Podcasts about centcom

For review:1. US CENTCOM Commander Visits Israel. General Michael Erik Kurilla, head of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), held an assessment with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the IDF said Thursday. 2. UK Telegraph Newspaper Report:  Iran has reportedly ordered its military personnel to leave Yemen and is pulling back its support for the Houthis amid extensive US airstrikes on the rebel group. 3. Russian Envoy: "Some (Ukrainian) security guarantees, in some form, may be acceptable."  Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev held two days of talks with American envoy Steve Witkoff, as part of President Donald Trump's push for a ceasefire and peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. 4. US Combatant Command Restructure? NBC Report: The Defense Department is considering relinquishing the role atop the NATO chain of command, which has always been held by an American four-star, historically by the head of US European Command, since the alliance's founding. 5.  The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group sailed through the Malacca Strait on Friday as it makes its way to U.S. Central Command. The PLA Navy's Shandong CSG sailed back into the South China Sea on Thursday after participating in drills against Taiwan. 6.  Japan's Self-Defense Force to develop new long-range, precision-guided missiles to “prevent and eliminate invading troops.” 7.  Australian military leaders are scrambling to cobble together fresh air defense capabilities.  

Join me for a conversation with USAF Col. (Ret.) Matt Yocum as we delve into his unique career trajectory, starting from his non-standard background in the Air Force's acquisition and engineering fields. Matt discusses his pivotal assignments, including his time in Israel as part of the Engineer and Scientist Exchange Program and later as an Air Force attaché, where he navigated through significant events like the Second Lebanon War. This episode also explores his role as a Commander's Action Group (CAG) director at CENTCOM, where he was instrumental in providing detailed and narratively rich reports on international engagements. Matt reflects on the importance of storytelling in military communication and its impact on effective diplomacy. The talk also covers his post-military career as a writer of comic books and graphic novels, highlighting his passion for the art form and his current projects, including a biographical graphic novel on a notable Pakistani figure. Throughout the episode, Matt emphasizes the significance of relationship-building, effective communication, and relentless helpfulness in both military and personal endeavors.   Links: www.Hangar19Consulting.com www.MattYocum.com Closet World Kickstarter   Books: The Twilight War by David Crist Brief by Joe McCormick Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson The New Map by Daniel Jurgen Power Broker by Robert Caro The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro The Vision by King, Waltaand Bellaire Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by King, Evely and Lopes Pluto: Urusawa x Tekuza by Nagasaki and Urasawa Bone by Jeff Smith   Time Stamps: 00:00 Introduction and Disclaimers 00:46 Meet Colonel Matt Yocum 01:15 Colonel Yocum's Air Force Journey 01:59 The Engineer and Scientist Exchange Program (ESEP) 02:44 Life and Work in Israel 04:42 Challenges and Experiences in Israel 09:01 Language Learning and Cultural Insights 34:58 The Second Lebanon War 39:35 Observations and Responsibilities as an Attache 45:31 Career Transitions and Future Plans 50:37 Arrival in Amman, Jordan 50:46 The New Normal: ISIS Crisis 51:44 Embassy Life and Community 54:02 Building Relationships and Cooperation 55:19 Information Sharing and Collaboration 01:03:34 Training and Equipping the Jordanian Air Force 01:18:44 Commander's Action Group (CAG) Experience 01:37:51 Decision to Stay in CAG 01:39:06 Balancing Family and Duty 01:40:43 Returning to JSO and Preparing for Retirement 01:42:14 Final Assignment and Retirement Ceremony 01:45:37 Reflecting on a Military Career 01:47:30 Challenges and Triumphs in Promotions 01:55:37 Post-Military Career in Comics 02:02:18 The Art of Storytelling in Communication 02:14:07 Recommended Reads and Final Thoughts    

//The Wire//2300Z April 2, 2025////ROUTINE////BLUF: MULTIPLE AMERICAN AIRCRAFT CARRIERS DEPLOY TO MIDDLE EAST, STRATEGIC DEPLOYMENTS CONTINUE.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Middle East:  Significant Naval deployments are either underway currently, or have been recently announced. Yesterday afternoon CENTCOM announced several operational changes throughout the AOR. The USS HARRY S. TRUMAN (CVN-75) CSG's deployment has been extended, with the TRUMAN remaining in the Middle East theatre. The USS CARL VINSON (CVN-70) has also been transferred from INDOPACOM to the CENTCOM area of responsibility, and is currently making all sail for the Middle East. On Friday, the USS NIMITZ (CVN-68) departed San Diego on her final deployment before retirement, and will be heading to the western Pacific. This morning, the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN-72) departed port San Diego as well. Yesterday morning commercial satellite imagery confirmed that another B2 Spirit stealth bomber landed at Diego Garcia, bringing the total on the island to 6x bombers, plus their required refueling tankers.-HomeFront-California: Monday night a murder was reported at a Walgreens in Fresno. Local authorities state that Narciso Gallardo Fernandez entered the establishment late Monday night, and murdered one of the employees due to his grievances with large pharmaceutical companies. Fernandez was arrested at the scene, while attempting to reload his firearm in the parking lot.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: The indications and warnings of an impending war in the Middle East continue to mount. The proverbial deployment of aircraft carriers before a major war appears to have arrived. In closed-source, confidential reporting, NBC has claimed that the Pentagon has authorized the deployment of one THAAD battery, and at least two Patriot batteries to augment missile defense throughout the Middle East. Though this cannot be independently confirmed yet, if this is true this would be yet another indication that wartime preparations continue, beyond what would normally be considered to be posturing or power-projection.Domestically, various political protests are scheduled for April 5th. The "HandsOff" protests originated from organized labor unions, however most far-left groups are also planning to use the day to conduct low-level attacks, such as vandalism against Tesla vehicles. Of course, the impact that these events will have is dictated mostly by funding; events involving labor unions will obviously be much larger than smaller and uncoordinated groups of malign actors seeking to break things. Nevertheless, increased vigilance is recommended, particularly in areas where Tesla vehicles and Trump supporters have been targeted so far.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground//END REPORT//

For review:1. US Army identifies the four Dogface Soldiers (3d Infantry Division) who perished during training exercise in Lithuania. All assigned to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, they were identified as: Staff Sgt. Jose Duenez; Staff Sgt. Edvin F. Franco; Pfc. Dante D. Taitano; and Staff Sgt. Troy S. Knutson-Collins.2.  US Sends More F-35s to CENTCOM. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dispatched the extra air wing of F-35 fighters to Jordan.3. IDF Creates New Security Corridor in S. Gaza. The route, which separates Rafah from Khan Younis to its north, will likely cut off Rafah from the rest of the Strip.4. Hamas is prepared to release all of the remaining hostages at once in exchange for a permanent ceasefire, a senior Palestinian official familiar with the ongoing truce talks told The Times of Israel on Wednesday.5. A top Russian official (Kirill Dmitriev) is in Washington this week for meetings with the Trump administration, as negotiations continue on a deal to end the war in Ukraine.6. US SECDEF Pete Hegseth skips the latest Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels. 7.  Finland to Increase Defense Spending to 3% GDP by '29.8. Greece will spend 25 billion euros ($27 billion) over the next decade to adapt its military to evolving high-tech warfare technologies. The plan also includes new programs such as next-generation soldier gear equipped with sensors and communication systems, and the development of dedicated satellite capabilities to ensure secure communications. 9.  US Army Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon Test in Dec '25. The Army is forecasting that the first unit to get the hypersonic capability will begin receiving the rounds at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, in the May time frame.10.  The US State Department has approved a potential Foreign Military Sale of 20 F-16 fighters to the Philippines, with an estimated price tag of $5.58 billion.The approved package, which covers 16 F-16C Block 70/72 jets and four F-16B Block 70/72 fighters, comes just days after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Manilla. 

For review:1. Boeing Wins USAF Next-Gen Air Dominance Fighter (F-47).  Boeing has won the contract to develop the first ever sixth-generation fighter, dubbed the F-47, President Donald Trump announced today. The fighter will be expected to operate with the service's forthcoming fleet of drone wingmen known as Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and Anduril are in competition for the separate CCA contract. 2. US Sec Def Extends USN Carrier USS Harry Truman (CVN-75) in CENTCOM AOR; USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) Enroute. The Truman will stay in CENTCOM AOR for another month, according to a U.S. official. The Carl Vinson, which was operating in the East China Sea this week, has been tasked to the Middle East region to make for an overlapping two-carrier presence as the Trump administration ramps up its aggression against the Yemen-based Houthis.3.  IDF Strikes Airfields in Central Syria. The IDF confirms carrying out airstrikes on the Palmyra military airport and the nearby T-4 airbase in central Syria. The strikes targeted “remaining strategic military capabilities” at the two sites.4. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Friday that Israel would annex areas of the Gaza Strip should the terror group Hamas refuse to release the remaining hostages it is still holding. It was unclear if Israel would follow through on its threat to annex parts of Gaza, a move that would likely draw a massive international backlash. 5. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Friday that the Houthis act on their own motivations, after US President Donald Trump said he would hold Tehran accountable for the group's actions.6. EU releases joint statement on Ukraine- minus Hungary. "The European Council reaffirms its continued and unwavering support for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders," leaders wrote in a statement signed off by 26 countries.7. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer comes off ground troops in Ukraine- stresses air and sea power instead. Speaking to journalists at Northwood UK Military HQ, Sir Keir insisted the priority had to be to support Ukraine in defending itself, “They've got the capability, they've got the numbers and they've got the frontline experience. So we're not talking about something that replaces that capability — we're talking about something that reinforces that and then put around it capabilities in relation to air, water and sea and land.”

For review:1. US CENTCOM Campaign Against Houthis.  More airstrikes are planned in the coming days. USAF LTG Alexus G. Grynkewich, director for operations for the Joint Staff: "US CENTCOM began precision strike operations against the Houthis to restore freedom of navigation and American deterrence. The initial wave of strikes hit over 30 targets at multiple locations, degrading a variety of Houthi capabilities. Included among those targets were terrorist training sites, unmanned aerial vehicle infrastructure, weapons manufacturing capabilities and weapons storage facilities." 2. IDF Strikes Iranian Proxies in Gaza, S. Lebanon, & S. Syria.3. President Trump & Russian President to Speak Tuesday About Peace Negotiations.4. BBC Report: Ukranian Soldiers talk about combat actions in Kursk region. The BBC has received extensive accounts from Ukrainian troops, who recount a "catastrophic" withdrawal in the face of heavy fire, and columns of military equipment destroyed and constant attacks from swarms of Russian drones. 5. Sweden will donate 18 Archer artillery units and five Arthur counter-battery radar systems to Ukraine as part of its 18th aid package for Kyiv. The total value of the donations is 3 billion kronor ($296 million), with deliveries of Arthur systems planned to begin this year and Archer systems in 2026.6. Canada Reconsidering Future F-35 Fighter Purchase. The Canadian military said while it is committed to the first 16 F-35As it's on contract to buy from American defense giant Lockheed Martin, it is actively re-evaluating the rest of the multi-billion-dollar order. Ottawa's reconsideration of the deal could open a door for alternatives like the Saab Gripen Fighter- which was beat out by the F-35 for the competition to replace Canada's legacy F-18 fleet. 

#SYRIA: CENTCOM STRIKE ON AL QAEDA IN IDLIB & WHAT IS TO BE DONE? BILL ROGGIO, FDD 1914 CAFÉ

GOOD EVENING: THE SHOW BEGINS IN A CENTCOM DRONE STRIKE ON AL QAEDA IN SYRIA...GOOD EVENING: THE SHOW BEGINS IN A CENTCOM DRONE STRIKE ON AL QAEDA IN SYRIA... 1930 TRIPOLI CBS EYE ON THE WORLD WITH JOHN BATCHELOR FIRST HOUR 9-915 #SYRIA: CENTCOM STRIKE ON AL QAEDA IN IDLIB & WHAT IS TO BE DONE? BILL ROGGIO, FDD 915-930 #AFGHANISTAN: WHAT IS THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION POLICY WITH AL QAEDA IN AFGHANISTAN AND SYRIA? 930-945 #UKRAINE: DRONES ARE THE STORY. JOHN HARDIE, BILL ROGGIO, FDD. 945-1000 #UKRAINE: THE OVAL OFFICE SHOWDOWN. SECOND HOUR 10-1015 #ISRAEL: GAZA RESUPPLY HALTED 1015-1030 #WEST BANK: MASSIVE HAMAS ATTACK BLOCKED. 1030-1045 #PRC EMPTY BUILDINGS AND DEFLATION. ANNE STEVENSON-YANG, AUTHOR "WILD RIDE." 1045-1100 #PRC: STILL A PERILOUS TRADE. CHARLES ORTEL, GORDON CHANG. THIRD HOUR 1100-1115 #RUSSIA: READY FOR PEACE. KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL 1115-1130 ESG/EV: THE PUBLIC AND CORPORATE TURN AWAY FROM CASSANDRA. @THADMCCOTTER @THEAMGREATNESS 1130-1145 #GAZA: 400,000 RESERVISTS READY FOR CALL-UP. DAVID DAOUD, FDD 1145-1200 #LEBANON: CASH ARRIVING. DAVID DAOUD, FDD FOURTH HOUR 12-1215 UK: THE BRITISH MILITARY UNREADY. LT-COLONEL TIM WILSON, UK (RET). 1215-1230 USAF: MISSING IMAGINATION & WHAT IS TO BE DONE? GENERAL BLAINE-HOLT, USAF (RET) 1230-1245 #NEWWORLDREPORT: PETRO FAILING. BRAZIL AND THE MAGNITSKY ACT. JOSEPH HUMIRE @JMHUMIRE @SECUREFREESOC. ERNESTO ARAUJO, FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER REPUBLIC OF BRAZIL. #NEWWORLDREPORTHUMIRE 1245-100 AM #NEWWORLDREPORT: VENEZUELA BULLIES GUYANA. JOSEPH HUMIRE @JMHUMIRE @SECUREFREESOC. ERNESTO ARAUJO, FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER REPUBLIC OF BRAZIL. #NEWWORLDREPORTHUMIRE

