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How Can America Defeat Iran? With John Spencer
John Spencer, Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point and host of the Urban Warfare Project podcast, joins the show to break…
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Are We About to Send the Marines Into Iran? With Rich Goldberg and Garrett Exner
Rich Goldberg, senior advisor at FDD, and Garrett Exner, adjunct fellow at Hudson Institute, break down what’s really happening behind the headlines — from…
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Did Trump Miscalculate on Iran? with Niall Ferguson
Sir Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and columnist at The Free Press, reveals how geography and choke points have always…
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Can Trump Beat China by Winning In Iran? with Zineb Riboua
Zineb Riboua, research fellow with Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, joins the show to talk about the ongoing U.S.-Israeli…
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Did the Islamic Revolution Succeed? And Can It Survive? with Ray Takeyh
Ray Takeyh, senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of The Last Shah: America, Iran, and the Fall of the Pahlavi…
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How the War in Iran Actually Works with Mark Montgomery
Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at FDD and retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, joins the show to provide in-depth…
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General Frank McKenzie on the War in Iran
General Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie Jr, USMC (ret.), commanded US Central Command from 2019-2022. Gen. McKenzie led a distinguished 42 year career in the US…
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Ep 281: Fred Kagan on the Iran War, Drone Defense, and the Future of the Middle East
Fred Kagan, senior fellow and director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute, joins the show to discuss the war, what Ukraine…
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Ep 280: Mike Doran on the Iran War
Mike Doran, senior fellow and director of the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East at the Hudson Institute, joins the show to bring us the latest…
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Ep 279: Mark Dubowitz on U.S.-Israel War with Iran
Mark Dubowitz, CEO of FDD, joins the show to bring us up to speed on the rapidly developing full-scale conflict between the United States-Israel and Iran. ▪️…
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Ep 278: Yossi Cohen on The Mossad
Yossi Cohen, served as the director of the Mossad from 2016 until 2021 and is the author of The Sword of Freedom: Israel, Mossad, and the Secret War. As…
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Ep 277: Behnam Ben Taleblu—Will There Be a War with Iran?
Behnam Ben Taleblu, Senior Director (Iran Program) and Senior Fellow at FDD, joins the show to talk about the build-up of American military power in the Middle…
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Ep 276: Charlie Laderman on Regime Change in Iran
Charlie Laderman, associate professor at the University of Florida’s Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education, joins the show to discuss parallels…
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Ep 275: Michael Baumgartner on Marco Rubio’s Speech and the Future of Europe
Rep. Michael Baumgartner of Washington State’s 5th Congressional District joins the show to give his key takeaways from the Munich Security Conference. ▪️…
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Ep 274: Lawrence Freedman on Strategists and Ukraine
Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King’s College London and author of On Strategists and Strategy: Collected Essays, 2014-2024, joins the…
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Ep 273: Matthew Kroenig on China’s Nuclear Test
Matthew Kroenig, Professor in the Department of Government and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, joins the show to talk…
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Ep 272: Beatrice Heuser on Why Leaders Make Bad Decisions
Beatrice Heuser, Distinguished Professor at the Brussels School of Governance in the Free University of Brussels and author of Flawed Strategy: Why Smart…
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Ep 271: Geoff Ball on the Future of America’s Infantry
Geoff Ball, U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer, staff director for the Naval Academy’s Leadership Education and Development Division and Executive Editor of…
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Ep 270: David Shedd on China’s Spies
David Shedd, former Acting Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and author of The Great Heist: China’s Epic Campaign to Steal America’s Secrets, joins…
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Ep 269: Walter Russell Mead on Donald and Davos and Greenland, Oh My!
Walter Russell Mead, Alexander Hamilton Professor of Strategy and Statecraft at the University of Florida's Hamilton Center and columnist for The Wall Street…
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Ep 268: Seth Jones on America’s Defense Industrial Crisis
Seth Jones, president of the Defense and Security Department and Harold Brown Chair at CSIS, joins the show to talk about how America has resurrected its…
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Ep 267: Michael Lurie on Israel’s New Laser Weapon
Michael Lurie, CEO and President of Rafael USA, joins the show to explain how High Energy Lasers and Iron Beam will change missile & air defense, not to…
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Ep 266: Blake Seitz & Mike Watson—Were the Founders Isolationists?
Blake Seitz, Content Strategist at Palantir Technologies, and Mike Watson, Executive Director at The Alexander Hamilton Society, join the show to discuss…
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Ep 265: Mark Dubowitz on Is Iran Next?
