Modern War Institute

In this episode of the Modern War Institute Podcast, John Amble is joined by Rebecca Lissner and Mira Rapp-Hooper, authors of the new book An Open World: How America Can Win the Contest for Twenty-First-Century Order. Amid global power shifts and a changing world order, as well as tumultuous domestic political dynamics and rapid technological change, they make the case that US success in the decades to come will hinge on policymakers' pursuit of openness as a defining characteristic of American grand strategy.

In this episode, we talk to American University Professor Joseph Young and the Brookings Institution's Jason Fritz about a phenomenon they've been studying: American citizens who traveled independently to the Middle East to fight ISIS. They interviewed many of these individuals, and they share what they learned about them and why they chose to go and fight in Iraq and Syria. Note: This episode was originally released in April 2018.

This episode of the Modern War Institute Podcast features a conversation with Dave Stephenson, the director of the Joint Staff’s Office of Irregular Warfare and Competition. The conversation dives deeply into the role of irregular warfare in the current and future global operation environments. How does it fit into the notion of great-power competition? Why is a joint approach to irregular warfare, which brings together the perspectives and accounts for the capabilities of all US armed services, especially important? These are just a few of the questions the discussion covers.

This episode of the Modern War Institute Podcast features a conversation with Col. Curt Taylor, commander of the 5th Security Force Assistance Brigade. The unit was formally activated in May, and he shares his perspective on everything that goes into creating such a unique organization. He also describes how SFABs recruit and select officers and noncommissioned officers for the advising mission, and what role advising has in an era of great-power competition.

This episode of the MWI Podcast features a discussion with Ali Wyne. He is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a nonresident fellow at the Modern War Institute whose recent research has been focused on great-power competition. This has become a framing mechanism within which to think about and plan US interactions with other actors. But is it a strategy? Have we defined what it entails, practically and considering all instruments of national power? The discussion tackles these and several other questions.

In this episode, four remarkably accomplished women in the field of national security join to share their experiences and observations on the evolving dynamics surrounding the vital contributions women make to US security.

This episode of the MWI Podcast features a conversation with August Cole, coauthor of a new book called Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution. It’s a techno-thriller and a work of fiction, but it is also based on deep research and allows readers to examine the types of technologies that will increasingly characterize the future—from everyday life to the conduct of war.

The Irregular Warfare Podcast is a new collaboration between the Modern War Institute at West Point and Princeton University's Empirical Studies of Conflict Project. In this preview of the inaugural episode, hosts Kyle Atwell and Nick Lopez talk to Jake Shapiro, co-director of ESOC and Col. Pat Howell, director of MWI. The conversation tackles a fundamental question: What are "small wars"? Find the podcast on your favorite podcast app to hear the full conversation and subscribe so you hear future episodes, set to be released every two weeks.

How did ISIS manage to take control of so much territory, imposing its will politically and inflicting an immense amount of damage? How should we make sense of its origins and evolution as an organization? And does a better understanding of the group enable us to anticipate what form it might take in its next evolutionary stage? This episode features a conversation about these and other questions with Craig Whiteside and Haroro Ingram, two of the authors of a recent book, The ISIS Reader.

What's going on in North Korea? Is Kim Jong-Un alive or dead? We don’t actually know—and that's remarkable. The country is in the midst of a situation that could have serious ramifications for the region and for international security. This episode features a conversation with Dr. Van Jackson about just what is happening in the country right now and how prepared—or unprepared—the United States is for a potentially destabilizing event like the death of Kim Jong-Un.