Welcome to the One CA Podcast. Today, Brian Hancock interviewed Ismael Lopez about OHDACA and Humanitarian Relief and his experiences as a Marine Civil Affairs Officer.  Brian's profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-j-hancock/ Ismael's profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ishrlopez/  Transcript available below. --- One CA is a product of the civil affairs association  and brings in people who are current or former military, diplomats, development officers, and field agents to discuss their experiences on the ground with a partner nation's people and leadership. We aim to inspire anyone interested in working in the "last three feet" of U.S. foreign relations.  To contact the show, email us at CApodcasting@gmail.com  or look us up on the Civil Affairs Association website at www civilaffairsassoc.org --- Great news! Feedspot, the podcast industry ranking system rated One CA Podcast as one of the top 10 shows on foreign policy. Check it out at: https://podcast.feedspot.com/foreign_policy_podcasts/ --- Special Thanks to the creators of Jazz & Bossa Cafe for the sample of Positive March Music. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHeCxa0rMQ4 --- Transcript: 00:00:10 BRIAN HANCOCK Welcome to One Civil Affairs Podcast. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Brian Hancock, and I will be your host for this session. Today we have with us Major Ishmael Lopez to discuss civil affairs and the ongoing relief effort in the Gaza Strip. Let's talk a little bit more about that training piece. Part of readiness is being able to do your job. The Marine is an expeditionary force, perhaps becoming even more expeditionary with the expeditionary advanced base operations. construct, the chief of the Navy signed off on. So very interesting training opportunities for the fleet right now. And you mentioned Balakatan and some of those other exercise type missions that you've done. 00:00:53 BRIAN HANCOCK And I know you've probably done Marine Corps Warfighting exercise and mentioned JRTC. But what are some of these other missions you've done? You've talked about a dock up. A dock up is joined at the hip with humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, HADR. The Navy has a huge role in HADR for just a whole bunch of reasons. Has your detachment participated in any HADR missions? Is that another training opportunity that you have with your Marines in detachment? 00:01:21 ISMAEL LOPEZ We as a detachment have not. However, I do have individual Marines who have participated in HADR missions. Not a whole lot of experience, but there's some resident within the detachment. And to your point, there is huge training opportunity there for understanding how to integrate into an HADR response specific to DOD's role in supporting the State Department. We do have the opportunities for training with USAID, but that's all classroom. And we try to get as much exposure to that as possible. But as far as real-world HADR scenarios where we're able to integrate with the State Department and even into a joint task force or a multinational task force, it is very limited. I know that that is being discussed for future iterations of Balakatan specifically to have a HADR response, which makes sense, right? Because Balakatan is becoming a massive multinational exercise that features activities across the spectrum of military operations. Once that piece of it is integrated, then it's truly a well -thought -out, deliberate exercise on how to integrate HADR, whereas right now it's sort of sprinkled on top. The Marines, sailors, and even the Army, civil affairs practitioners that are supporting, are supporting steady -state engineering projects. And I think that's a missed opportunity because there's so much more that we can provide than project management. And there are opportunities there, but... If I'm a commander sitting on top of a joint task force, that's not where I would place those assets because it's going to happen. They're not caught off guard and they understand, okay, where is the USAID person that I need to be linked up with? Who do I need to be syncing up with? Again, looking for those opportunities. 00:03:22 BRIAN HANCOCK opportunities. I hear you. I know you've done a fair amount of work in South America with all the attention on ACOM and sometimes UCOM. I don't think we talk enough about, I think there are many opportunities in South America to do great things. And if we take a look at the Tierra del Fuego with all the earthquakes and the volcanoes and the things happening there and climate change and disasters, there seems to me more disasters, which is going to increase the chance that our government is temporarily overwhelmed and might have to issue a diplomatic cable and request assistance. For us in Title X, that's probably just some of our unique capabilities like rotary wing, pull up a nuclear ship and just start giving power to a large area. There's amazing things that we can do. And I know that there are disasters happening in South American countries, which tend to be a little more fragile. Do we have those opportunities? Is that something that we just haven't mapped out? How would we go about helping our South American brothers? 00:04:25 ISMAEL LOPEZ struggle with this because like you, I see the opportunities that are down there and they're plentiful. I worked down at the embassy in Bogotá, Colombia for three years during my FAO tour. And while I was there, I was a counter -narcotics maritime operations planner. So really fancy title for managing Section 333 funding programming. But our partners in that region are all about working with us. training with us, opening up their countries for us to train. They want to fight with us. In Colombia, we were trying to organize an additional exercise outside of the standard unit toss that goes on in South America. So as we started trying to test, does this concept work? What are going to be some of the challenges? What does it look like for closing ship to shore in a contestant environment? Colombia has amazing terrain that is very similar to that that you will find in the first island chain, surprisingly. A lot of people wouldn't know that, but it's there. So when you consider distance and cost associated with being able to provide realistic training that mimics the future fight, you have it in the same hemisphere. The challenge is, the NDS calls out very specifically, services, your priority is... UCOM. Your priority is AFRICOM. Your priority is CENTCOM. Your priority is writ large is Indopaycom. We'll focus on that. And so that automatically causes the services to look elsewhere rather than looking down south. And so that means that resources, manpower, etc. are going to get pulled to support efforts down there because it's not called out specifically in the NDS. And now it's being focused on other parts of the world. Fortunately, Marine Forces Reserve has shifted from trying to compete with the active component to adding relevancy by focusing on developing those opportunities in Latin America. I know the Army does a lot with the TSOCs down there, but more can be done and should be done, in my opinion. I think the relevancy is there and transferable to other parts of the globe. It's just getting past the, hey, I understood that this document calls this out. but there are opportunities here that align to what we're trying to get after in the NDS. And the other piece of that too is when you consider if we're having assets down there, it reduces the number of available resources that can respond to contingencies. And I think that's part of that equation. 00:07:09 BRIAN HANCOCK I think so. It's really not a bridge too far from our existing mental models. The energy may be in PayCon, but at the same time, you're still going to JRTC. Is that the Deep Pacific? No, not at all. But there's still value in that training. If you can go to Columbia and move through similar islands, have similar river problem sets, similar terrain problem sets, and get that experience at a fraction of the cost of going to the Deep Pacific, that's not something we should overlook. And we can't ignore the fact that there's increasing levels of adversary activity in South America, I don't think we should take that for granted. And doing these mill to mill and working together side by side on various projects, there's nothing but good stuff there. So I'm hopeful that we may in the future put a little bit more energy into that theater. 00:08:02 ISMAEL LOPEZ Yeah. And the one last piece of it I think that we take for granted is the belief that our partners in the Western Hemisphere are going to stay aligned to us. because we have those shared values. But when you have our competitors knocking on the door and saying, hey, we want to train with you. We want to provide you money. We want to do all these things. And we're taking for granted that relationship. It's only going to last so much longer before the number of partners that we have on there are going to be very limited. Yeah. 00:08:33 BRIAN HANCOCK You know, it kind of reminds me of the Sims game. I don't know if you've played this. But there's a relationship meter. And if you want to have positive relationships with another avatar in this simulation, you have to interact with them. You have to do that fairly regularly because over time, that relationship meter decays. Relationships aren't static like that. They're usually moving forward or they're sliding backwards. And if we're not in that game and we have hungry competitors, we can see where that could go. Let's talk about some of your work as a foreign area officer. That's a very coveted job for civil affairs and folks who think they may have a future intent to work for Department of State. A lot of folks don't get there. What did you do as a foreign area officer, and how do you get involved in that kind of work? 00:09:25 ISMAEL LOPEZ For the Marine Corps, I was actually able to use my experience as a civil affairs officer to springboard. into becoming a Latin America FAO. So in the Marines, we have two different ways of becoming a foreign area officer. There is the experience track, which is the one I fell into. And then the other one is a study track. So either route, you have solicitation for candidates, individuals who have experiences overseas, working specifically on the civ. side of the house, not necessarily the mill -to -mill piece, right? Because we're looking at international relations, foreign relations, etc. And then you have the study track, which is you get selected, you get sent to Monterey to earn a master's degree in international relations. Then they send you to the language school, DLI, for a language, and you get assigned a region. And then you get sent either to combatant command to work as a desk officer. or you get sent to a country overseas and you're going to work out at the embassy. So for me, I was able to parlay my experiences as a civil affairs officer, and then the board selected me as a Latin America foreign area officer. And what that did was that it opened me up to that role in the embassy. So my wife's active duty Air Force, and she's also a Latin America foreign area officer. She got sent to Naval Postgraduate School, earned her master's. Didn't have to go to DLI because she already spoke Spanish. And then she got orders to the embassy in Columbia. Family and I obviously went along. And as we were doing our introduction with the scout chief, she mentions my husband's a civil affairs officer and a FAO. And his eyes just lit up. He's like, we haven't had a Marine sitting in the naval mission for the Section 333 program in quite some time because we just don't have them. Part of the challenge is the cost associated with bringing one down. But since I was already there, in his eyes, he was getting two fails for the price of one. So because I had that, I was able to meet the requirement for the billet. And then I was able to serve as the program manager for the Section 333 program for roughly three years. 00:11:38 BRIAN HANCOCK Well done. And what an exciting mission. If I was younger, I'd want to run off there too and do something like that. I mean, my Spanish needs to be a little bit better, but I know I could brush it up. Hey, let's talk about the... Very difficult situation in Gaza right now. I don't think we can approach that with anything but sympathy for all involved. Certainly there's great suffering there by many different parties. And I know you were one of those folks who raised his hand and said, hey, I will help with some of that Gaza relief and did that mission, at least for some time. Can you tell me a little bit about your experience with the Gaza relief mission? And are you comfortable sharing any lessons learned from your time? 00:12:20 ISMAEL LOPEZ Yeah, so it was very interesting when the Gaza relief mission kicked off for several reasons, right? The challenge there, very, very dynamic event, very tragic event. And then on one hand, we have to support our ally in Israel. But on the other hand, great suffering occurring to the people in Gaza as a result of the mission out there. So the struggle within DOD at the time was, what should we do from an ATA perspective to help those that are suffering in Gaza? So when we look at it from within DSCA, we were really waiting for inputs from OSD and even the NSC as to what is an appropriate humanitarian aid response. One that's not going to undermine our partner. But at the same time, sending a strong message to the people in Gaza and the international community that the United States is not going to sit idly by while people are suffering. So it's a very delicate balance that had to be found. So from an access property standpoint, I was looking into what could we do and how close could we get to provide items from the inventory that could provide life -saving support or even just support for those that are being displaced. into neighboring countries. What ended up happening was we, DSCA, specifically the humanitarian aid and the humanitarian demining division, was ordered to reallocate all the ODACA funding that had already been provided to the combative commands and used to support the Gaza relief missions, specifically the maritime bridge. So we had to deliver the bad news to the combative commands, like, hey, Any money that you have not obligated at this point, we have to pull. You were going to utilize that specifically for this mission. Concurrently, we had to assume risk. This was in the summer, right? Heading into the peak of hurricane season. So we had to decide what number were we comfortable with holding back in the event that a hurricane hit or earthquake hit and we knew it was coming and a partner was going to ask for assistance. And we wouldn't necessarily have the ability to ask Congress for additional funding. It was a fine balance there. At the end of the day, we ended up avoiding any major hurricanes in the Caribbean where a partner asked for support. So avoided that. We were able to support the Gaza Relief Mission, specifically the Maritime Pier, getting aid out there, providing those flight hours, the ship hours, getting aid as close as possible. But then we had to stop supporting that because the bridge was not as structurally sound as we all thought it was going to be. And we've been looking at other avenues of providing that support to the people of Gaza, primarily through our partners. The other challenge there is we can't actually enter an area of conflict for obvious reasons. So that added another layer of complexity to support the mission. But as we can and as we are allowed to, we continue to provide support. CENTCOM has been great identifying requirements and coordinating with the SCA to ensure that the folks that need that aid are getting that aid from us. 00:15:49 BRIAN HANCOCK That's great. It's a tricky situation. It goes out to everyone involved, but I'm glad there are folks out there like yourself who are doing what we can do to try and provide some support. Looking after civilians in conflict is a core part of what we do in civil affairs, no matter what branch you happen to be in as a civil affairs officer. So that is fantastic. I'd like to talk a little bit about one of the differences in the Army and the Marine Corps for civil affairs officers, such as yourself, and I'm beside myself, is that as a Marine civil affairs officer, 00:16:19 ISMAEL LOPEZ and I'm 00:16:22 BRIAN HANCOCK a Marine civil affairs officer, you at some point have to return to your primary branch. Whereas I can continue as a... civil affairs officer for the rest of my career if I choose to. Do you see that changing? Clearly there is a need for career professionals such as yourself to be able to stay in that MOS. What are your thoughts on that? 00:16:41 ISMAEL LOPEZ So this is the same thing with the foreign area officers, the Marine Corps. We have to go back and forth and because the primary mission of the Marine Corps is to support the infantry, right? I can make an argument for how Fayos and civil affairs does that too, but that's a harder conversation to have at the top. But I'm not sure if the, once the 17XX MOS is fully approved and implemented, how that's going to look for officers. Are they going to be able to just stay on that track? I've heard maybe it's going to happen. I've heard, no, it's not going to happen. So it's hard to say. 00:17:20 BRIAN HANCOCK it's hard to say. I saw a pre -decisional slide on that, which showed a glide path moving between civil affairs and PSYOP and space operations, 00:17:33 BRIAN HANCOCK operations, et cetera, all the way up to full kernel. That gave me the impression that it would become a career, though you would move around within that. But how things are rolled out, you know, the devil's in the details. 00:17:47 ISMAEL LOPEZ in the details. We shouldn't be bouncing back and forth because then you lose credibility in the field on both sides of it, right? So I am, by trade, a tank officer. 00:17:47 BRIAN HANCOCK in the details. 00:17:56 ISMAEL LOPEZ I no longer have an MOS in the Marine Corps because we did away with tanks. But if I'm out of tanks for three years because I'm serving in a civil affairs capacity or as a foreign area officer, and to say I did my company command time and I come back in and now I'm vying for a staff job or vying for battalion command, me being gone hurts me. It doesn't help me. 00:18:19 BRIAN HANCOCK Right. They see it like an additional duty. All of the Marine Corps civil affairs officers and NCOs I work with have been nothing but extremely professional and competent. So that is really a shame that that kind of stigma follows. 00:18:34 BRIAN HANCOCK But I see the chain of logic there. If we are forced to flow through it, the Marine Corps is very agile, turns a little faster than the Army. You've stood up these meth information groups. Where are you going to get the professionals to fill those ranks? At some point, we want to fill them with Marines instead of Army contractors. Right. 00:18:52 ISMAEL LOPEZ Right. 00:18:52 BRIAN HANCOCK So this is a capability to do that if you can stay in that field and move through these MOSs. You get three MOSs for the price of one. I thought it was a great idea. 00:19:02 ISMAEL LOPEZ Yeah. And I hope what you saw is correct. I think that's great. But I also see a challenge with civil affairs, psyops, MISO, very different capabilities. We all work within the information realm. You can't necessarily have a psyoper doing civil affairs and you can't have a civil affairs practitioner doing psyops because the way we approach that is not the same. And that in and of itself is challenging. So I think the Marine Corps really has to work and think through that because there is the influence Marine, which is a Marine that's trained in psyops, cyber and civil affairs. But it's going to take a level of maturity and professional understanding to do each one of those roles and stay in that lane without crossing over and potentially losing your credibility within one of those hats. I could totally see it in a civil engagement where all of a sudden now, because I am a PSYOP -er or because I have my PSYOP hat on, I'm thinking now through the threat lens. well, I'm supposed to be having this friendly conversation. Now it gets out of hand and the person I'm speaking to probably doesn't trust me as much as they initially did. That takes a lot of role -playing, a lot of training, a lot of reinforcing of this is what it is you're doing, vice the other. Yeah. 00:20:25 BRIAN HANCOCK Yeah. Well said. We're hitting the end of our time, so I'm going to ask you my last question, and that's next for Ishmael Lopez. 00:20:34 ISMAEL LOPEZ So I'm actually rotating out of... first civil affairs group. And I'm going to be joining Six Anglico up in Seattle, Washington joint base. Louis McCord, actually. I'm going to be a salt leader and then potentially transitioning to be the executive officer there. And this is part of the, I have to go back to my primary MOS, even though I don't have one. So I'm not in civil affairs for too long as it hurts my career progression. On the DSCA side of things, We're adding the civil affairs liaison title responsibilities to me specific to humanitarian aid and ODACA. So I'm going to be working closely with the combatant commands, country teams, hopefully the civil affairs schoolhouses across the services to provide HA specific training for civil affairs. And this is just a capability gap that I identified a year ago. So DSCA, we provide training to security cooperation professionals. But what they do is very different than what civil affairs does. So tailoring the training for the civil affairs audience. So very excited about the new opportunity. That's outstanding. 00:21:48 BRIAN HANCOCK outstanding. And I think you've identified a good opportunity there. I graduated from the civil military operations planners course there at Moss, and we didn't spend much time on this. It's a short course, of course, and you can't do everything. A little bit more robust opportunity for HADR and ODACA. Those are nothing but win -win missions, and you do them at every phase of conflict, including competition. So huge opportunity there. Whoever ends up getting you is going to be very lucky. You're an amazing Marine and a great person. So thank you for taking your time. If the audience has questions, feel free to write to One Civil Affairs Podcast, and we'll do our best to make a connection. Thanks again for your time, Ishmael, and have a good evening, Al. 00:22:39 ISMAEL LOPEZ Thank you so much, Brian. Thank you for the opportunity, and very kind.