Mark Dubowitz, CEO of FDD, joins the show to bring us up to speed on widespread Iranian protests, the chances of American or Israeli intervention, and what…
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Ep 264: Mark Montgomery on Seizing Venezuela’s Shadow Fleet
Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at FDD and retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, joins the show to discuss…
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Ep 263: Elliott Abrams on the Venezuela Raid and Risks Ahead
Elliott Abrams, senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela and Iran from 2019…
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Ep 262: Mark Jones Jr. on Special Air Operations and American Military Dominance
Mark Jones Jr., chief pilot of experimental flight test with the Honda Aircraft Company and recently retired U.S. Air Force test pilot and special operations…
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Ep 261: Behnam Ben Taleblu on the (Next!) Iran-Israel War
Behnam Ben Taleblu, Senior Director (Iran Program) and Senior Fellow at FDD, joins the show to talk about how Iran has worked to reconstitute its missile…
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Ep 260: Kevin Passmore on the Maginot Line and the Battle of France
Kevin Passmore, professor of History at Cardiff University and author of The Maginot Line: A New History, joins the show to talk about the most elaborate…
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Ep 259: Christian Brose on Rethinking How We Fight
Christian Brose, President and Chief Strategy Officer at Anduril Industries and author of The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare…
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Ep 258: Eric Cline on the Collapse of Civilizations
Eric Cline, professor of Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies and of Anthropology at The George Washington University and author of 1177 B.C.: The Year…
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Ep 257: Elliott Abrams on the Venezuela Crisis
Elliott Abrams, senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela and Iran from 2019…
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Ep 256: Nadia Schadlow on Strategic Depth
Nadia Schadlow, former Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy and senior fellow at Hudson Institute, joins the show to…
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Ep 255: Roya Hakakian on the Islamic Revolution
Roya Hakakian, author of Assassins of the Turquoise Palace and Journey from the Land of No, joins the show to discuss the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the…
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Ep 254: Frank Gavin on History and Statecraft
Frank Gavin, Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor and Director of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins University SAIS and…
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Ep 253: Michael Pack on the Battle of Fallujah
Michael Pack, President and CEO of Palladium Pictures LLC and director of The Last 600 Meters: The Battles of Najaf and Fallujah, joins the show to discuss his…
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Ep 252: Andrew Lambert on the British Empire’s Strategic Challenges and America’s Today
Andrew Lambert, Laughton Professor of Naval History in the Department of War Studies, King's College London and No More Napoleons: How Britain Managed Europe…
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Ep 251: John Lee on Ukraine, Peace, and What China Wants
John Lee, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, joins the show to discuss the Trump administration’s efforts to bring the war in Ukraine to an end, and what…
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Ep 250: Jeremy Armstrong on Ancient Rome’s Myths and Warfare
Jeremy Armstrong, Professor of Classics & Ancient History at the University of Auckland and author of Children of Mars: The Origins of Rome's Empire, joins the…
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Ep 249: Mick Ryan on the Ukrainian Way of War
Major General Mick Ryan, Australian Army (retired), Senior Fellow for Military Studies the Lowy Institute and author of the Futura Doctrina substack, joins the…
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Ep 248: Marc Milner on D-Day and the US-UK Battle for Hegemony
Marc Milner, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of New Brunswick and author of Second Front: Anglo-American Rivalry and the Hidden Story of the…
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Ep 247: Nicholas Wright on the Brain Science of War
Nicholas Wright, neuroscientist and author of Warhead: How the Brain Shapes War and War Shapes the Brain, joins the show to explore the implications of…
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Ep 246: Veterans Day Special — Remembering Angus MacLean
Host Aaron MacLean pays tribute to his father, World War Two and Vietnam Veteran Angus MacLean. This memorial originally ran in the publication Engelsberg…
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Ep 245: Edward Luce on Zbigniew Brzezinski’s Twentieth Century
Edward Luce, U.S. national editor and columnist at the Financial Times and author of Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America's Great Power Prophet,joins…
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Ep 244: Oren Cass on a Strategy of Reciprocity
Oren Cass, founder and chief economist of American Compass and author of the article A Grand Strategy of Reciprocity for Foreign Affairs, joins the show to…
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Ep 243: Alexander Mikaberidze on Russia’s Failed Battle with Turkey… in 1809
Alexander Mikaberidze, Professor of History at LSU Shreveport and contributor to An Unavoidable Evil: Siege Warfare in the Age of Napoleon (From Reason to…
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Ep 243: Joshua S. Treviño—Is Trump After Regime Change in Venezuela?
Joshua S. Treviño, Chief Transformation Officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and senior advisor at the America First Policy Institute, joins the show…
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Ep 242: Michael Sobolik on On Donald Trump’s Trade War with China
Michael Sobolik, senior fellow at Hudson Institute and author of Countering China’s Great Game: A Strategy for American Dominance, joins the show to discuss…
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Ep 241: Julian Jackson on Nazi-Occupied France and Pétain
Julian Jackson, Emeritus Professor of Modern French History at Queen Mary University of London and author of France on Trial: The Case of Marshal Pétain, joins…
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Ep 240: Lance R. Blyth on Mountain Warfare
Lance R. Blyth, command historian at the North American Aerospace Defense Command and author of Ski, Climb, Fight: The 10th Mountain Division and the Rise of…
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Ep 239: Charles C. Mann on How the System Works
Charles C. Mann, author of “How the System Works” in The New Atlantis, joins the show to discuss the complexity and vulnerability of the hidden processes that…