Horns of a Dilemma

On this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Jonathan Hunt talks about his book, The Nuclear Club: How America and the World Policed the Atom from Hiroshima to Vietnam. Hunt starts out with an anecdote about the origins of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty under U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his Special Assistant for National Security Affairs Walt Whitman Rostow. He then outlines the core argument of his book: that parallel to the nuclear revolution was a “counter-revolution” to prevent the universalization of nuclear weapons, therefore maintaining the dominance of the “nuclear club” of nuclear-armed states. He then discusses the sequence of events that led to the implementation of nuclear laws, including the Limited Test Ban Treaty and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Finally, he touches on the lessons of this narrative and how the politics of nuclear diplomacy during the Cold War led to the rise of a “paternal” U.S. presidency. This was recorded at the Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas at Austin.

On this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, former Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Mission Integration Beth Sanner delivers a candid and enriching lecture about being an intelligence professional at the highest level in the White House. Among many duties, this job involved serving as U.S. President Donald Trump's intelligence briefer. Ms. Sanner starts off her talk by describing the history of the president's daily intelligence briefing, then dives into how the briefings are crafted. She discusses what it means to be an intelligence officer and the importance of these briefs to the entire national security community. Then, she describes the day-to-day of delivering intelligence to President Trump, what worked best, and the lessons she learned in the process. This episode is a must-listen for anyone considering a career in the intelligence and national security community.

On this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, William Inboden, editor-in-chief of the Texas National Security Review and executive director of the Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas at Austin, sat down with Amb. Kay Bailey Hutchison, former United States senator from Texas and, later, the U.S. permanent representative to NATO. The two had a thoughtful and wide-ranging conversation about European security and global energy policy. First, the two discussed Inboden’s new book, The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan in the White House and the World, and how President Dwight D. Eisenhower helped shape President Reagan’s foreign policy strategy. Then, they talked about Amb. Hutchison’s tenure at NATO and how the war in Ukraine has affected the alliance. In particular, she touched on the need for U.S. leadership to drive solidarity within the alliance and the importance of continued U.S. support for Ukraine. Finally, the two discussed European views of China and the latest work done by the Kay Bailey Hutchison Energy Center at the University of Texas at Austin. This episode was recorded in Austin, Texas.

In this week’s Horns of a Dilemma, Maj. Ben Griffin, the Chief of the Military History Division at West Point, discusses his new book, Reagan's War Stories: A Cold War Presidency. In the book, Ben tells three stories about United States President Ronald Reagan, the President who ushered in the end of the Cold War. The book touches on Reagan’s relationship with many writers and figures from pop culture, including writer Tom Clancy. In part of this episode, Griffin discusses the relationship between the two and how President Reagan saw Clancy’s book, Red Storm Rising, as a credible war game that influenced his negotiations with Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev over nuclear weapons. Griffin also touches on how Clancy’s books, including The Hunt for Red October, shaped his own life.

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Ann Ganzer of the State Department's Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation recently visited the University of Texas, Austin. In this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Ganzer sits down with Clements Center Associate Director Paul Edgar to discuss many of the issues she discussed with students. The issues under her purview are the things that keep policy makers up at night--the proliferation of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, security questions related to the civilian use of nuclear power, and the security challenges posed by new technologies such as advanced unmanned aerial vehicles or semiconductors, especially as they could be used to precisely deliver deadly weapons. The discussion ranges from the type of people the State Department needs to recruit, to Russian disinformation campaigns, to concerns over threats to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant during Russia's war in Ukraine.  This discussion was held at the University of Texas, Austin.

In this week's episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Marine Corps Gen. (Ret) Robert Neller joins University of Texas, Austin Professor Paul Pope to discuss the recent force structure and doctrine changes in the Marine Corps, intended to create a force ready to fight a war with China. Neller begins with a basic overview of the contemporary security environment, and traces the requirements that emerge all the way through hard choices about the composition, training, and mission of the Marine Corps. This is a rare, insightful look into the process of adapting a military service for changing requirements from someone who once led that service. While it is illuminating for understanding the current debate surrounding Marine Corps expeditionary advanced base operations, the principles and choices Neller lays out provide insight into the challenges of strategic defense planning for the entire U.S. military. This discussion was held at the University of Texas, Austin, and was co-hosted by the University's Alexander Hamilton Society.

In this week's episode of Horns of a Dilemma, Mackenzie Eaglen, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, addresses the challenging questions of how to allocate defense spending to meet American strategic interests around the globe. Eaglen discusses the relationship between strategy and budget, as well as how "reality always gets a vote" and often results in a need to spend money in areas that were not projected to be strategic priorities. Eaglen engages in a broad-ranging question and answer session with members of the audience which provides a comprehensive overview of the relationship between strategy, politics, defense spending, and capabilities on the ground for the United States and its allies. This discussion was held at the University of Texas, Austin.

Napoleon once said that leaders are "dealers in hope." While such a label might seem to fit Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelensky, it fits more awkwardly on Russian President Vladimir Putin. How has the leadership of these two men shaped the onset and current progress of the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Would the invasion have happened at all, or if had happened would it have progressed differently under different leadership? These are the fundamental questions addressed in this week's Horns of a Dilemma. Texas National Security Review Executive Editor Doyle Hodges is joined by Brown University Professor (and member of the TNSR Editorial Board) Rose McDermott to discuss political psychology, leadership, and the war in Ukraine.  This discussion ranges from the origins, strengths, and limits of political psychology to analysis of the leaders involved in the conflict to literary criticism of two great Russian novels.  Professor McDermott is also a contributor to a new book from Cornell University Press, The Fragile Balance of Terror: Deterrence in the New Nuclear Age

In this week's Horns of a Dilemma, Daniel Runde of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, speaks about his new book, The American Imperative: Reclaiming Global Leadership Through Soft Power.  Liberals and conservatives are frequently divided over foreign policy preferences, with conservatives favoring hard power, such as military might, and liberals emphasizing soft power elements, such as leadership in international organizations. Runde approaches foreign policy from a conservative perspective but concludes that competition between the United States and rivals like Russia or China is more likely to play out in the arena of soft power than in hard power confrontations. Runde therefore argues that without leadership in soft power, the United States is likely to find itself on the losing side in great power competition. This is a novel and compelling argument about the importance of American leadership. This discussion was held at the University of Texas, Austin.

The turnover between U.S. presidential administrations can be a time of uncertainty and vulnerability. In this week's episode of Horns of a Dilemma, we hear from former National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley, who discusses the forthcoming volume, Hand-Off: The Foreign Policy George W. Bush Passed to Barack Obama. This book, a collection of transition memoranda prepared by National Security Council staffers, reflections by the principals, and analysis by scholars, is an unprecedented glimpse into the transition process, as well as an early comprehensive history of the George W. Bush administration’s foreign policy. Hadley discusses the book and the transition process with Clements Center Executive Director Will Inboden, who worked for Hadley at the time on the National Security Council, and who offers his own insights and recollections. This book and this discussion are a remarkable "second draft" of history--benefiting from more access and context than contemporaneous journalism can allow, and leveraging fresh recollections and insights into events whose implications have not yet fully played out.  This discussion was held at the University of Texas, Austin on February 14, 2023.