Good evening: The show begins in Syria due to a CENTCOM drone strike on an unnamed Al-Qaeda VIP... 1914

#SYRIA: CENTCOM AIRSTRIKE. BILL ROGGIO, FDD. HUSAIN HAQQANI, HUDSON INSTITUTE. 1897 Beirut

GOOD EVENING: The show begins in Syria after a CENTCOM airstrike on Al Qaeda.in Idlib Province... 1909 Ottomans CBS EYE ON THE WORLD WITH JOHN BATCHELOR FIRST HOUR 9-915 1/2: #SYRIA What is the Trump Policy? Bill Roggio, FDD 915-930 2/2: #SYRIA What is the Trump Policy? Bill Roggio, FDD 930-945 UKRAINE: NORTH.  STANDS DOWN. JOHN HARDIE, FDD. BILL ROGGIO FDD 945-1000 UKRAINE: PREPARING THE BATTLEFIELD FOR NEGOTIATIONS SECOND HOUR 10-1015 #ISRAEL: NETANYAHU TO THE BLAIR HOUSE. MALCOLM HOENLEIN @CONF_OF_PRES @MHOENLEIN1@THADMCCOTTER @THEAMGREATNESS 1015-1030 #INDIANA HOENLEIN: THE LOST 1300 YEAR OLD WEDDING RING. MALCOLM HOENLEIN @CONF_OF_PRES @MHOENLEIN1@THADMCCOTTER @THEAMGREATNESS 1030-1045 #HAMAS: HEZBOLLAH: TENSE EXHAUSTED CEASEFIRES HOLDING. DAVID DAOUD, FDD. BILL ROGGIO FDD 1045-1100 #GAZA: RELOCATING TO EGYPT AND JORDAN. . DAVID DAOUD, FDD. BILL ROGGIO FDD THIRD HOUR 1100-1115 #NEWWORLDREPORT:  PANAMA CLIMBS DOWN. JOSEPH HUMIRE @JMHUMIRE @SECUREFREESOC. ERNESTO ARAUJO, FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER REPUBLIC OF BRAZIL. #NEWWORLDREPORTHUMIRE 1115-1130 #NewWorldReport: MEXICO CLIMBS DOWN #NEWWORLDREPORT:  JOSEPH HUMIRE @JMHUMIRE @SECUREFREESOC. ERNESTO ARAUJO, FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER REPUBLIC OF BRAZIL. #NEWWORLDREPORTHUMIRE 1130-1145 #NEWWORLDREPORT:  LULA  TO PUTIN. JOSEPH HUMIRE @JMHUMIRE @SECUREFREESOC. ERNESTO ARAUJO, FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER REPUBLIC OF BRAZIL. #NEWWORLDREPORTHUMIRE 1145-1200 #NEWWORLDREPORT:  DEPORTING VENEZUELA. JOSEPH HUMIRE @JMHUMIRE @SECUREFREESOC. ERNESTO ARAUJO, FORMER FOREIGN MINISTER REPUBLIC OF BRAZIL. #NEWWORLDREPORTHUMIRE FOURTH HOUR 12-1215 UKRAINE: MONEY. FOLLOW THE KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL, NATION 1215-1230 #HOLLYWOOD: STALLONE, GIBSON, VOIGHT FOR MAGA. @THADMCCOTTER @THEAMGREATNESS 1230-1245 #CANADA: ONE MAN GOVERNMENT UNTIL THE SPRING. CHALES BURTON, SINOPSIS, @GORDONGCHANG, GATESTONE, NEWSWEEK, THE HILL 1245-100 AM #PANAM: BELT ROAD TO BE VOIDED. STEVE YAATES, HERITAGE @GORDONGCHANG, GATESTONE, NEWSWEEK, THE HIL

ABD Başkanı Donald Trump daha önce yaptığı bir açıklamada Amerika'nın Suriye'de bir işi olmadığını söylemiş, asker çekme konusunu ise “belirsiz” bırakmıştı. Trump ilk Başkanlık döneminde Suriye'deki Amerikan askerlerinin bir kısmını geri çekmişti. Bu çekme işlemine tepki gösteren dönemin Savunma Bakanı James Mattis ise görevinden istifa etmişti. ABD'nin geniş Ortadoğu havzasından sorumlu “Merkez Kuvvetler Komutanlığı (CENTCOM)” Suriye'deki sözde askeri misyonun devam etmesini istiyor. 2013 yılında CENTCOM Komutanlığı'ndan emekli olan Mattis 2017'de Savunma Bakanlığına getirilmişti. Trump Suriye'den asker çekmeye başladığında “CENTCOM”un başında Joseph Votel bulunuyordu. Votel ve Mattis Suriye'den asker çekme kararından vazgeçmesi için Trump'ı ikna edememişti.

For review:1. US CENTCOM Forces Strike Houthi Rebel Targets.On Dec. 30 and 31, US Navy ships and aircraft targeted a Houthi command and control facility and advanced conventional weapon (ACW) production and storage facilities that included missiles and uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs). 2. Israeli Ambassador (Danny Danon) to UN Gives Last Warning to Houthis. “To the Houthis, perhaps you have not been paying attention to what has happened to the Middle East over the past year. Well, allow me to remind you what has happened to Hamas, to Hezbollah, to Assad, to all those who have attempted to destroy us. Let this be your final warning,” Danon told the UN Security Council. 3. Latest in Israel - Hamas Hostage Negotiations. Israel & Hamas disagree on number of living Hostages to be released.4. Latest US Security Assistance Package to Ukraine worth $1.25 Billion.In addition, the US Treasury Department meanwhile announced the disbursement of $3.4 billion in direct budgetary support for Ukraine. 5. Greece to provide 24 x Sea Sparrow Missiles to Ukraine. The missiles are part of a broader defense package for Ukraine, including artillery shells, weaponry, and ammunition.6. Russian Foreign Minister (Sergei Lavrov) on President-elect Trump Peace proposal: “Of course, we are not satisfied with the proposals being voiced by representatives of the president-elect to postpone Ukrainian NATO membership for 20 years and to send to Ukraine a peacekeeping contingent of ‘British and European forces,'” Lavrov said. 7. Turkish Drone Maker Baykar purchases Italian aviation firm Piaggio Aerospace. 

Help feed the poor in Israel by donating to Meir Panim today: http://israel-donate.org/ Due to the major escalation in Yemen's attacks against Israel, the IDF is planning a MAJOR response to the Houthi terrorists in Yemen. Arab rebel terrorist groups in Judea & Samaria are fed up with the Palestinian Authority, and Poland just announced that they would arrest   Netanyahu if he visits Auschwitz. Support The Israel Guys fundraising campaign: http://serveisrael.com/double   Follow us on Telegram: https://t.me/theisraelguys  Follow Us On Twitter: https://twitter.com/theisraelguys  Follow Us On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theisraelguys Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theisraelguys   Heartland Tumbler: https://theisraelguys.store/products/heartland-tumbler “Israel” Leather Patch Hat: https://theisraelguys.store/products/israel-1948-cap Source Links:  https://www.jns.org/us-jet-downed-by-friendly-fire-during-attack-on-yemens-houthis/ https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/21/politics/us-fighter-jet-shot-down-red-sea https://www.timesofisrael.com/two-us-pilots-shot-down-over-red-sea-in-friendly-fire-incident/ https://x.com/CENTCOM https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/401153 https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-834423 https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/netanyahu-skip-auschwitz-liberation-event-poland-over-icc-arrest-fears https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/401164  

For review:1. US Strikes Houthi Targets in Yemen.2. US Navy F/A 18F Super Hornet Downed by friendly fire over the Red Sea. The Super Hornet, assigned to aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), was flying over the Red Sea when guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG-64) fired upon it, according to the CENTCOM statement. The two pilots ejected safely, and were recovered. 3. Israel Turns Attention Toward Houthis.The Houthis have launched more than 200 missiles and 170 drones at Israel in the past year. 4.  US Authorizes $571 Million in Military Assistance to Taiwan.The White House said in a brief statement that President Biden had authorized the drawdown "of up to $571.3 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Taiwan."5. USAF study supports manned-6th Generation fighter- potentially in support of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program.6. US Army Self-Propelled Howitzer (155mm) Modernization.

CENTCOM, Suriye'ye düzenlediği hava saldırısında IŞİD liderini etkisiz hâle getirdiğini duyurdu. Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan'ın İmralı ziyareti için DEM Parti'ye yeşil ışık yaktığı iddia edildi. Bu bölüm Mey I Diageo hakkında reklam içermektedir. Samandağ Gastronomi Köyü projesinin başlattığı Yaşam Boyu Öğrenim Programı kapsamında misafir ağırlama, konaklama, aşçı çıraklığı ve hijyen gibi konuları kapsayan eğitimlerle bugüne kadar 124 kadın Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı ve üniversite onaylı sertifika aldı. Programa katılan 204 kadından 15'i özel işletmelerde çalışmaya başlarken 5 kadın ise kendi işletmesini kurarak ve evden üretim yaparak gelir elde etmeye başladı. Ayrıntılı bilgiye buradan erişebilirsiniz.

#ISIS: CENTCOM directs B-52s against ISIS. Patrick Tucker, Defense One 1870 Damascus

The Rich Zeoli Show- Hour 3: 5:05pm- Dr. Victoria Coates— Former Deputy National Security Advisor & the Vice President of the Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss civil war in Syria where rebels ended 50-years of Assad family rule, though the victorious militias have long been classified as terror groups by the United States government. Meanwhile, autocrat Bashar al-Assad has fled to Russia where he has been granted asylum. Dr. Coates is author of the upcoming book: “The Battle for the Jewish State: How Israel—and America—Can Win” which features a forward from Senator Ted Cruz. You can find the book here: https://a.co/d/iTMA4Vb 5:25pm- While appearing on ABC News, former CENTCOM commander retired General Frank McKenzie said of the Syrian civil war that led to the ouster of authoritarian leader Bashar al-Assad: “not sure it's ultimately going to be good news for Syria” as Assad's despotic regime will likely be replaced by an equally barbaric government run by terror groups. 5:40pm- Did Rich mention he was on Fox News over the weekend? In fact, one clip even went viral when Rich mentioned that “woke” officially ended with Donald Trump's election win last month. PLUS, the worst clip of the day: Does Rosie O'Donnell have herpes? And why the heck is she blaming MAGA for it? 5:50pm- On Sunday, president-elect Donald Trump participated in a long-form interview with NBC's Meet the Press. During the conversation, Trump told host Kristen Welker that if Kash Patel gets confirmed as FBI Director it's “pretty obvious…he's going to be taking somebody's place, right?”—confirming his plans to fire current director Christopher Wray.

