Modern War Institute

Tom Carrico, Director of the Missile Defense Project at CSIS, shares insights on the recent Iranian missile and drone attacks against Israel. He delves into the impressive effectiveness of Israel's air defense, including the Iron Dome, and the collaborative efforts of coalition forces. Carrico explains the complexities of command and control in missile defense operations and discusses the evolution of military strategies in the face of modern threats. The conversation highlights critical lessons for future U.S. defense efforts against evolving air and missile challenges.

Seth Johnston, a U.S. Army officer and NATO expert, dives into the alliance's 75-year history and adaptation. He discusses the transformation of NATO from its Cold War origins to its crucial role after 9/11. Johnston highlights the challenges of burden sharing and the significance of the 2% GDP spending guideline. He reflects on NATO's adaptability to geopolitical changes and emphasizes the ongoing relevance of the alliance in today’s security landscape. Tune in for insights on European strategic autonomy and the enduring commitment to collective defense!

Sandor Fabian, a retired Hungarian Special Operations Forces officer with a PhD, dives into the vital role of resistance as a defense strategy for small states. He discusses the vulnerability of these nations amid larger aggressors, emphasizing the importance of adapting military approaches to enhance resistance capabilities. Key topics include the evolving defense strategies in urban settings, the tension between NATO's interoperability goals and small states' specific needs, and the implications for U.S. Special Forces in modern conflict.

W. J. “Bill” Hennigan, lead writer for the New York Times series 'At the Brink,' dives deep into the complexities of nuclear weapons. He highlights the rising danger of tactical nuclear arms during the Ukraine conflict and discusses the evolving landscape of nuclear deterrence. Hennigan shares insights on the formation of a ‘tiger team’ aimed at improving crisis management strategies. He emphasizes the urgent need for renewed diplomatic efforts and advocates for collaborative decision-making to mitigate the risks of unilateral nuclear launch authority.

The Houthi movement in Yemen has launched dozens of attacks against commercial ships in the Red Sea in recent months. Over the same period, militant groups have attacked US forces in the Middle East as many as 160 times—including the deadly drone attack against a base on Jordan’s border with Syria. And cross-border strikes between Hezbollah, operating from its southern Lebanon base, and Israeli forces have increased. All of this has occurred since Israel began its campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s October 7 attacks. And all of these groups have strong relationships with Iran. But how should we understand this complex array of combatant groups and their employment by Tehran? More directly, how should the US government respond to these groups’ actions? To explore these questions, this episode features a conversation with Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council.

While Ukraine's international supporters have provided equipment to enable the country's defense against Russia's aggression for nearly two years, global actors have also responded on a completely separate front—putting in place a massive sanctions regime targeting Russia. What effect have they had on Russia and its ability to make war? More broadly, how do sanctions and other instruments of economic statecraft fit within the United States' foreign and security policy? To explore those questions, John Amble is joined on this episode by Edward Fishman, a former government official who worked extensively on sanctions policy and is now an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

Most people know something about the most famous amphibious operations in military history—the D-Day landings and Gallipoli, for example. But what about an amphibious night attack on the shores of Tuscany in 1555? Or a Turkish amphibious assault in response to a coup in Cyprus in 1974? This episode features a conversation with Tim Heck, coeditor of the book On Contested Shores: The Evolving Role of Amphibious Operations in the History of Warfare, and explores the past, present, and future of amphibious operations.

This special episode of the MWI Podcast features the first installment of a three-part miniseries produced by the Irregular Warfare Initiative. The series focuses on irregular warfare in Israel and is hosted by Adam Darnley-Stuart. In the first episode, he speaks to renowned counterterrorism analyst Dr. Levi West about Hamas, its history, and its strategy. Dr. West offers nuanced insights into Hamas operations and the likelihood that the organization's tactics might be adopted by other groups around the world. The discussion explores the effects of the October 7 Hamas attacks and Israel's ongoing military response on the enduring friction between Israel and Iran, examines the broader impacts on the geopolitical environment, and more. Be sure to subscribe to the Irregular Warfare Podcast to hear the second and third parts of this timely series.

Observers watched the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War closely, searching for indicators of the character of warfare on tomorrow's battlefields. The lessons extracted have covered advanced technology and unmanned platforms, proxy dynamics, the ongoing relevance of armor, and more. But some of the most important lessons have received much less attention. They center around the increasingly unavoidable importance of combat in cities and are drawn principally from the battle for the city of Shusha—a fight that arguably decided the outcome of the war. Listen as John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at MWI, explains why.

When Hamas fighters conducted a large-scale and deadly attack against Israel and its people on October 7, what was the group aiming to achieve? What were its strategic objectives? And what sort of Israeli response was it planning for? On this episode, John Amble speaks to Dr. Michele Groppi, a lecturer in the Defence Studies Department at King’s College London. Hamas's brutal attacks might have been tactically successful, but as Michele argues, they also might have actually exceeded what the group thought it would be able to accomplish. And that tactical success might prove to be a major strategic error, if Israel sets as the objective of any ground campaign in Gaza the complete organizational dismantling of Hamas and total destruction of its military capabilities.