The Strategy Bridge

In this episode of the Strategy Bridge Podcast we talk with August Cole about how fiction and imaginative thinking can inform how we approach national security affairs. Cole is a non-resident senior fellow at the Brent Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council. From 2014-2017 he directed the Art of Future Warfare Project. Along with Peter Singer he is the author of two novels “Ghost Fleet” and “Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution.”

During World War II, librarians, archivists, microfilm specialists, and book connoisseurs were recruited by the US government to go overseas and collect enemy books, newspapers, journals, and other publications as part of an open-source intelligence effort. In this episode of the Strategy Bridge Podcast we talk about their work with Dr. Kathy Peiss. She is the author of “Information Hunters: When Librarians, Soldiers, and Spies Banded Together In World War II Europe.”

In 1971, political theorist Hannah Arendt published an essay in the New York Review of Books called “Lying in Politics” that focused on issues of deception and self-deception as revealed in the Pentagon Papers. In this episode we talk with Dr. Celestino Perez about Arendt’s essay and what it can teach us about decision making. Perez is a colonel in the U.S. Army and a professor at the Army War College.

Since its establishment during the Truman administration, the U.S. foreign assistance program has been seen by policymakers as a primary means of influencing the politics and economies of recipient countries. But the effects of foreign assistance has often had unintended consequences. In this episode of the Strategy Bridge podcast we talk with Dr. Jessica Trisko Darden about how US foreign assistance contributes to state violence and government repression.

From the 1870s-1890s the U.S. Navy experienced a strategical awakening. Changes in technology, international politics, and other factors drove officers to develop new concepts of naval professionalism, identity, and organization. In this episode of the Strategy Bridge Podcast we talk with Dr. Scott Mobley about how this awakening unfolded. Mobley teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is the author of Progressives in Navy Blue.

In 1863, Camp William Penn was established outside of Philadelphia to train African American soldiers for the Union Army. By the end of the war eleven U.S. Colored Troops regiments were trained there and would go on to serve in Virginia, Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina and other states. In this episode of the Strategy Bridge Podcast we talk with Donald Scott about the U.S. Colored Troops and Camp William Penn. He is the author of the book “Camp William Penn, 1863-1865.” 

While military thinkers have assembled many lists of the principles of war, they have not developed a theory of tactics. Brett Friedman set out to remedy that situation by writing the book he wished he had when he was a junior officer. In this episode of the Strategy Bridge Podcast he joins us to talk about his book "On Tactics: A Theory of Victory in Battle." Friedman is a military analyst and Marine Corps Reserve officer.

In this episode of The Strategy Bridge Podcast we talk about naval irregular warfare in early America with Dr. Benjamin Armstrong. He is an active duty naval officer and Assistant Professor of War Studies and Naval History at the US Naval Academy. Armstrong is the author of the book "Small Boats and Daring Men: Maritime Raiding, Irregular Warfare and the Early American Navy."

Throughout the 19th century the U.S. Army alternated between a small regular force scattered at isolated forts and large forces built quickly to fight major wars. In his book Preparing for War, Dr. J.P. Clark breaks the officer corps down into four generations between 1815-1917 whose ideas about professionalism and how to prepare for war were shaped by their institutions, experiences and culture.

In this episode of the Strategy Bridge Podcast, we talk with Elizabeth Bartels about how wargames are designed, the differences in approaching gaming as an art and a science, and how games are used to think creatively about global competition. Bartels is a PhD candidate studying national security policy gaming at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. 

In 1967, a short book called Military Strategy: A General Theory of Power Control was published by a naval officer named J.C. Wylie. Over the years the book developed a devoted following despite being generally neglected and is considered one of the important books on strategy to come out of the 20th century. In this episode of the Strategy Bridge Podcast we are joined by Dr. Nick Prime to talk about “Military Strategy” and its intellectual history.

From July 1966 to January 1970, Nigerians fought a civil war which led to the deaths of more than half a million people. In this episode we talk with Judd Devermont about the American intelligence community’s biases in its analysis of the Nigerian Civil War and its influence on American policy. Devermont is the director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He has worked at the CIA, National Security Council, and in the office of the Director of National Intelligence

In 1983 Soviet leaders interpreted a series of American actions leading up to Exercise ABLE ARCHER as real steps toward a nuclear attack. In this episode we talk with Dr. Bob Hamilton about how Soviets and Americans misunderstood each other and almost started a nuclear war. Hamilton is an Professor of Eurasian Studies at the U.S. Army War College and a retired Army colonel. He is the author of the article “ABLE ARCHER at 35: Lessons of the 1983 War Scare.” 

The decision to go to war is one of the most important a country can make. In a democracy that debate can involve activist groups both for and against the war. In this episode of the Strategy Bridge Podcast, we talk with Dr. Michael Kazin about the American anti-war movement during WWI. Kazin is a professor of history at Georgetown University and a co-editor of Dissent Magazine. He is the author of "War Against War: The American Fight for Peace 1914-1918."

As the United States industrialized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the U.S. Navy worked to adapt to a maritime environment shaped by the development of new technologies and ship types. In this episode of the Strategy Bridge podcast we talk with Trent Hone about how the American Navy transitioned from a traditional institution to a modern learning organization. Hone is the author of the book "Learning War: The Evolution of Fighting Doctrine in the US Navy, 1898-1945."