The Rich Zeoli Show- Full Episode (12/09/2024): 3:05pm- On Monday, police arrested a person of interest in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson—who was specifically targeted and shot in Manhattan last week. Police arrested Luigi Mangione at a McDonald's restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania. According to reports, Mangione was carrying a handwritten manifesto critical of the health insurance industry as well as a firearm, bullets, and multiple fraudulent forms of identification. 3:10pm- On Sunday, president-elect Donald Trump participated in a long-form interview with NBC's Meet the Press. During the conversation, Trump told host Kristen Welker that he would not pursue prosecution of Joe Biden or any of his political rivals—explaining, “retribution will be through success.” 3:30pm- Details Emerge About Suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO Killing. Joe Marino and Kate Sheehy of The New York Post report: “The suspect nabbed in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is an anti-capitalist Ivy League grad who liked online quotes from ‘Unabomber' Ted Kaczynski—and seethed in a manifesto, ‘These parasites had it coming.'” You can read the full article here: https://nypost.com/2024/12/09/us-news/person-of-interest-in-fatal-shooting-of-unitedhealthcare-boss-brian-thompson-idd-as-luigi-mangione-an-ex-ivy-league-student/ 3:40pm- The far-left has attempted to justify the slaying of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. On Bluesky, former Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz posted: “And people wonder why we want these executives dead.” 4:05pm- Andrew C. McCarthy—Senior fellow at National Review & former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss a New York jury finding Daniel Penny not guilty in the death of Jordan Neely. Neely had threatened to kill passengers on the New York subway when Penny stepped in and restrained him via a chokehold. Neely died shortly after. McCarthy also discusses his latest article, “The Pardon Power: Don't Mend It, End It.” You can read the article here: https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/12/the-pardon-power-dont-mend-it-end-it/ 4:30pm- Paul Martino—Venture Capitalist & founder of the Back to School PA PAC—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss his support for Ted Christian as Chairman of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania. 5:05pm- Dr. Victoria Coates— Former Deputy National Security Advisor & the Vice President of the Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss civil war in Syria where rebels ended 50-years of Assad family rule, though the victorious militias have long been classified as terror groups by the United States government. Meanwhile, autocrat Bashar al-Assad has fled to Russia where he has been granted asylum. Dr. Coates is author of the upcoming book: “The Battle for the Jewish State: How Israel—and America—Can Win” which features a forward from Senator Ted Cruz. You can find the book here: https://a.co/d/iTMA4Vb 5:25pm- While appearing on ABC News, former CENTCOM commander retired General Frank McKenzie said of the Syrian civil war that led to the ouster of authoritarian leader Bashar al-Assad: “not sure it's ultimately going to be good news for Syria” as Assad's despotic regime will likely be replaced by an equally barbaric government run by terror groups. 5:40pm- Did Rich mention he was on Fox News over the weekend? In fact, one clip even went viral when Rich mentioned that “woke” officially ended with Donald Trump's election win last month. PLUS, the worst clip of the day: Does Rosie O'Donnell have herpes? And why the heck is she blaming MAGA for it? 5:50pm- On Sunday, president-elect Donald Trump participated in a long-form interview with NBC's Meet the Press. During the conversation, Trump told host Kristen Welker that if Kash Patel gets confirmed as FBI Director it's “pretty obvious…he's going to be taking someb ...

PREVIEW: ISIS/CENTCOM Colleague Patrick Tucker of Defense One analyzes US airstrikes against ISIS enclaves in Syria's Badiya Desert following Assad regime's fall. More later. 1898 Damascus

Donate to Meir Panim today: http://israel-donate.org/ The longstanding dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad fell with a crash as Syrian rebel groups seized control of the country in a lightning fast takeover. President Assad has resigned and fled the country and the new rebel leader of Syria turns out to be a terrorist himself. With all this chaos, Israel has taken over the buffer zone on the Israel/Syrian border and has been conducting airstrikes in Syria itself.  What does all this mean for Israel? Josiah breaks it all down on today's show! Watch our 4-Part Series on Sovereignty in Judea & Samaria: https://theisraelguys.com/sovereignty/   Follow us on Telegram: https://t.me/theisraelguys  Follow Us On Twitter: https://twitter.com/theisraelguys  Follow Us On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theisraelguys Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theisraelguys   Heartland Tumbler: https://theisraelguys.store/products/heartland-tumbler “Israel” Leather Patch Hat: https://theisraelguys.store/products/israel-1948-cap   Source Links:  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-officials-discussed-merits-removing-bounty-hts-leader-abu-mohammad-jolani https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/1865841718366450013 https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-assad-falls-israeli-jets-destroy-his-deadly-arsenals-before-they-fall-to-rebels/ https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/400441  

Martha Raddatz interviews California Democrat Ro Khanna about his pitch to work with President-elect Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency's co-leaders, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to cut costs in the federal budget. Then, as rebel forces gain ground in Syria, Martha interviews former CENTCOM commander and retired Marine Corps Gen. Frank McKenzie about expanding conflicts overseas, and the debate over Pete Hegseth to lead the Defense Dept.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Summary Lieutenant General Anthony Crutchfield (Ret.) (LinkedIn, Wikipedia) joins Andrew (X; LinkedIn) to discuss his time as the Deputy Commander of United States Indo-Pacific Command. PACOM covers 52% of the globe.  What You'll Learn Intelligence The role of intelligence in military operations Ethical dilemmas in command decisions Reflections on the impact of mentorship and outreach  The importance of remaining aware in today's pervasive world Reflections The challenges of leadership Hard work, determination, and resilience And much, much more … Quotes of the Week “I worked hard at everything I did. If somebody asked me to do a job, I didn't say, ‘That's not my job,' I didn't complain. There were places that I was sent that I didn't want to go, but I went – And I didn't complain about it…I did the best that I could and it was recognized.” – Anthony Crutchfield. Resources  SURFACE SKIM *SpyCasts* Leading United States Central Command with General Frank McKenzie (2024) CIA Director, Defense Secretary, Gentleman with Leon Panetta (2024) David Petraeus on Ukraine & Intelligence with the former CIA Director & 4* General (2023) Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy with Michael Vickers (2023) DEEPER DIVE Books The Melting Point: High Command and War in the 21st Century, K. F. McKenzie (Naval Institute Press, 2024) Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine, D. Petraeus & A. Roberts (Harper, 2023)  Strategy in Crisis: The Pacific War, J. T. Kuehn (Naval Institute Press, 2023)  Fire on the Water: China, America, and the Future of the Pacific, R. J. Haddick (Naval Institute Press, 2014) Primary Sources  U.S. Defense Infrastructure in the IndoPacific: Background and Issues for Congress (2023) Pacific Partnership Strategy (2022) Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States (2022) *Wildcard Resource* PACOM is, by far, the largest geographical combatant command. The smallest, on the other hand, is the U.S. Central Command. Listen to our interview with General Frank McKenzie, 14th commander of CENTCOM, here!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

01:00 Global leaders scramble to align with Trump, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpuxYdWcnVA 09:50 Sean Spicer: Retribution w/Steve Bannon | Ep 325, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrp11c8E6b8 13:00 Haredi Jews support Trump, https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2024-11-18/ty-article-magazine/.premium/how-trumpism-reshaped-new-yorks-haredi-political-landscape/00000193-3a23-db66-aff3-7ea3a8770000 17:30 Centcom won't pivot to asia 20:30 Our culture is healing 21:00 Sailer: An interesting side effect of Trump's broad-based victory seems to be that it's encouraging formerly Woke celebrities to act more decently and to regret their participating in cancel culture pile-ons during the Great Awokening. 30:50 Elliott Blatt joins to say Trump has to go on offense 51:00 Trump dance takes over sports 1:08:00 "Morning Joe" Frauds Announce They Went and Met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, with Glenn Greenwald, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INYSrOjuH3s 1:10:00 Kip joins to discuss that the Democrats are coming back 1:14:00 Is it OK to enjoy the downfall of your enemies? 1:22:00 The Trump Picks...So Far | Roundtable: Sarah Isgur, Jonah Goldberg, Steve Hayes, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0FICEXQldk 1:23:00 Sarah Isgur always went out with guys who asked her out, including Ben Shapiro 1:24:00 Solicitor General nominee John Sauer took Sarah Isgur out to a play, https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/11/trump-taps-lawyer-who-argued-his-immunity-case-for-solicitor-general/

For review:1. IDF conducts airstrikes north of the Litani River, targeting rocket launch sites.2. Squadron of F-15 Strike Eagles Arrive in US CENTCOM AOR.3. Israel to Procure 25 x F-15IA Warplanes from US.The Israel Ministry of Defense has signed what it called a “landmark transaction” to acquire 25 more F-15 fighter aircraft in a deal worth $5.2 billion. The warplanes will be delivered beginning in 2031, and it will take around five years for them all to arrive.4. Romania to purchase 44 x USMC Amphibious Assault Vehicles from US in deal worth $210 million.5. Australian Officials are confident in secure AUKUS deal with new US President Elect Donald Trump. Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles: "AUKUS is in the strategic benefit and interest of Australia, the United States and the UK. That's the fundamental point here.” 6. US Test Launches Minuteman III ICBM on Election Night.The ICBM was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at about 11 p.m. Pacific time. It then flew about 4,200 miles, at roughly 15,000 miles per hour, to a ballistic missile test site in the Marshall Islands' Kwajalein Atoll. Airmen from the 625th Strategic Operations Squadron from Offutt Air Force Base in Nevada launched the missile using an airborne launch control system aboard a Navy E-6B Mercury aircraft. The U.S. has about 400 nuclear-armed Minuteman III missiles based in 450 silos across Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, Colorado and Nebraska. 7. US Army Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) fuselages to be built in Wichita, Kansas. Bell will use an existing facility near Textron Aviation Defense and plans to start work there “in the next several months,” according to a statement.8. US Army has successful test (White Sands Missile Range, NM), integrating both the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) and the Raytheon-developed Lower-Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) radar.  9. USMC Purchases Fire Control System for Crew Served Weapons.The fire control system utilizes an integrated laser rangefinder and ballistic computer to provide enhanced accuracy, eliminating targeting errors such as range estimation and terrain angle.

Today, the Late Crew reviews how the VA's projected $15B budget shortfall doesn't exist (13:06), a VA employee's accidental voicemail to veteran prompts investigation (20:11), how Boeing overcharged the Air Force $150K for soap dispensers (27:19), a CENTCOM commander allegedly shoved airman on military flight (34:58), how the Air Force Academy got pranked by West Point (41:22), we take a Presidents and the Military quiz (44:42), and the Articles of Confederation are adopted on 15 Nov 1777 (52:03).

For review:1. US CENTCOM Release:- US Forces assigned to CENTCOM strike ISIS camps in Syria resulting in 35 operatives killed.- B-52 Stratofortress Bombers arrive in CENTCOM AOR from Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota from the 5th Bomb Wing.2.  Israeli Commando Raid in Northern Lebanon.According Al-Akhbar report, operatives from the Navy's Shayetet 13 commando unit captured suspected Hezbollah Naval Official, some 140 kilometers (87 miles) north of Israel's maritime border with Lebanon.3. IDF captures Syrian man conducting surveillance for Iran.Israeli commandos recently carried out a raid in southern Syria where they captured a Syrian man who was allegedly carrying surveillance operations on the border on behalf of Iran. The raid in Syria was carried by the Egoz commando unit, along with field interrogators of the Intelligence Directorate's Unit 504.4. Iran President (Masoud Pezeshkian) says that a ceasefire between Israel and Iranian allies- "could affect the intensity" of retaliation.5. On the border with Lebanon, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu: "with or without an agreement” with Lebanon, restoring security in the north and returning residents to their homes requires pushing Hezbollah north of the Litani River, preventing the terror group from rearming and responding to any activity against Israel.6. Axios Report: US tells Iran (through Switzerland), "We won't be able to hold Israel back, and we won't be able to make sure that the next attack will be calibrated and targeted as the previous one.”7. US Security Assistance Package to Ukraine Worth $425 Million - Includes 200 Stryker Combat Vehicles.8. Lithuania provides new military assistance package to Ukraine- including electricity generators, ammunition, and mortar rounds. The Lithuanian Defense Ministry said that the equipment is expected to reach Kyiv this week. Lithuania has already donated 155 mm ammunition, M113 armored personnel carriers,  anti-drone systems, and drones this year.9. North Korea's Foreign Minister visits Moscow. NK FM Choe Son Hui:  “We will always stand firmly by our Russian comrades until victory day,” Choe declared in Moscow after talks with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.10.  India Procures 31 x US-Built MQ-9B Drones in deal worth $3.8 billion.11. India to develop attack submarine fleet. India is now working on a new class of attack submarines (SSN) after the government approved US$4.8 billion for the construction of an initial two 6,000-ton boats, and that an eventual six SSNs in this class are planned for the Indian Navy. 

