From the Crows' Nest

In this episode of the From the Crows’ Nest, host Ken Miller, welcomes back ForzaDC’s Madison Strader Arcangeli and Katy Nazaretova to discuss where Congress stands on the annual defense budget as they break for August and enter the fall with mid-term elections on the horizon. Madison and Katy share some important updates EW funding and amendments, and they offer what they expect to see of the budget process the rest of year (Hint: Don’t panic. Congress loves to wait until the last minute). To learn more about today’s topics or to stay updated on EMSO and EW developments, visit here. Interested in attending AOC 2022? Registration is open. We hope to see you there.

Host Ken Miller sits with Eric Colon, Director, Strategic Solutions for EW and Cyber at Corvus Consulting, LLC. Eric is a senior subject matter expert on the evolution of Army electronic warfare and cyber electromagnetic activities (CEMA). Ken and Eric discuss how the Army faces an array of complex threats from China, Russia, and other peer competitors. Now more than a decade since the inception of the Army EW structure that we know today, how is the Army addressing these challenges stemming from this new concept of an “invisible battlefield.” They also delve into the Army EW budget currently before Congress and lessons that the Army is learning from the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. To learn more about today’s topics or to stay updated on EMSO and EW developments, visit our website. Interested in attending AOC 2022? Registration is open. We hope to see you there.

In this episode of From the Crows’ Nest, host Ken Miller is joined by Brigadier General Guy Walsh, USAF (Ret.). Gen. Walsh is currently the Executive Director of the National Security Collaboration Center at the University of Texas San Antonio (NSCC). They discuss the state of cyber operations today across the Department of Defense and homeland security agencies. Gen. Walsh highlights the need to strengthen public/private collaboration to more efficiently address the complex threats and challenges facing the US and our allied partners in cyberspace. They also discuss how cyber operations align with the 2022 National Defense Strategy. To learn more about the topics discussed or to stay updated on EMSO and EW developments, visit here. Interested in attending AOC 2022? Registration is open. We hope to see you there.

In today’s episode of From the Crows’ Nest, Host Ken Miller is joined by Dr. Adam Lowther to discuss the evolution of US nuclear weapons policy since the end of the Cold War and into this new age of Great Power Competition.  Global security is changing rapidly, and we are required to rethink our underlying assumptions, especially as Russia invades Ukraine and China opportunistically takes advantage of current events to strengthen its strategic goals in the Pacific. Dr. Lowther is an author and editor of a new book entitled, Guide to Nuclear Deterrence in the Age of Great-Power Competition. He is currently the Director of Multidomain Operations at the Army Management Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, KS. He was the founding director of the US Air Force’s School of Advanced Nuclear Deterrence Studies at Kirtland Air Force Base. The views expressed are his own and do not represent those of the United States government. For more information on the Association of Old Crows, please visit here.

Host Ken Miller sits down with journalist and author, Michael Fabey, to discuss his new book, Heavy Metal – The Hard Days and Nights of the Shipyard Workers who Build America’s Supercarriers. The book chronicles the building of the USS John F. Kennedy, the 2nd Ford-class supercarrier. He takes us into the lives and stories of the shipyard workers who build these “cities on the sea” and provides us insight into the revitalization of the American labor movement. Michael Fabey has reported on military and naval affairs for most of his career. In his work for National Geographic Traveler, the Economist Group, Defense News, Aviation Week, and Janes, he has collected more than two dozen reporting awards, including the prestigious Timothy White Award. His first book, Crashback, provides an account of the power struggle between the U.S. and China in the Pacific.To learn more and purchase his books, visit here. Listeners will also enjoy his recent article in Medium entitled, “Why what happened to the Russian warship Moskva won’t happen to American aircraft carriers,” here.

The congressional defense budget process will be heating up over the next few weeks. To understand what we should expect for defense funding in the fiscal year 2022, Ken Miller talks with Madison Strader Arcangeli and Katy Nazaretova of Forza DC, a federal strategies and consulting firm that helps organizations engage with Capitol Hill over defense, technology, and cyber security issues. Madison and Katy break down the National Defense Authorization Act and Defense Appropriations Bill, explaining how these bills differ from each other and what each bill covers. We also discuss the big-ticket items the defense budget committee will grapple with, how congressional staff will navigate the political dance of defense bills, and what the future holds for the responsible defense budgets. To learn more about today’s topics or to stay updated on EMSO and EW developments, visit our homepage.

From Ukraine to China, NATO to Congress, a lot has happened in May. In this episode, host Ken Miller talks with JED editor, John Knowles to take a step back and discuss where these topics stand in the EW community. John and Ken particularly discuss how these current conflicts have generated a lot of new interest in EMSO, and they ask the question: how can we move EMSO past this type of episodic interest driven by conflict to become a sustained and managed practice? John and Ken also update us on the new phase of conflict in Ukraine, the role of EMSO in NATO, and what the Russia-Ukraine conflict implies for China and Taiwan. To learn more about today’s topics or to stay updated on EMSO and EW developments, visit our homepage. 

In this episode, host Ken Miller sits down with Col. William “Dollar” Young, Commander of the USAF 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing to discuss how the Air Force is addressing the challenges of achieving and sustaining EMS Superiority. Ken and Dollar talked at the AOC Dixie Crow Symposium 2022 in March in Warner Robins, GA.Let us know what you think of From the Crows’ Nest! The Association of Old Crows wants our podcasts to serve you, our audience, in the best ways possible. Please take just a moment to rate us or comment wherever you down our podcast.Thank you!

In this episode of From the Crows’ Nest, host Ken Miller revisits Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) and sits down with Bryan Clark and Dan Patt from the Hudson Institute to discuss their new report, “One Size Fits None: Overhauling JADC2 to Prioritize the Warfighter and Exploit Adversaries Weaknesses.” Ken, Bryan and Dan talk about the need to think differently about JADC2, an ambitious and potentially costly vision that may miss the mark when it comes to its primary customer – the warfighter. As technology changes at the tactical edge, the Defense Department must change the way it conducts business and implements potentially game-changing capabilities for the joint forces.

In this episode, host Ken Miller welcomes Col. Jeffery Fischer, USAF (Ret), to discuss current developments in Ukraine and how the conflict may change how we think about fighting in the electromagnetic spectrum. Jeff is a 30-year Military Aviator and Electronic Warfare Officer with seven combat tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans. He flew both the Air Force's EC-130H Compass Call and the EA-6B Prowler while on a joint exchange with the US Navy. He also served as Diplomatic Defense Official to U.S. Embassies in Austria and Kosovo and at NATO Special Operations Headquarters in Mons, Belgium. Today he is a consultant and author of military fiction thrillers. You can learn more here.Let us know what you think of From the Crows’ Nest! The Association of Old Crows wants our podcasts to serve you, our audience, in the best ways possible. Please take just a few minutes to complete our 2022 listener survey, because your opinion is very important to us. Thank you!