A Better Peace: The War Room Podcast

In 2019 we published our first holiday message. It was a reprint of the words of Prime Minister Winston Churchill on Christmas Eve in 1941 as he stood beside President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the South Portico of the White House. Last year we published President Franklin D. Roosevelt's words from his 1942 Christmas Eve message. At the risk of returning to the well one too many times, this year it seemed all too appropriate, in the 80th anniversary year of the attack on Pearl Harbor, to highlight FDR’s message from Christmas Eve 1941. There are so many things that you can choose to be mad or scared about in the world today. There have been too many lines drawn, dividing even friends and families. In truth the only thing that will get us all through this adversity is just as FDR closed his speech 80 years ago, the “conviction of the dignity and brotherhood of man which Christmas Day signifies more than any other day or any other symbol.” The staff of WAR ROOM hopes, as we do each year, that you and your loved ones can find reason for cheer this season. We hope that you have good will towards your neighbors and pride in those who risk their lives daily both overseas and at home, defending our liberties, caring for the aged and ill among us, delivering packages, and keeping vital services open. This year we are presenting this holiday message both as an article as well as a podcast episode. You can listen to the original recording of the messages of President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill below and on your favorite podcatcher.

Usually Michael Neiberg is the interviewer in our ON WRITING series. In this episode he sits down with podcast editor Ron Granieri as the interviewee. They're talking about his new book When France Fell: The Vichy Crisis and the Fate of the Anglo-American Alliance. The two examine the conflict between Free and Vichy France and the interaction with the Allies in the early days and throughout World War II. They discuss relationships rife with bad assumptions, mistrust, failed promises and difficult personalities which leads to a much better understanding of the United States' dealings with its oldest ally.

The WAR ROOM Staff learned of the recent loss of one of the great thinkers in the world of strategic thought. Colonel (retired) Arthur F. Lykke was a faculty instructor in the Department of National Security and Strategy at the U.S. Army War College in the late 80's and nearly 35 years ago he introduced the national security world to three little words - END, WAYS and MEANS. Art left us in the final weekend of November 2021 but we were fortunate enough to sit down and talk with him as he shared his thinking behind the now famous three-legged stool that every serious military thinker, statesperson and strategic leader has contemplated, critiqued, discussed or implemented in the course of their studies and duties. We offer this special re-release of part 2 of the 2-part podcast with him in honor of his contribution to strategy. Until we meet again Art, thank you. TRANSCRIPT: https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/19-184-LYKKES-LITTLE-THREE-LEGGED-STOOL-PART-2-Transcript.pdf

The WAR ROOM Staff learned of the recent loss of one of the great thinkers in the world of strategic thought. Colonel (retired) Arthur F. Lykke was a faculty instructor in the Department of National Security and Strategy at the U.S. Army War College in the late 80's and nearly 35 years ago he introduced the national security world to three little words - END, WAYS and MEANS. Art left us in the final weekend of November 2021 but we were fortunate enough to sit down and talk with him as he shared his thinking behind the now famous three-legged stool that every serious military thinker, statesperson and strategic leader has contemplated, critiqued, discussed or implemented in the course of their studies and duties. We offer this special re-release of part 1 of the 2-part podcast with him in honor of his contribution to strategy. Until we meet again Art, thank you. TRANSCRIPT: https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/wp-content/uploads/19-184-LYKKES-LITTLE-THREE-LEGGED-STOOL-PART-1-Transcript.pdf

Since its birth, the United States has benefited from the protection of two vast oceans to the east and west. The events of 9/11, of course, brought new attention to the defense of the homeland and recent cyber attacks redefined thoughts of secure borders. A BETTER PEACE welcomes Matt Cavanaugh, Franky Matisek and Bert Tussing to the virtual studio to discuss their part in the Homeland Defense Institute. They join podcast editor Ron Granieri to examine how information is being used to divide and attack the civilian population. They look at examples of cyber attacks and the use of misinformation in Eastern Europe and discuss how Information as a part of DIME has come to the forefront in the cyber age.

What is readiness? The state of being fully prepared for something? But what is that something? And what does fully prepared mean or more importantly cost? The military has used readiness as a metric of success for years driving budgets and training and acquisition efforts across the force. A BETTER PEACE welcomes our own Tom Galvin to discuss the War College's latest look at readiness. He joins podcast editor Ron Granieri in the virtual studio to discuss what he has termed enterprise readiness. The topic spans ideas such as intellectual readiness, strategic agility, large scale warfare and the role of national readiness and nesting into the the country's strategic communications. The publications referenced in this episode can be found here in the Practitioner's Corner. - https://publications.armywarcollege.edu/publication.cfm?categoryID=30

A little over two years ago we sat down with the students and advisors of Integrated Research Project (IRP) #6. Their task was to examine leadership development requirements in the multi-domain operations environment in the year 2040. Due to a hardware malfunction we thought we had lost the recordings of these conversations, but just recently we were able to recover the files. Though the conversation has a couple of dated references, we thought the topic was still worth airing. A BETTER PEACE is happy to welcome Chance Geray, Tim Monroe and Jason Schmidt to the studio for the last of three episodes to discuss what the team found looking forward twenty years. In this final episode they tie together all of the research findings from the IRP. They look at current leadership development trends, the challenges of the future battle environment and what has to be done to ensure that the U.S. continues to have the most capable leaders for tomorrow. They’ll lay the foundation for the changes necessary to ensure U.S. military leadership is prepared for future warfare and peacekeeping.

In the last episode we introduced you to Integrated Research Project (IRP) #6. A little over two years ago we sat down with the students and advisors of the study to examine leadership development requirements in the multi-domain operations environment in the year 2040. Due to a hardware malfunction we thought we had lost the recordings of these conversations, but just recently we were able to recover the files. Though the conversation has a couple of dated references, we thought the topic was definitely worth airing. A BETTER PEACE welcomes Jason Schmidt, Rick O'Donnell and Greg Hillebrand to the studio for the second of three episodes to discuss what the team found looking forward twenty years. In this episode they look at how the military has traditionally developed leaders and current trends in that arena. They’ll lay the foundation for the changes necessary to ensure U.S. military leadership is prepared for the challenges of future warfare and peacekeeping.

A little over two years ago we sat down with the students and advisors of Integrated Research Project (IRP) #6. Their task was to examine leadership development requirements in the multi-domain operations environment in the year 2040. Due to a hardware malfunction we thought we had lost the recordings of these conversations, but just recently we were able to recover the files. Though the conversation has a couple of dated references, we thought the topic was definitely worth airing. A BETTER PEACE is happy to welcome Greg Hillebrand, Tim Monroe, and Chance Geray to the studio for the first of three episodes to discuss what the team found looking forward twenty years. In this first episode they look at some of the biggest changes in the environment that will affect leadership requirements of the future. They’ll lay the foundation for the changes necessary to ensure U.S. military leadership is prepared for the challenges of future warfare and peacekeeping.

Every year the U.S. Army seeks out 125,000 to 140,000 new recruits to maintain the desired end strength and capability of the force. In order to do that the Army Enterprise Marketing Office has to craft a message that appeals to a broad audience across the shrinking qualified U.S. population. All the while the Army has to compete with the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines and now the Space Force also trying to attract the most qualified recruits from the U.S. citizenry. A BETTER PEACE welcomes Matt Lawrence and John Horning to the virtual studio to discuss the myths and challenges Army marketing has to contend with. They join podcast editor Ron Granieri to look at what it takes to create a message campaign that entices high quality personnel and dispel the myth that the Army is "the bureaucratic meat grinder of the underprivileged."