For review:1.  US Sends B-52s to CENTCOM AOR.US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is sending additional bomber aircraft and Navy warships to the Middle East to bolster presence in the region, as an aircraft carrier and its warships are preparing to leave.2. US and Israeli Officials continue discussions on ceasefire plans in Lebanon.A US official told The Times of Israel that US special envoy Amos Hochstein and White House Mideast czar Brett McGurk's meetings with top Israeli officials in Jerusalem on Thursday were “substantive and constructive."3. Iran Supreme Leader Orders Retaliation Attack on Israel.Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has ordered plans be drawn up by his Supreme National Security Council, after being briefed on the extent of the damage from the Israeli strikes.4.  Ukraine President: "Zero Reaction" Concerning N. Korean Troops in Kursk.Regarding the reaction to the deployment of North Korean troops, Zelensky said, "Putin is checking the reaction of the West ... And I believe that after all these reactions, Putin will decide and increase the contingent ... The reaction that is there today is nothing, it is zero."5. Turkey and Indonesia collaborate on Armored Personnel Carrier.Manufacturing is set to begin in 2025. Deliveries are expected by the end of 2026, with the timing dictated by the Indonesian Army's specific needs. 6. Japan launches amphibious warship planned for Maritime Unit.The JS Nihonbare (LCU-4151) is an amphibious vessel that can transport a dozen vehicles or containers at speeds of 15.5 knots. 7. Taiwan to procure loitering munitions from the US in deal worth $360 million.The US State Department approved the sale of 291 x Altius 600M-V and 720 x  Switchblade 300 loitering munitions 

