A Better Peace: The War Room Podcast

Conditional statements or as they're more commonly known, IF-THEN statements, are the foundation of almost all programming languages. They allow an automation that looks for a certain circumstance, and if that circumstance exists then an action happens. The action may be the end result or it may send the automation down a path searching for more circumstances, but it is the building block for decision making processes, cyber or otherwise. That's why it's so odd that when it comes to defining cyber warfare there doesn't seem to be a clear set of rules for decision making. A BETTER PEACE welcomes Patrick Walsh to look at defining the red line in cyberspace. What defines an act of warfare, versus crime, versus terrorism in cyberspace. Patrick joins podcast editor Ron Granieri in the studio to share his years of experience prosecuting cybercrimes and how he feels laws can better inform decision making and responses to actions in the cyber realm.

Casualties are a fact of military life. Whether the result of a training accident, peacekeeping operations or full scale combat, the military has made the commitment to guide families through the very difficult circumstances of a service member's death with the aid of Casualty Assistance Officers (CAO). Sadly through repetition the U.S. Army has created training and programs and processes that are world class. Unfortunately, when the odd circumstances surrounding the captivity of Bowe Bergdahl by the Haqqani network in Afghanistan and Pakistan occurred, it highlighted the deficiencies of the CAO program when addressing prisoners of non-state actors and violent extremist organizations (VEOs). This isn't the story of Bergdahl's ordeal. It's the experiences of Kevin Hickey the CAO for the Bergdahl family and he joins Ron Granieri in the studio to discuss his observations over five long years supporting them. He's researching and proposing improvements and changes to the traditional CAO program to make sure that the U.S. Army is prepared for situations like the Bergdahl's when it happens again one day.

CAUTION: This episode contains a first-person account of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and attempted suicide. These are incredibly important topics that need to be discussed, but we want our listeners to be aware that the conversation can be very frank at times. If you or someone you know is in crisis, there are options available to help you cope. Contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Last week on March 29th the nation observed National Vietnam War Veterans Day. This week we'd like to share a conversation with Jan Scruggs, the man who conceived of and eventually built the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. A combat veteran of the Vietnam War himself, Jan tells the incredible story of his motivations, obstructions, collaborations and finally success in creating a striking symbol of the conflict and its cost that is visited by over 3 million people each year. He joins podcast editor Ron Granieri in the virtual studio to discuss his experience in Vietnam and the post traumatic stress he suffered upon his return. Jan tells the story of his mission to recognize the sacrifices and losses of his generation and to help heal the people that are sent out to fight their nation's wars.

For many, Afghanistan and the lessons that should have been learned have been overshadowed recently by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. And as much as Ukraine deserves the attention of the world, national security professionals have a duty to learn as much as possible from the successes and failures of Afghanistan. To that end, A BETTER PEACE is extremely pleased to welcome Maj Gen Brian Mennes, the Deputy Commanding General, XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He joins Tom Spahr in the virtual studio to discuss his experiences in Afghanistan during his multiple tours in the theater. Tom and the general served together on three separate tours in Afghanistan and their conversation focuses on the wins that they achieved along the way along with the losses and the eventual fall of the Afghan government in August 2021.

Sanctions. They're the talk of the town right now as the world watches Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Social media and the news networks are full of "experts" sharing their opinions on every aspect of sanctions associated with the current world situation. Should they have happened sooner? Did the West wait long enough? Are they too harsh? Should they be much tougher? Is there a clear criteria for Russia to comply with to have them removed? Will they ever completely go away? A BETTER PEACE welcomes Mark Duckenfield, former Department Chair of the Department of National Security and Strategy to discuss the topic. Mark holds a PhD in political science from Harvard University where he specialized in European political economy. He joins podcast editor Ron Granieri in the virtual studio to look at sanctions from a historical perspective. When have sanctions worked? When have they failed? What are the necessary conditions of economies, cultures and people that will enhance or stymie the effects of economic sanctions?

