Hudson Institute Events Podcast

The Indo-Pacific region stands at a critical juncture today. Over the past few years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has adopted an increasingly coercive and aggressive approach to advancing its interests and reshaping the rules-based international order at the expense of the region’s security and stability.On the heels of Secretary Lloyd Austin’s travels to the Indo-Pacific, Hudson Asia-Pacific Security Chair Dr. Patrick M. Cronin and Senior Fellow Rebeccah Heinrichs will host Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Dr. Ely Rattner and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia Lindsey W. Ford for a conversation on the Department of Defense’s vision for building a more resilient security architecture in Southeast Asia and across the region. The defense officials will discuss the department’s strategy and investments toward modernizing US alliances and partnerships, strengthening regional security networks, and enhancing deterrence to sustain a free and open Indo-Pacific.

The war in Ukraine has shown that industrial might and logistics remain vitally important in a military confrontation when other modern warfare methods are not immediately decisive. When applying those lessons to a potential conflict in the western Pacific—where maritime logistics would be crucial, and where China’s maritime industry is growing—America faces challenges. For generations, the United States has not treated the American commercial shipping and shipbuilding industries as important components of national power. So today the US maritime industry is too small to contribute as much as it should to America’s military and economic security.Hudson will host a conversation that examines the current state of the US maritime industry, its potential role in a western Pacific conflict, and the short- and long-term options to restore an American industry that promotes American security.Rear Admiral Mark Buzby (US Navy, ret.) is the guest speaker. A graduate of the US Merchant Marine Academy and US Naval War College, Adm. Buzby served as the commander of the Navy’s Military Sealift Command and head of the Maritime Administration in the US Department of Transportation. No one has done more over the past decade to try to reinvigorate the American maritime industry.This event is the kickoff for a series sponsored by the Maritime Research Program, a joint project offered by Hudson Institute’s Center for Defense Concepts and Technology and the Navy League’s Center for Maritime Strategy. Michael Roberts, a senior fellow with both organizations, will host the conversation.

Azerbaijan’s victory over Armenia in the Second Karabakh War in 2020 led to a peace process that began auspiciously but then stalled. For over two months, the two sides have been locked in a bitter disagreement over the Lachin corridor, the mountainous road that links Armenia to the ethnic Armenian enclave in Karabakh. According to international law, the corridor is in the Lachin District of Azerbaijan, but in keeping with the armistice agreement of 2020, a Russian peacekeeping force is in de facto control. Azerbaijan accuses Armenia (and, by implication, Russia and Iran) of exploiting the corridor and the enclave to shift the balance of power against Azerbaijan and prevent a peace deal. Armenia accuses Azerbaijan of blocking the corridor and, thereby, creating a humanitarian crisis in the Armenian sectors of Karabakh. Despite this ongoing controversy, in recent weeks reports indicate that Armenian and Azerbaijani negotiators—with the help of Washington, Brussels, and Moscow—are moving forward on peace talks. What is the state of play on these issues? What is at stake for the United States? How should the Biden administration proceed? To answer these questions, Hudson Senior Fellow Michael Doran hosts a discussion between Ambassador Elchin Amirbayov, the assistant to the first vice president of Azerbaijan, and Hudson Senior Fellow Luke Coffey.

Russia’s use of Iranian-made drones in Ukraine reveals that the alliance between Moscow and Tehran is more multifaceted and dangerous than previously understood. Indeed, the Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 loitering munitions have inflicted heavy damage on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. Moreover, the Wall Street Journal revealed that “Moscow and Tehran are moving ahead with plans to build a new factory in Russia that could make at least 6,000 Iranian-designed drones.” Not only will this joint venture resupply Russia’s arsenal, but it will also lead to an increase in the size and sophistication of Iran’s defense industrial base. What is the full extent of the threat? How should the United States respond?

Software is increasingly central to every sector of the American economy, and as the war in Ukraine makes clear, computer algorithms often mean the difference between victory and defeat for a modern military. The US government recently began restoring its competitive position in computer hardware with the CHIPs and Science Act and with export controls on chipmaking technology to China. The software supply chain requires similar attention if the US military and economy are to harvest the benefits of software-defined capabilities.Please join Hudson Senior Fellow Bryan Clark for a discussion with Representative Tony Gonzales, Conquest Cyber Chief Software Officer Jason Weiss, and Peraton Director of Navy Missions Cliff Bean about the challenges and opportunities in new approaches to strengthening and securing the nation’s software supply chains. 

Western governments responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with unprecedented speed and coordination, imposing sanctions on thousands of companies and individuals that had previously served as conduits for the Kremlin’s malign influence.But democracies are still waking up to the national security threat posed by powerful authoritarian regimes that routinely engage in crime, corruption, and coercion as tools of economic statecraft.The Rt. Hon. Tom Tugendhat was appointed minister for security at the UK Home Office in 2022, with responsibility for issues including domestic state threats and economic crime. From 2017 to 2022, he served as chair of the UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, a role in which he led efforts to expose Russian malign influence.Please join Hudson Institute for a keynote speech by Minister Tugendhat on state threats, illicit finance, and economic security.

The new Chinese foreign minister’s first foreign trip was to Angola, where he offered a package to build high-speed telecommunications infrastructure, which Huawei will most likely construct. The history of Chinese aid to Angola is rife with corrupting effects involving billions of dollars in diverted oil sector funds and implicating the highest levels of government.Join Hudson Institute and International Republican Institute experts in welcoming award-winning Angolan investigative journalist Rafael Marques as he presents new information about the malign influence of Chinese aid. They will also discuss the broader impact of Chinese efforts to win allies and gain an economic advantage in Africa.

Open-border policies have invited a once-in-a-generation humanitarian crisis at the US southern border. The number of monthly encounters between US Border Patrol agents and migrants attempting to cross is at a record high. Transnational drug cartels continue to bring illicit drugs like fentanyl from Mexico to the United States, exacerbating the American opioid epidemic. What can and should policymakers do to end this humanitarian crisis, stop the flow of drugs, and restore the rule of law at our southern border?Please join Hudson Distinguished Fellow and former US Attorney General Bill Barr and Hudson Media Fellow Jeremy Hunt for a discussion on the way out of this crisis.

Please join Peter Rough, Hudson Institue senior fellow and director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia, for a discussion with Žygimantas Pavilionis, Radoslaw Fogiel, and Oleksandr Merezhko, chairs of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committees of Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine, respectively. The three chairmen will provide an update on how their countries are coping with the war in Ukraine, the scope and level of coordination within the Lublin Triangle, and what they anticipate for the year to come.

Dr. Eyal Hulata served as the national security advisor to Israeli Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid. Israel starts 2023 with a prime minister who is both new and old, a new army chief of staff, and a long list of old and new national security challenges. Dr. Hulata joins us to share insights gleaned from his time in office and his sense of the major decisions his successor will face in the coming year.