Dr. Ravi Chaudhary, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Energy Installations and Environment, is a leader who has taught his team to, "Eat no for breakfast." He lives by a value he learned from his mother at an early age: "If you do your full duty, the rest will take care of itself."   SUMMARY In this edition of Long Blue Leadership, Dr. Chaudhary discusses his role in modernizing and reoptimizing Air Force installations to withstand kinetic, cyber, economic, and extreme weather threats. He emphasizes the importance of ruggedizing installations for the Great Power Competition. Dr. Chaudhary shares his background, including his upbringing in Minneapolis and his parents' immigrant journey, and highlights the values instilled in him. He also discusses his work on the implementation of microgrids and microreactors to enhance energy resilience at critical installations like Eielson Air Force Base.   5 QUOTES "If you do your full duty, the rest will take care of itself." - This quote from Dr. Chaudhary's mother reflects the importance of dedication and doing one's job well. "We eat no for breakfast." - This quote highlights Dr. Chaudhary's team's determination to not accept limitations and push boundaries. "Love what you do. Love our nation." - Dr. Chaudhary emphasizes the importance of passion and patriotism in leadership. "America is not about what goes on entirely in Washington. It's about neighbors. It's about what you do for your neighbors." - This quote reflects Dr. Chaudhary's belief in the power of community and service. "Get out of the way and let them in." - Dr. Chaudhary's advice on enabling the next generation of leaders to excel.   SHARE THIS EPISODE LINKEDIN  |  TWITTER  |  FACEBOOK   CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction to Dr. Ravi Chaudhary and His Role 03:07 The Importance of Air Force Installations 06:08 Dr. Chaudhary's Early Life and Family Background 09:03 Lessons from Family: Service and Community 11:52 Reflections on the Air Force Academy Experience 14:54 Leadership Lessons from Cadet Days 18:01 The Role of Innovation in the Air Force 20:48 Strategic Imperatives for Future Operations 23:59 Optimism for the Future of the Air Force Academy 25:07 A Lifelong Dream: Becoming a Pilot 27:31 Launching Innovations: The GPS Program 28:36 Inspiring the Next Generation of Pilots 30:14 Adapting to Modern Challenges in Aviation 32:40 Navigating Change: The Evolution of Standards 34:57 Learning from Failure: A Personal Journey 35:42 The Role of the Assistant Secretary 38:55 Preparing for Great Power Competition 41:09 Innovative Energy Solutions for the Future 44:58 Leadership Lessons and Final Thoughts   5 KEYS TO LEADERSHIP Embrace failures as opportunities for growth. Dr. Chaudhary shared how his failures, like failing a check ride, ultimately helped him grow as a leader. Keep moving forward, even in the face of adversity. Dr. Chaudhary emphasized the importance of keeping your "legs moving" and not giving up when faced with challenges. Leverage the bonds formed with your team. Dr. Chaudhary highlighted how the bonds he formed with his classmates at the Academy carried over into his missions, demonstrating the power of camaraderie. Empower and enable the next generation. Dr. Chaudhary expressed optimism about the capabilities of the current cadets and emphasized the need to get out of their way and let them excel. Maintain a service-oriented, patriotic mindset. Dr. Chaudhary's passion for serving his country and community was evident throughout the interview, underscoring the importance of this mindset in effective leadership.   ABOUT DR. CHAUDHARY '93 BIO Dr. Ravi I. Chaudhary is the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Energy, Installations, and Environment, Department of the Air Force, the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. Dr. Chaudhary is responsible for the formulation, review and execution of plans, policies, programs, and budgets to meet Air Force energy, installations, environment, safety, and occupational health objectives. Dr. Chaudhary most recently served as the acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy. Prior to this role, he served as the Director of Advanced Programs and Innovation, Office of Commercial Space Transportation, at the Federal Aviation Administration. He provided technical leadership and oversight for the commercial space industry, to include research and development activities to support Department of Transportation and White House National Space Council initiatives. Prior to this role, he served as Executive Director, Regions and Center Operations, at the FAA. In this role, he was responsible for leadership, integration and execution of aviation operations in nine regions nationwide. Dr. Chaudhary served as second in command to the Deputy Assistant Administrator and was responsible for providing Department of Transportation and FAA-wide services in the areas of operations, safety, policy, congressional outreach and emergency readiness for the National Aerospace System. Dr. Chaudhary commissioned in the Air Force in 1993 upon graduation from the United States Air Force Academy. He completed 21 years of service in a variety of command, flying, engineering and senior staff assignments in the Air Force. As a C-17 pilot, he conducted global flight operations, including numerous combat missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as a ground deployment as Director of the Personnel Recovery Center, Multi-National Corps, Iraq. As a flight test engineer, he was responsible for flight certification of military avionics and hardware for Air Force modernization programs supporting flight safety and mishap prevention. Earlier in his career, he supported space launch operations for the Global Positioning System and led third stage and flight safety activities to ensure full-operational capability of the first GPS constellation. As a systems engineer, he supported NASA's International Space Station protection activities to ensure the safety of NASA Astronauts. Dr. Chaudhary is a DoD Level III Acquisition Officer and has published numerous articles in future strategy, aircraft design, business transformation and space operations.  - Bio Copy Credit to AF.MIL   CONNECT WITH DR. CHAUDHARY LINKEDIN  |   INSTAGRAM  |  TWITTER     ABOUT LONG BLUE LEADERSHIP Long Blue Leadership drops every two weeks on Tuesdays and is available on Apple Podcasts, TuneIn + Alexa, Spotify and all your favorite podcast platforms. Search @AirForceGrads on your favorite social channels for Long Blue Leadership news and updates!          FULL TRANSCRIPT OUR SPEAKERS Guest, The Honorable Dr. Ravi I. Chaudhary '93  |  Host, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Naviere Walkewicz '99   Naviere Walkewicz 00:00 My guest today is the assistant secretary of the Air Force for energy installations and environment, the Honorable Dr. Ravi Chaudhary USAFA, Class of '93. Against the backdrop of Great Power Competition, Dr. Chaudhry leads the modernization and reoptimization of the Air Force to ruggedize our installations across the globe against what he describes as kinetic threats, as well as non-kinetic cyber, economic and extreme weather threats. He has served as acting deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for energy; the director of advanced programs and innovation, Office of Commercial Space Transportation at the Federal Aviation Administration; and he has led in the commercial space industry research and development in the support of the Department of Transportation and the White House, National Space Council. We'll talk with Dr. Chaudhry about his life before, during and after the Academy. We'll discuss his role, modernizing and re-optimizing initiatives and strategies for the Air Force. We'll touch on leading through new and changing threats and making decisions with climate in mind, and we'll discuss Dr. Chaudhary's work with the secretary of the Air Force and leadership at the base, command and warfighter levels. Finally, we'll ask Dr. Chaudhary to share advice for developing and advanced leaders. Dr. Chaudhary, welcome to Long Blue Leadership. We're so glad to have you.   Dr. Chaudhary 01:18 Navier, thank you so much. Thank you for that way too kind of an introduction, and I only have one regret. On this weekend, did you have to mention that I was in the Navy for a little while? You just about blew me away. I know you've got some white clear liquid here. I'm just about ready to find out what the clear liquid is.   Naviere Walkewicz Cheers.   Dr. Chaudhary 01:40 Off we go, and we'll let our audience speculate, and depending on how it goes, we'll critique ourselves. Just an honor to be here, and congrats to you on your career of service in the Air Force.   Naviere Walkewicz Thank you so much. This is truly a pleasure. And I think what we love about Long Blue Leadership is it's really about our listeners getting to know you. And we have so many different listeners that are really excited. So let's start with the hat. I've noticed we've got a hat on right here. “Air Force Installations: Best in the World.” Let's talk about it.   Dr. Chaudhary Yeah, let's talk about that. Because we do have the best installations in the world. Our installations are power projection platforms. Every Air Force installation has a mission that begins and terminates with it. If you go all the way back in our history, Gen. Hap Arnold had this to say about our installations: “Air bases are the determining factor in air operations.” Think about that. Think about why we need to make sure that our installations are ready to go, and why we invest in them as an Air Force. It's because you can't get the jets out of town unless they have a good runway that works, unless they are hardened and ready to absorb the types of blows that have come to us in the past. And I'm telling you right now that we've got to be ready for this future, in a decade of consequence in Great Power Competition. We've got to focus on ruggedizing and ensuring that our installations are as survivable as they ever have been.   Naviere Walkewicz Absolutely. Well, I can say that that is certainly true, having been at bases where we've seen some challenges, it does halt and sometimes stop operations. So yeah, you're right. Yeah. So it's incredible the work you're doing, and we're going to talk about that today. But before we get there, can we rewind the clock a little bit?   Dr. Chaudhary Please don't rewind it too far, but I have a feeling you will.   Naviere Walkewicz Just a little bit. Just enough to kind of get to know who Ravi was as a young boy. What were you like growing up? Tell us about your family and where you grew up.   Dr. Chaudhary That's cool. So, I was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I grew up there all my life. My parents came from India in 1960s and they always dreamed to do the unusual, it was the American Dream that brought them to this country. And they had kids, you know, and growing up as a South Asian American, you know, people in community would be like, “Hey, you know, why are you going to join the military? Why are you going to, you know, once you just be a doctor or engineer or lawyer or something like that?” Kind of fit the stereotype. But I always thought about it this way: If my parents would give up everything they wanted in their life, their language, their culture, everything to pursue their dreams, wouldn't they want that for their children as well? And so off I went to the Air Force Academy, and the values that my parents instilled in me rang true just about every single day. In fact, when I grow up, my mom would always tell me this. She'd say, “You know, if you do your full duty, the rest will take care of itself.”   Naviere Walkewicz That sounds very familiar to me.   Dr. Chaudhary And she would say, in the Sanskrit word for that — and my faith tradition is Hinduism — the Sanskrit word for that is “dharm.” If you follow your dharm, everything will take care of itself. And lo and behold, I'm getting choked up a little bit, because when I showed up and opened that Contrails and saw that quote, I knew that Mom and Dad had prepared me, had prepared me for the challenges that would come, not just the Academy, but everything from 9/11 to deploying to Iraq to raising a family and making sure they have everything they need to prosper. So, all that brought me to an institution that honestly brought out the flavor and gave me in the same opportunity that this country gave my father. So, it's just been a pinch-me career, and it's just an honor to be here with you today and with the entire AOG team talking about this.   Naviere Walkewicz 05:36 That's amazing. I mean, I, thinking about what you just said, that your parents came and they pursued a dream. What was that like in your household? What did that look like?   Dr. Chaudhary 05:45 Here's what it looked like. My dad — he actually came to this country with about $165, $80 of which went to his tuition. He was at University of Missouri, and then he eventually went to University of Minnesota. The rest he used to get a house and fill the fridge. And so, when he was looking for an opportunity to serve, he wanted to be in the U.S. Department of Agriculture and serve as a fed and so he didn't get that chance. So, what he did, he literally drove, put me and my brother and my mom in a car and drove to Washington. When he drove to Washington, he dropped us off at the Lincoln Memorial and walked up the stairs of the Capitol. Two senators from Minnesota, one was walking out, Sen. Walter Mondale. He said hello to him. He didn't know him from Adam. And then he went to the office of Hubert Humphrey and he sat down with him, and he told his story to Hubert Humphrey and Hubert Humphrey said, “This is what America is all about.” And he was kind enough to give my dad a shot in Minneapolis. And he spent his entire career, 25 years, as a federal inspector in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.   Naviere Walkewicz My goodness.   Dr. Chaudhary It's an incredible story. But you know what? It all came together about a year and a half ago when I was confirmed and during my swearing, and it was honored to have Sec. Kendall swear me in, but to have my dad walk up the front steps of the Pentagon with my mom and I. We go up the stairs, and I said, “Dad, would you turn around for a second?” And he turned around. I said, “You know, you can see the Lincoln Memorial and you can see the Capitol.” And I said, “Look what you've done in one generation.” That is the embodiment of the American dream. And as he was kind of — I'm getting choked up — he wiped the tears from his eyes. He realized that that that what this country has given to us is something that we've got to always think about giving back and giving back, and that's really what my career has always been about, giving back to the country that has given my family everything.   Naviere Walkewicz 07:59 That is amazing. Wow. I mean, I'm almost without words, because I can see what your dad has instilled in you, made possible, but instilled in you as a servant leader as well. I'm just… that's pretty impressive. So, tell me about your mom, because it sounds like she also instilled some pretty incredible traits in you and some beliefs in how to treat people. What did that look like in, her leadership in your life?   Dr. Chaudhary 08:26 What can I say about my mom? She's a pillar of the community back in Minneapolis. She runs a nonprofit called Seva. In Hindi, seva means service, to serve, serve your fellow citizens, serve your nation. And again, I told you about her, her enduring quote, “If you do your full duty, the rest will take care of itself.” So, in that nonprofit, she is actually bringing cultural-specific services, health services, to the Asian American community. One thing she did during Covid was incredible. She pulled together a meal team, and she served somewhere around 20,000 seniors. And it wasn't just Asian Americans, anybody in the Minneapolis community that was struggling, that couldn't get food, that was having a tough time. And then, as you know, after the George Floyd tragedy occurred, the town, the city went through a tough time, and there was an area right around one of the police stations where the riots were going on and everybody was fleeing when. When the community was fleeing, she was mobilizing her team to go in. They were going in and they were rescuing people from shelters to get them to a safe place. And two days later, she brought a team into the community that was still smoldering and set up meal stations to just give people sandwiches, bread, whatever — to just make everybody feel good and move forward, and that's what America is about. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the times and differences, but we realize that America is more than just Washington. America is about neighbors and neighbors caring for each other. So, where did I learn that? I learned that from my mom, but the Air Force Academy brought it out, and I applied that every single day, whether it was a mission launching GPSs, doing engineering — tough engineering problems, or flying missions into the CENTCOM AOR, where we had to bring crews to bear to execute incredible missions. And so, reflecting on that — boy, you're really tearing me up today…   Naviere Walkewicz No, not at all…   Dr. Chaudhary …because you're bringing this all out of my heart, and it's just an honor to be here and humbling to tell the story. But I know that there are thousands and thousands of grads out there that have just as inspiring stories, and that's why I love to come to AOG. That's why I like to spend time with our cadets today, which was just as incredible. I went down to Jacks Valley and got to see the assault course as well. Luckily, I didn't have too many flashbacks.   Naviere Walkewicz I was going to say, did you have your rubber ducky with you?   Dr. Chaudhary Yeah, I did not. They didn't push me through it, but the demo was incredible. And I know our secretary was equally impressed with the cadets and the caliber of students that are here, the caliber of our cadets, and how I'm so optimistic for the future of our Air Force and Space Force.   Naviere Walkewicz 11:33 Absolutely. And I can share, based off of what you shared about your mom and dad, there's no reason why you're [not] able to take on a job that almost seems impossible with the scope and breadth of what you're responsible for. So, I can't wait to get into that as well. Can we go to when you're at the Academy? I want to know more about you as a cadet, because as interesting as you are as an adult, what were you like as a cadet?   Dr. Chaudhary 11:54 There's a lot that I really shouldn't disclose. Okay, so we've got to be really, really careful. So, me and my classmates, we have this thing called “mutually assured destruction.” You know stories about me, I know stories about you. Just leave it there. But let me tell you, the Academy was just the honor of a lifetime. But you know what — going through it with your classmates is something. I was just having lunch with our cadets today. I was a grad of Delta Tau Deuce, and to spend time with them and tell them stories, and hear about their stories, about what Deuce is like these days, was absolutely just, I was just blown away with it. But yep, I was primarily in Deuce. I had the just pleasure of beaing a squadron commander and having peers that really care for each other, peers that I keep in touch with. To this very day, I have them up on text.   Naviere Walkewicz Oh, wow.   Dr. Chaudhary And we share with each other. We have challenges. We go through it together, but I will tell you one story about why your cadet story matters, and you don't realize it until the balloon goes up. When I graduated from pilot training, I graduated essentially the day after 9/11 and I was actually in the planning room when 9/11 happened, and within a few weeks — I did my check ride that day — within a few weeks, I was at Charleston Air Force Base, and my squadron commander had me look out the window and said, “We don't have time to mission qual you. We don't have enough pilots. We're going to marry you up with a crew to go down range.” And you know what he did? He married me up with two people, one who was my classmate from the Class of 1993,   Naviere Walkewicz Really?   Dr. Chaudhary Two was a member of my squadron from Deuce, and he was a new aircraft commander. We had an experienced first pilot, and I didn't know nothing from nothing. I was a brand-new co-pilot. And so, getting ready for that, for those missions, a new environment for me, required something that our squadron commander knew that if I put three Academy graduates together, the bond that they've had in their years was going to carry them through toughest conditions, in unknown conditions. And sure enough, we clicked and did well. But to anybody who's a current cadet and listening in and wondering, “Hey, is this bonding — is what's going on now, the time that we have together here in the Academy going to amount to anything?” I'm here to tell you, it does and through my own life experiences, and quite honestly, in a number of missions, we fly working it together as a team. The bonds we create as cadets carry over for decades.   Naviere Walkewicz 14:54 So maybe you can share some of those bonding moments at the Academy. You said you were a squadron commander. What were some of the lessons you learned from a leadership aspect, in leading your peers, but also while still trying to bond with them?   Dr. Chaudhary 15:08 Yeah, when you look back, sometimes you're separated by age and rank, right? You got age and you got rank and your peer groups kind of set you that way. At the Academy, it's completely different because your peers, as a senior, you're all peers and colleagues, and to take on a leadership role is what I would say is the toughest challenge of all. To lead a team of peers and colleagues can be challenging. And there's challenges that really kind of come with everything like that, but to me, you can't do it without collaboration, without consulting folks and being inclusive in how you give people a voice. Now the jury is out — I'm not going to judge whether I was successful or not. Probably not, you know? But I will say we did one thing: It was gonna be we were gonna be the athletic squadron of the year. We were a beast. In fact, we decided that we were gonna go for one thing: We were the athletic squadron. And so, we did.   Naviere Walkewicz That's impressive!   Dr. Chaudhary We kicked some serious buttt. So, back in the day, you do what was called a sweep. So, if you swept all your sports and intramurals that day, you would, the next day, you would get Mitch's Mountains. And so, the lore of Mitch's Mountains was incredible. And today, interestingly enough, we had what I would call Mitch's Mountain version 2.0 — probably half the calories and twice the caffeine. I don't know what it is. But I actually whipped out a picture of an old Mitch's Mountain. And I show them, they're like, it was really funny, because to see the look in their eyes and to see an original Mitch's Mountain, it was like, oh, you know they looked at and they're like, “That's what a Mitch's…” And they're like, “There's an Oreo cookie on top!” I'm like, for us, “Ok, this is a nice 2.0” and everything, like you gotta go back to…   Naviere Walkewicz 17:05 So, how many of those did you get? If you were actually the athletic squadron, you must have swept multiple days.   Dr. Chaudhary 17:12 You see the love handles on me right now? That was the one challenge. Because, you know, [you‘ve] got to stay in shape. But we kicked some serious butt; we would sweep all the time. I was actually on the water polo team…   Naviere Walkewicz 17:25 …we share that. I did not enjoy it. It sounds like you might.   Dr. Chaudhary 17:30 I don't know. So, I'm a decent swimmer. I'm pretty good. Grew up in Minnesota, tons of lakes. I could say I'm a decent swimmer, but I can tell you I am not a water polo player. So, what they used me for in water polo…   Naviere Walkewicz Were you the buouy?   Dr. Chaudhary I was the anti-buoy, because whoever was the good player, they'd say, “Go and put your arms over that one and get them underwater,” so that our fellow water polo teammate could go in and score. And so, probably one of my most beloved plaques in my life is my water polo plaque because we were Wing champs.   Naviere Walkewicz Oh, my goodness!   Dr. Chaudhary We ran the tables and were Wing champs, and that plaque still sits on my desk. It's one of my most beloved things. You know, my wife, she's getting ready to toss it. I'm like, “No, no, not that!”   Naviere Walkewicz Not the water polo plaque!   Dr. Chaudhary She's like, “Oh, what about this graduation plaque from the Academy?” You can get rid of that, but don't get rid of my water polo plaque. That is beloved. So anyways, I was asking cadets today, “What's Deuce like?” I'm like, “So are you guys a training squadron?”   Naviere Walkewicz What are they like?   Dr. Chaudhary They're like, “We're the standards squadron.” And I'm like, “Wow, that's impressive.” I'm like, “What about Mach One? Are they the training?” So, they're like, “Mach One. Nah, not really.” They're like, “We're No. 1 in SAMIs. We're No. 1 is…? I'm like, “Oh, wow, they still have SAMIs and stuff like that.” Have fun. Yeah, that was a haze for me. Triple threats were always a haze, yes, so I never liked that, because well…   Naviere Walkewicz 18:49 Maybe the Deuce team does now.   Dr. Chaudhary 18:53 Mach One, they loved it. I've got friends from Mach One. They're gonna kill me, but yeah, they love it. They're all into it. Cleaning their rooms and Deuce would be on the corner going, “Would Mach One please go to bed?” So anyway, sorry. But yeah, it was an interesting time, you know, talking with some of our cadets.   Naviere Walkewicz 19:26 I love these stories. So, were you this happy as a cadet?   Dr. Chaudhary 19:31 No, I was not a happy cadet. I was a surviving kid. I was trying to get through the next day. And honestly, to me, it was always a wonder to be there, and I was always grateful for being there to serve. I was in a tough major, aero major, and honestly, it didn't come right away to me. And so I was not one of those sterling cadets that just rocks the house and everything. I was on the Comm List for a good portion of the time, but the academics took some time for me. I spent a lot of time in the aero lab. And, you know, the cool thing is, …  I did projects and drag reduction, and we we tested these winglets on the tips of wings, and we did flow visualization. I had this professor. His name was Tom Yechout, and I was talking to some aero majors today. They're like, “You know, Tom Yechout?” And I'm like…   Naviere Walkewicz He's still there.   Dr. Chaudhary “He teaches controls here” I go, “Well, he taught me flight controls as well.” But he supervised me, and one time, I think, maybe at the last reunion, he brought me to the cabinet, and he opened up the cabinet and he showed me the hardware that we used for our project.   Naviere Walkewicz 20:39 From your class?   Dr. Chaudhary 20:43 Yeah.   Naviere Walkewicz That's amazing!   Dr. Chaudhary And here's why I'm telling you that: When in my interview with Sec. Kendall, he sat me down and he was talking about, “Hey, in your in your team, we're doing some drag reduction activities.” And he's like, “What do you know about blended wing body aircraft?” And it turns out, not only had I done some research on that, I had done a project at Staff College and to me, you know, my message to cadets out there who are working on a project who are wondering, “Hey, is this going to amount to anything? Does this matter?” I'm here to tell you that it does, because the type of work that goes on at this Academy is literally out of this world. We got folks who are working with SpaceX. I went down and that we're actually doing a project called the blended wing aircraft, which is like a big flying manta ray. It's going to reduce fuel consumption by roughly 30% to reduce fuel for fuel consumption across our Air Force and extend our range.   Naviere Walkewicz How are we going to do that?   Dr. Chaudhary Well, we're going to build a prototype in 2027. One of my sections is operational energy, and we have a team dedicated to reducing drag on aircraft, finding efficiencies. Why is this important? Well, it's because in Great Power Competition, we know that our adversaries are going to come after our logistics and fuel — our resources. And as a logistician, you know that. Our adversaries are targeting our installations, they're going to target our fuel resources. So, what's the best thing we can do? We can be as efficient as we can with our fuel and flying C-17s, is one thing you get to know real quick that if you land at an austere location, you're going to drain that fuel bladder almost instantly. And what does that mean? That means less sorties. That's less fire missions if you're flying Apache's out of there. That means less fuel for generators if you lose power. That means less ability to get your CAPs in the air, and we've got to embody that as a department and be ready for what that challenge holds for us. So getting efficient with our field, to me, isn't something that we're going to do because we're nice. We're going to do it because it's going to be an imperative. It's going to be a strategic imperative, and we've got to be ready for that. And so, we've been working hard at those things. The blended wing body aircraft is a long-term thing that it's been out there for a long time, but we've got to proof it. And so, it's really cool…   Naviere Walkewicz It's almost full-circle for you.   Dr. Chaudhary Yeah, it's incredible. And we just were at this, at the plant for Jet Zero. We did a visit there to spend some time with them and look at look at their production facility. And what do I see when I walk in the conference room? Five cadets sitting on the end of the table, learning, taking notes, interacting with the top systems engineers. And interestingly enough, one of those cadets had come and visited me and spent the summer — actually, three of them. She was part of a team of three that came and visited my organization and worked on the impacts of strategic temperature changes and how it will affect payloads for tanker aircraft. And so, they did this research, presented me this paper, and now here I am seeing them at industry being on the leading edge. And to me — let me tell you that filled me with so much optimism and excitement for the future, and most importantly, what we're producing here at the Air Force Academy, a top-notch engineering school that is regarded across the industry. So, a little turn to academics there, but big shout out to what we're doing across our academic programs. I just think we're on the right track, and we need to keep up the momentum.   Naviere Walkewicz 24:30 No, that's huge. I was actually going to ask you, how are you leveraging some of our cadets in some of the things you're doing? But it sounds like they're already doing it.   Dr. Chaudhary 24:40 Check! Done. They're rocking the house. Just, just leading the way. It's awesome.   Naviere Walkewicz 24:43 That's amazing. Yeah. So, let's talk about — and I'm really curious — so, after you graduate the Academy, did you know you always wanted to be a pilot, by the way? Did you know you wanted to fly?   Dr. Chaudhary 24:50 I can't remember a day where I wasn't drawing airplanes. And you're asking me about when I was younger. You know, “What kind of kid were you?” I was a kid who was drawing airplanes. OK, I was the kid with the airplane books. I was a kid who was checking out every single airplane book and library and learning about them and trying to understand them and wanting to know more. And so naturally, it was just — I can't think of a day where I didn't want to be an aerospace engineer, be a pilot. And you know, sometimes the ebb and flow of demand for the Air Force —there was a time of reduction in pilots for the for the Academy, and I didn't get that opportunity then and it was a bummer. But you know, if you do your full duty, the rest will take care of itself. And so, I landed at Los Angeles Air Force Base where we launched this program. I got to launch rocket programs. And you may have heard of this particular payload: It's called GPS.   Naviere Walkewicz 25:44 I might have heard of that one, yes…   Dr. Chaudhary 25:47 …and it was the first time we were doing it. And we're young lieutenants, and we're at Los Angeles Air Force Base, and I was getting the responsibility for third-stage engines and ordnance systems and some of the avionics, and my boss said, “We don't have time. We're launching rockets every single month. I need you to go out to this corporation called Thiokol, and I want you to buy that rocket.” And by the way, he said it in a way that was like, “Don't screw this up,” right?   Naviere Walkewicz The undertone was there.   Dr. Chaudhary Yeah, we've had that don't-screw-it-up moment. And so that was one of them. And so, the one thing that I remember is that our Academy demands a lot, and it demands a lot for a reason. Because leaders will be demanding a lot of brand new officers. Now the jury's out as to how well I did, but we had three we had three successful missions, and we delivered full operational capabilities for our department. And to me, I look back on that. I, believe it or not, still keep in touch with the captain who welcomed me, who brought me on the team and, in 2018, I got the incredible opportunity to let the last Delta II rocket go. And I brought my wife and my daughter with me, and that kind of brought the whole band back together. And it was cool to have kind of the old space cowboys and in the room again going, “Well, let's, let's let this rocket go for one last time.”   Naviere Walkewicz That is really cool.   Dr. Chaudhary And the best part of it was, after that rocket went and you felt the rumble — the rumble of a rocket, there's nothing like it in the world. When you feel the rumble go into your stomach — I leaned over my daughter. I go, “What do you think?” She said, “I am doing that.”   Naviere Walkewicz 27:34 I was just going to ask you, did it bleed over into your daughter?   Dr. Chaudhary 27:38 Now, she's a cadet at Georgia Tech. She just finished field training, and of course, like every good Academy graduate should do, buck the system. So, she bucked the system with her dad and said, “I'm gonna do ROTC and go to Georgia Tech. So, good luck this weekend against Navy. I'll kind of vote for you, but just want to let you know the Academy is a lot easier than Georgia Tech.” So, she and I jaw back and forth, but watching her grow has been really cool. And I got a chance to take her up and fly and get her ready for her career. She wants to be a pilot. And let me tell you, we got nothing on this next generation. They are ready for technology. They are ready for the leading edge, and we've just got to enable them. Honestly, we've got to get the hell out of the way and let them in. There's one situation, we had new avionics on the aircraft. I won't bore you with the details, but it allows you to deconflict from traffic. It's a GPS-based instrument, and I was kind of flying with her one time a few years ago, and I said, “All right, well, this is what is so, you know that little piece, you know 2,000 below you, positive means 2,000 above you. It's closing it…” She's like, “Dad, Dad, Dad, stop, stop!”   Naviere Walkewicz 28:58 She knew…   Dr. Chaudhary 29:00 She knew how to interact with that technology, and honestly, I didn't. I was learning how to interact with that technology. So, we've got to really make sure that we're blazing a path for our next generation, but at the same time, make sure that that we're not getting in their way. And I think sometimes we do that as grads. We're like, “I was like this when I was there…” You know? I was at Mitchell Hall today, and I saw the 0-96 up there and it's memorialized. And I walked by that thing…   Naviere Walkewicz 29:32 Did you scan the QR code to fill one out?   Dr. Chaudhary 29:33 Yeah, I did not do the QR code. I was like, that's too much for me. But when you look at it, you know, I thought, I'm like, that's probably where that thing ought to be right now. It's a great remembrance of why it's important, why standards are important, and then the example of how it paid off in combat conditions and saved a life was pretty important. But I'll be honest with you, we find other ways today with this next generation. I can remember flying one mission and we lost SATCOMMS with a particular field, and we were roughly maybe six hours out for Iraq in the combat zone, and we didn't know the status of the field. And one of the things you need to do is make sure the field's not under attack. So, before we did that, we're like, “Hey, how do we get our 30-minute… You know, it just wasn't happening. But you know what we're doing. We had brevity codes. And all along the line, all the C-17s that were lined up miles after miles going all the way back to Azerbaijan at 30,000 feet. We're all on. We're communicating. … We're using brevity code, so, we're not giving anything away. We're using our brevity code, and we're saying this is the status of the field. And we're relaying, we're literally relaying a half world away. That's a testament to our pilot corps, testament to duty. And so it's really in the spirit of that 0-96 there that we've adopted. So, when people say, “Oh, that tradition is going to ruin us, you know, we're going to lose standards.” I could tell you that, even though we got rid of that thing, that we're still an effective force. And I think we have to understand that a little more and as we kind of move through a period of change at USAFA — I was talking to our cadets about, “Hey, what do you think about the changes?” and, “Yeah, well, restrictions, but I understand on the importance.” I'm going to hearken back to 1991 or so, when the first Gulf War kicked off, and we were cadets when that thing kicked off, and almost instantly we moved into BDUs. We started wearing those every day. We started creating the warfighter mindset. We sealed off to make sure that we had good security. We canceled a lot of passes, and you  know what we did? We moved from a fourth-class system to a four-class system. Sound familiar? Sound familiar? That was after the war kicked off. Think about that. After the war kicked off. Our superintendent is trying to do it before the war kicks off, to make sure that we're ready, ready to fight the fight and get into it. So, I have a lot of respect for our superintendent and taking this step. I do agree that we've got to get execution right. Sometimes you get some growing pains with those things, but I think we've got to step back in the grad community and digest a little bit and get behind some of the changes that have been going on. And I was talking to some cadets last night, I go, “What do you think of this?” And they're like, “We understand it. It hurts a little bit.” Because the expectations … the environment that we're in has now changed. And you know, honestly, I'll shoot straight from the hip and say that sometimes it feels like the goal post is being moved on you, because you meet one standard, and then they move again. Yeah, you know, things get tough, but we're a resilient institution, and when you get down to the brass tacks of who we are as grads, the core of what we do and execute our mission will never go away. And we've just got to blaze a path for our next generation to be successful.   Naviere Walkewicz 33:24 Absolutely. Well, speaking of blaze a path — and I think some of our listeners want to hear sometimes, you know they have times when they fail at things in leadership. How do you grow from that? Can you share a time when you experience failure and what it looked like, to help inspire them through that.   Dr. Chaudhary 33:42 Yep. Well, worst day of my life was when I failed a check-ride. I failed a simulator check-ride in the C-17. And it hurt. It hurt bad. I had aspirations in my career. I was like, “What's this gonna mean for me?” But you know some really smart folks, and that's when you turn to people who you really go to for advice, and it's like, you know, “Ravi, there are those who have and those who will.” So honestly, I just needed a smack in the head. They're like, “Get over it, man. You know, whatever you failed check-ride. Go out there, clean that thing up and those ups and downs in a flying career occur.” I'm being 100% honest with you, my failures are stacked up right next to my successes. And so, I think, to me, the failures were the things that helped me grow, grow through things and sometimes you think, “OK, well, that failure was unfair. I got, you know, I got a raw deal out of that.” Maybe I did, maybe I didn't, but you keep moving forward. Keep taking one step after another. Now I'm not a football guy. I love football. Watch about I never played football, but I do know what running back coaches say. I think, I'm not sure, they say, “Above all, always keep your legs moving. Don't ever up when you're running. Keep your legs moving.” And so, to me, I've always taken that advice. I've given that advice to other people too, especially when they come to me with challenges.   Naviere Walkewicz 35:09 That's great advice. So maybe we can talk about your role now a little bit. And so, can you actually explain what you do? It might actually be shorter to say what you don't do, because when I look at the description, it's quite a bit. We have listeners that are parents and that maybe don't have a lot of military background and really understand. So, I think it's wonderful to share with the full community.   Dr. Chaudhary 35:31 Yeah, let me talk about the position. So, the job is one of those long titles. It's the assistant secretary for energy, installations and the environment. First thing first. I'm not a military member. I am a presidential appointee, so my job is as an appointee, a Senate-confirmed appointee. That means that you go through a hearing like you see in TV, and you get voted on, right? You get the vote. I was lucky enough to have after a period of being held, I had a bipartisan vote. And so that was pretty neat to have that. But my role specifically is to ensure that our installations are ready for the fight, for the future fight, and for current conditions. Things that I lose sleep over: Right now we're in a decade of consequence that our secretary and chief regularly say that decade of consequence includes great power competition in which China and Russia seek to shape the world order in ways that that work to their advantage, in autocratic manner, and so we've got to be ready for that, and that includes establishing an important deterrence. So, my job is to make sure installations are strong and present an approach of deterrence, and when deterrence failed, be ready to win. So, what does that mean for us? That means ensuring that our installations have power capabilities, that have strong runways, that have strong hangars, strong facilities, and included in which — families live on installations as well — to ensure we have top-notch housing. So, you'll see me reaching across all those areas, but importantly enough, making sure that those installations have the right power is critical. Our adversaries have declared their intent and have the capacity to go after our critical infrastructure, and that's the one thing that keeps me up at night: making sure that we have critical redundancies and opportunities to if somebody comes after our infrastructure tries to cut our power, we have redundant capabilities, that our control systems are cyber hardened. And you mentioned earlier, both kinetic and cyber threats. So roughly in the past two decades, as China has modernized our CENTCOM theater has really shaped an environment in which CONUS installations are under threat a little bit, but not entirely. We could be relatively confident that Grand Forks would be generally safe from ISIS from a major attack. In Great Power Competition, all of that goes out the window. Our adversaries, to include Russia and China, know how to go after critical infrastructure. They know how to employ cyber capabilities, and that's why we've got to make sure that we are pursuing cyber hardened energy control systems that protect you from those threats, and the ability to island from the local grid when we need to. So, here's one thing we're doing. I'm on a march over the next five years to bring 20 or so micro grids across our most critical installations. A micro grid — it's kind of like a power bar. You plug it in the wall and you can plug in renewable energy, you plug in wind, geo, you know, all kinds of things into that — solar — to build critical redundancies. So ultimately, building those redundancies allows you to harden your capabilities at the installation and micro-reactors give you the ability to manage and distribute power where you need it. Now we can also put in battery storage. So, battery storage allows you to — when the balloon goes up, boom, put in a firewall with the local community and get the jets out of town. Keep your employed in-place mission moving and build critical redundancies. Then once the jets are out of town, plug back in and share that power with a local community, because we know that our adversaries are going to be driving civil disruption to affect the efficiency of our installations as well, too. So that dynamic is really complex.   Naviere Walkewicz Wow, and the time is compressed.   Dr. Chaudhary And the time is compressed, so we won't have time to react as quickly. So, we've got to prepare for an all-new environment in our installations. And it goes right back to the Hap Arnold quote. We've got to make sure that they're ready to ensure our operations are effective. And I was recently at Eielson Air Force Base, and what we're doing at Eielson is really novel. We're going to put in a small, modular micro-reactor, a small baby nuclear reactor.   Naviere Walkewicz Is there a small version of that?   Dr. Chaudhary Yeah, there is a small version, but it hadn't been developed yet, and we decided that we're going to push on with this new capability and bring it to Eielson Air Force Base. The key is to now — back in the day, we used to do something, proof it military-wise, and then see if it's viable in the in the commercial market, right? Not anymore. We're going to do it all concurrently. So, we're going to pursue a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license. We've been engaging the local community. They love it, including tribal nations, who know that power advantages are going to be important for sharing in the community. And so that will be the first micronuclear reactor in any installation. We're looking to award in the spring or sooner, and then get this thing up and running in 2027. Why is this important at Eielson? And you're like, “Whoa, it's way up in Alaska.” Eielson is a critical entry point for the INDOPACOM theater.   Naviere Walkewicz I was gonna say, where it's located…   Dr. Chaudhary It's where the one of the highest concentrations of our 5th-gen fighter force is at. It's where we do air defense, and it's where our mobility forces will be moving from Fort Wainwright all the way down range. So that's a critical node, and there's a few more of those that we've got to really, really stay focused on. So, energy and, by the way, a happy Energy Action Month as well. This month is Energy Action Month where we're looking at how we can improve power consumption across our Air Force and be more efficient. And bringing these micro-grids online is going to be a crucial, crucial aspect of that.   Naviere Walkewicz 42:07 Well, something I've learned about you is that you're not afraid to push the envelope, push the speed, but do it, like you said, concurrently and to find some solutions. And I don't know that there's anyone else that could do it just like are you're doing it.   Dr. Chaudhary 42:19 It's not me, it's my team. I have an incredible team of folks that refuse to accept anything [less] than excellence in our department. In fact, we have a saying in our organization that, “We eat no for breakfast.” So, I dare you to tell us no and that we can't do something. One of our coolest announcements recently that we were told “no” to for roughly three years, was a new apartment complex at Edwards Air Force Base. So, some folks may not know this, but Edwards Air Force Space is very isolated, and it's located in the desert, and so it takes roughly 45 minutes to get to the base once you get through the gate. And so, isolation of our military members, especially our junior enlisted, has been around for roughly four decades or more. And when we said, “Hey, let's do a venture-backed business model that allows us to bring state of the art departments not in MILCOM timeline like right now, timeline…” And so, we just announced an all-new venture commercial apartment complex that we just broke ground on, and we're going to start building, hopefully done by 2026 and these are timelines that allow us to move the Air Force forward aggressively. Another thing that we're doing is, I just announced a $1.1 billion investment in our dormitories and CDCs. As you know, quality of life is so critical. Back to this: If we're going to be, say that we're the number, have the number one installations in the world, we've got to live up to it, and that means our families need that too, as well. So, you've heard a lot about the GAO reports, everything from mold to decrepit housing. We're going to fix that, we're going to get ahead of it, and we're going to stay ahead of it. And so that's why our secretary, in our most recent president's budget, announced this. All we need is a budget now, yeah, and so, so our secretary is pressing hard for that, and we know that once that budget is approved, we can get working on these things and start changing quality of life and start upping our game in our installations.   Naviere Walkewicz 44:23 Well, I'm gonna take one of those leadership nuggets as “just eat no for breakfast,” but we're gonna learn more about your final takeaway lessons. Before we do that with you. Dr Chaudhary, I wanna thank you for listening to Long Blue Leadership. The podcast publishes Tuesdays in both video and audio, and it's available on all your favorite podcast platforms, watch or listen to all episodes of Long Blue Leadership at longblueleadership.org. Dr Chaudhary, this has been incredible. If you might leave our listeners with one thing, what would you like to share with them when it comes to leadership, or maybe just some lessons or anything about you that you'd like to share?   Dr. Chaudhary 44:57 Love what you do. Love our nation. I love my country because it's given me and my family everything. And I want everybody to believe that, you know, sometimes we get in these periods where we feel divided right across the spectrum, and it doesn't matter what your affiliation is, sometimes you just feel that. But I want folks to remember that America is not about what goes on entirely in Washington. It's about neighbors. It's about what you do for your neighbors. And to me, that's our biggest strength as a nation. You know, many years ago, our forefathers felt that the values of equality, fair treatment and self-determination would be enough to topple an empire, and it is. We should believe that too, and I want everybody to know that. So, it's an honor to be here. But before I go, I want to say thank you for just an intriguing hour. It's an honor to be here, and I want to give you my personal challenge coin…   Naviere Walkewicz Oh my goodness…   Dr. Chaudhary …and say thank you so much. It embodies a lot of what we do, military family housing, airfields, of course our beautiful 5th-gen fighter aircraft and our wind power and capabilities as a symbol of what we've got to do for installation school.   Naviere Walkewicz 46:16 That is an honor, sir. Thank you. Thank you so much. Oh my goodness, thank you.   Dr. Chaudhary 46:20 It was a great hour, and just a pleasure to spend time with…   Naviere Walkewicz 46:26 It was my pleasure. There's so much I wanted ask you and I know we're limited on time … Is there anything we can do for you?   Dr. Chaudhary 46:36 Just keep doing what you do. Keep making sure that our grads out there have a voice, have a say, and can contribute to all this institution has to offer our nation. And so, you're doing it, and I can't thank you enough for it.   Naviere Walkewicz 46:49 Thank you very much.     KEYWORDS Air Force, Dr. Ravi Chaudhary, leadership, installations, energy, community service, innovation, military, great power competition, sustainability, Air Force Academy, leadership, aviation, innovation, energy solutions, GPS, pilot training, military standards, personal growth, resilience     MORE FROM DR. CHAUDHARY ON THE FOR THE ZOOMIES PODCAST with C1C ANDREW CORMIER '25     The Long Blue Line Podcast Network is presented by the U.S. Air Force Academy Association and Foundation      