Chinese leaders have struggled to develop coherent policies toward Eurasia for centuries. And the work of building a policy for the larger Central Asian region has serious implications for the building of the modern Chinese state. Beijing's efforts to reduce the influence of the Uyghur population of Xinjiang Province is a perfect example of the failing policies of the region. A BETTER PEACE welcomes Zenel Garcia to discuss his latest book China’s Western Frontier and Eurasia The Politics of State and Region-Building. Zenel joins podcast editor Ron Granieri in the virtual studio to examine how China has attempted to handle its western frontier through a series of state-building initiatives. Their conversation looks at how China's region-building project in Eurasia has been complicated by the collapse of the USSR, increasing globalization, and the party’s professed concerns about terrorism, separatism, and extremism.

WAR ROOM isn't a news outlet and we don't do up to the minute reporting. But when Dr. Joel Hillison came to us last week and wanted to discuss the ongoing situation on the Ukraine border we happily welcomed him back to the podcast. Joel joins podcast editor Ron Granieri in the BETTER PEACE virtual studio to discuss what it takes to be truly effective deterring an adversary. It's often easier to declare your enemy irrational, maniacal. or power hungry than it is to try and understand their motivation or point of view. Joel tries to apply strategic empathy (and years of NATO experience and study) to place himself in the shoes of Russian leadership to better grasp what is driving their thought process and actions. The goal is to determine what is important, what is threatening, what consequences are too painful, and where is there room to negotiate? At the time of this episodes release tensions are still high with limited hostilities continuing along the border and avenues of communication still open. Joel and Ron's hope is that at the moment you listen to this episode the conversations are still ongoing, because the alternative is not good for anyone.

Admit it. In your most self-aggrandizing dreams you're as charming as Sydney Bristow, as lethal as Jason Bourne, and as intuitive and intellectual as Jack Ryan. If Austin Powers was anywhere in that mix you might want to keep that to yourself. But you know that real life spies don't really live like that. Right - you know that? A BETTER PEACE welcomes author, analyst and educator Amy Zegart to the virtual studio to set the record straight on the realities of the intelligence world in the digital age and talk about her new book Spies, Lies and Algorithms. She joins our own Gen Lester to discuss what real intelligence work looks like, what the role of AI is in the future of information collection and analysis and what intelligence priorities should look like going forward.

EDITOR'S NOTE: In light of the current situation on the Ukraine/Russia border the WAR ROOM Editorial Team thought it was a good time to revisit an incredibly well informed discussion of NATO. We're re-releasing this enlightening discussion between Stanley Sloan and Ron Granieri. And while we're at it we'd be remiss if we didn't point to our NATO Archive where you can find another sixteen articles and episodes on different aspects of NATO. In discussing NATO and our European allies, burden sharing has been a hot topic for the last several years under the current administration. But the fact of the matter is that burden sharing has been an area of concern since the inception of NATO and throughout it's development. A BETTER PEACE welcomes Stanley Sloan to the studio to discuss the current state of NATO and a way ahead for the organization. Sloan, a subject matter expert on NATO and transatlantic relations, joins podcast host Ron Granieri to examine the history of U.S./NATO relations, the growth in membership and the current and future implications for all of its member nations as well as Russia.

As the situation on the Ukrainian/Russian border seems to worsen and families and nonessential staff prepare to evacuate the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, pundits are throwing around the concepts of U.S. credibility and reputation. Interestingly our Editor-in-Chief, Jacqueline Whitt, sat down in the virtual studio last week to discuss this very topic with podcast editor, Ron Granieri. Intuition might suggest that events like Vietnam, Iraq and last year's withdrawal from Afghanistan would seriously damage U.S. reputation on the world stage. Jackie and Ron discuss the reality of how the U.S. is viewed, how these events have created greater internal partisan divisions and how difficult crafting a strategic message is in the modern day world of hyper-connectivity.