This week on Face the Nation, the US braces for an intensifying war in the Middle East as we approach one year since Hamas' October 7th attack on Israel. We'll have the latest on that front from House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Turner and former CENTCOM commander General Frank McKenzie. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell also joins us to give an update on how children are being impacted by the expanding conflict. As the Southeast recovers from the devastation of Hurricane Helene, Senator Thom Tillis addresses the challenges North Carolina is facing amid widespread online disinformation. Finally, as the 2024 campaign enters the home stretch with 30 days to go until Election Day, we talk with Senator Mark Kelly from the battleground of Arizona on the state of the race for the Harris campaign.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Join host Tyler Sweatt and Schuyler Moore, Chief Technology Officer at CENTCOM, in this compelling episode of All Quiet on the Second Front. Dive into Schuyler's journey through the realms of tech legislation to her pivotal role in driving technological advancements in military operations. This discussion illuminates CENTCOM's innovative approach to integrating cutting-edge technologies in complex and dynamic environments. Explore the development of Task Force 59, the operational impact of "Desert Guardian," and how CENTCOM is piloting the future of defense technology.What's Happening on the Second Front:How CENTCOM tackles complex tech integration in volatile environmentsThe culture and processes fostering rapid tech adoption at CENTCOMTangible benefits of new technologies in active military operationsHow partnerships are pivotal to advancing CENTCOM's tech initiativesConnect with Schuyler:LinkedIn: Schuyler MooreConnect with Tyler:Linkedin: Tyler Sweatt

On today's episode, Glenn Hansen w/ The Wilderness Company joins Mike and Kyle to talk about his new company. Get to know Glenn and his history with SOLGW as well! Glenn was born in Port Aransas, Texas, and grew up in San Antonio. He entered the Navy the day after his 18th birthday, and served 22 Years as a US Navy SEAL, with multiple combat deployments, deploying eight times to Iraq, Afghanistan, and CENTCOM. He retired back to Texas in 2019 to enjoy life with his family. He is the proud father of three sons and a daughter, and has been married for 13 years. He is a certified Master Training Specialist with a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership. He is also the founder and CEO of The Wilderness Company. How to follow The Wilderness Company: https://wildernessco.com https://www.instagram.com/the_wilderness_company/ https://www.facebook.com/WildernessCompany https://www.youtube.com/@thewildernesscompany5326 Be sure to visit our websites: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.SOLGW.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Spotify for Podcasters: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/solgw-podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Here's an intriguing thought. Mars is our past, and Venus is our future. This will become evident as we progress. For now, it's like watching a real time show. Covid helped them test their evil plans in real time. The AI systems take over in the Mars technical tale. Remember that they created pre-crime units. A made made moon? The so called elusive one wiped out cities. Everything is happening now so be ready. There are so many examples of strange coincidences. They will pull out the skeletons and make them dance. It's almost comical, as they try to find a crime. The Pope is doing some globe hopping. The strange story behind JD Vance. The Tin Peters case ends October 3rd, the day of trumpets. People don't see the obvious. CentCom has been busy. What's happening in Haiti? Look at those that turned evil. Where did all those children go? Into the hole of nothingness. Who bought ventilators before Covid? Be careful talking smack. Public face, private face. Be grateful to be alive in this time of world human transition. Despite all the forces that do us harm, always continue to love. It's what God trains us to do.

This week on the ‘What's Your Pineapple Express?' series, Scott had the honor of sitting down and speaking with an incredible leader – Jason Howk. Jason leads a non-profit organization called Global Friends of Afghanistan and has continued doing amazing work while keeping Afghanistan at the forefront. Join us this week as Jason shares his many years of experience in Afghanistan, gives us insight into some very important information, and shares what we need to learn from the abandonment of Afghanistan. Some of the things he reveals about what happened with this abandonment and more importantly, what's happening right under our noses in this growing safe haven will blow you away. Own Every Room - https://rooftopleadership.com/owneveryroom/ Nobody is Coming to Save You - https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/scott-mann/nobody-is-coming-to-save-you/9781546008286/?lens=center-street Scottmann.com  Join Rooftop Nation! Website: https://www.rooftopleadership.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScottMannAuthor Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scottmannauthor LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rooftop-leadership Twitter: https://twitter.com/RooftopLeader Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYOQ7CDJ6uSaGvmfxYC_skQ  Select Afghanistan experiences and published works SummaryJason Criss Howk spent 23 years in the U.S. Army as an Infantry and Sapper Paratrooper, and also as a South Asia Foreign Area Officer (Soldier-Diplomat).  His work in Afghanistan began in 2002 and has continued until the present day as he leads the Global Friends of Afghanistan educational non-profit organization that monitors and leads discussions on Afghan issues. Jason has worked on Afghanistan portfolios at the tactical, operational, strategic, national policy and international policy levels. He has taken part in a variety of missions to include military, diplomatic, intelligence, academic, and humanitarian efforts. During his Afghanistan work Jason worked daily with dozens of generals, ambassadors, and political appointees with Afghan portfolios. Due to his assignments and knowledge of the topic, Jason is one of the few Americans that has been privy to the discussions of all 4 presidential administrations as they planned their Afghanistan policy. Jason studied both Arabic and Dari at the Defense Language Institute, is a professor at the USAF Special Operations School, and is a Malone Fellow in Arab and Islamic Studies. He holds a Master's Degree in South Asia and Middle East Security Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School, is a CGSC graduate, and was a term-member of the Council on Foreign Relations from 2010-2015. Jason is an award-winning author who has written 4 books in English and has published over 225 works since 2008 in over 40 outlets. As a professor, lecturer, and columnist he focuses on Afghanistan, Islam, terrorism, and various National Security topics. For his work on Afghanistan Major Howk earned the Legion of Merit award for his years of exceptionally meritorious service as a Soldier-Statesman, and two Bronze Star Medals. He also earned the Afghanistan Governmental Success medal from the President of Afghanistan. Afghanistan ExperiencesSep 2002-Sep 2003       Sep-Nov 2003: Operations officer Coalition Task Force 82. Engineer Operations Officer on MG Vines General Staff at Bagram Airfield. Focus on engineer support to daily counter-terrorism operations across the country. His key effort was the completion of the FOB Salerno Airfield and Heliport in Khost province. Tactical and Operational level experiences in various Eastern Provinces.Nov 2002-Sep 2003: Aide De Camp to MG Karl Eikenberry as he took over as Chief of the Office of Military Cooperation-Afghanistan at the U.S. Embassy Kabul and also as the U.S. Security Coordinator. They worked daily with Afghan cabinet members across all parts of the government for the first year of the interim government and got to know all of them intimately. MG Eikenberry was tasked with implementing the international Security Sector Reform program in Afghanistan, and as Chief OMC-A creating the Afghan National Army and MOD from scratch. Their typical daily interactions included the leaders of UNAMA, NATO-Nation Embassies, ISAF, the 3-star US Forces Commander, CENTCOM, OSD, the Joint Staff, the Intelligence Community, regional ambassadors, the Special Forces leaders training the ANA, and the US Ambassador. For the majority of the year Jason was the sole note-taker in over 4,000 hours of meetings and the drafter of reports to State, OSD, and CENTCOM.2004-July 2007During an assignment in TRADOC Jason began to create and teach courses in the Army and at civilian institutions about Afghan and Islamic culture. He helped the Engineer School develop their Cultural, Counter-insurgency, and Counter-IED training for 2LTs deploying to Afghanistan and Iraq. During company command the Army selected Jason for the highly competitive Foreign Area Officer (FAO) program after completing a fellowship in Oman where he studied their insurgencies and how they rebuilt their nation after those conflicts. He continued to study Afghanistan and stayed in touch with his former boss LTG Karl Eikenberry who was the Combined Forces commander in Afghanistan.2007-2009 FAO TrainingIn FAO training he obtained a Master's Degree in South Asia and Middle East Security Studies at the Naval Postgraduate School in 2008. At NPS Jason focused on Afghanistan and the Oman counter-insurgency campaigns. He published a thesis on Oman's COIN and CT lessons which was distributed to his former bosses LTG Eikenberry, LTG McChrystal, and GEN Petraeus. He also wrote a directed study on the creation of the Afghan Military and the US Security Sector Reform efforts that was published as a monograph by the US Army War College in 2009 with a foreword by GEN McChrystal. That study was completed after many interviews with LTG Karl Eikenberry who was then assigned to NATO, just prior to his selection as Ambassador to Afghanistan.From 2008-2009 Jason attended Arabic language training at DLI until the day LTG McChrystal was nominated by President Obama to command ISAF. He was immediately ordered to the Pentagon to prepare LTG McChrystal for senate confirmation and to assist him when he took command in Kabul.2009-2010 As ADC to LTG McChrystal, Jason helped prepare him for his assignment and attended all meetings with Legislative and Executive branch leaders in Washington. Within hours of the Senate confirmation, they flew to Brussels to meet with NATO leaders and then onwards to Kabul Afghanistan. In Kabul Jason helped GEN McChrystal form trusting relationships with the same Afghan leaders Jason worked closely with when they first formed the government in 2002.For the next 2 months Jason traveled with GEN McChrystal to over half the provinces to listen to NATO and Afghan forces, and Afghan leaders to better understand the war.  Jason assisted COMISAF during the strategic review of the U.S. and NATO Afghanistan policy, often quietly liaising between GEN McChrystal and Ambassador Eikenberry, his new and old bosses.After the strategic review was sent to CENTCOM Jason was selected to initiate and design the NATO interagency team focused on reintegration — i.e., how former insurgents could rejoin society. GEN McChrystal loaned Jason to support the incoming Reintegration Advisor who had worked on a similar mission in Iraq and would carry out sensitive diplomatic missions.As the Military Assistant and Political Advisor to retired British Lt Gen Sir Graeme Lamb. They worked with the Afghan government as they developed their peace and reintegration policy with foreign governments, diplomats, and international organizations. This also helped launch the US/NATO peace process and made Jason one of the insiders on Afghan peace talks for over a decade.2010-2014After a year in Dari (Afghan Farsi) language training at DLI, and graduation from the Army Command and General Staff College, Jason was assigned to the Joint Chiefs of Staff's Afghanistan and Pakistan Task Force. In that role, he led two of the highest-level interagency teams of Afghanistan and Pakistan experts in providing products and briefings for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and OSD leadership, and the White House.  Also in that role, his teams helped prepare four different Generals to assume senior commands in Afghanistan. One of his team's key efforts was monitoring and helping U.S. leaders prepare for diplomatic negotiations with the Taliban.2015-2021After retiring in 2015, Jason continued his focus on Afghanistan and Islam as a professor at numerous institutes and continued to advise the U.S. and Afghan governments, and international bodies.From 2016 to 2017, he served as an advisor on the Presidential Transition Team's National Security cell focused on the Afghan peace process and foreign relations with Islamic nations. He contributed ideas to both the 2017 National Security Strategy and 2018 National Strategy for Counterterrorism.From 2017 onwards he served as an advisor on conflict resolution to the U.S. government, NATO member states, parts of the U.N., the Afghan President's NSC staff, and the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces leadership.Jason was invited to give presentations at the 2019 and 2020 Central and South Asia Military Intelligence conferences at U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). His topics included the future of the ANDSF, and the Unconventional Warfare efforts of Pakistan against Afghan and NATO forces.Jason led a USIP project team to assess post-conflict security in Afghanistan that culminated in a an invitation from the Afghan President and UN Chief in Kabul to give a presentation to over 70 nations at the 2020 U.N. Donor Conference on Afghanistan in Geneva.A second USIP project allowed his team to remain involved in the peace process until August 2021 as part of a U.S. Institute of Peace project authorized to conduct Track-2 diplomacy while talking to the Afghan government, various parts of Afghan society, and Taliban supporters.From 2019-2021 during both USIP projects his team took part in the USIP-led discussions that contributed to the congressionally-mandated Afghanistan Study Group Report. “A Pathway for Peace in Afghanistan” was published in February 2021.August 2021 OnwardsAfter the collapse of the Afghan republic while Jason was virtually assisting the evacuation of at-risk Afghans from Kabul, he and his colleagues formed the Global Friends of Afghanistan non-profit (GFA) to speak and write about Afghanistan and ensure the topic of Afghanistan was not removed from the daily news, and to help Afghans raise their voices to the outside world. On 1 September 2022 GFA held their inaugural annual conference with Georgetown University to discuss the evacuation and resettlement of Afghans, and the humanitarian crisis and security collapse in Afghanistan. Writing ExperienceSummaryJason has written 5 books, was on the editing team of the FAO Association International Affairs Journal, and was the senior editor for A Voice for Two Nations blog. He has published over 225 articles, essays, and news reports in over 40 outlets. He is a mentor to writers and a member of the Military Writers Guild, where he edits and co-authors with new writers. Most recently he has begun publishing U.S. veterans and Afghan book authors at Tamarisk Press a niche publishing assistance non-profit. His work has been published in the following outlets: CNN, Fast Company, Foreign Policy, The National Interest, ClearanceJobs News, Military Times, The Cipher Brief, US Institute of Peace, The Global Observatory, Small Wars Journal, Divergent Options, From The Green Notebook, The Bridge, The Forge, The Foreign Service Journal, The FAOA Journal, Observer, Task&Purpose, Business Insider, Real Clear Defense and Politics, SOFX The Special Operations Forces Network, US Army War College, Naval Postgraduate School, O-Dark-Thirty, and in various Afghan newspapers like Reporterly, and Hasht e Subh. He also discusses Afghanistan, Terrorism, and Islam on CNN, Afghan International Persian, TRT World, and Voice of America, and appears on other news and radio outlets.Select Publications Books2012, Lions in the Path of Stability and Security: Oman's Response to Pressing Issues in the Middle East. My 2008 NPS thesis was published in Oman in Arabic.2017, The Quran: A Chronological Modern English Interpretation. Gold Medal Winner at the National Indie Excellence Awards2021, Leaders Always Go a Little Further: ...Unless They Trip. Foreword by LtGen Sir Graeme Lamb.2021, Ali's American Dream: An Iraqi Refugee's Story of Survival and Triumph. Foreword by SIV recipient Nasirullah Safi formerly of Afghanistan.2022, U.S. War Options in Afghanistan: Choose Your Own Path. Foreword by Afghan Colonel A. Rahman Rahmani, a would-be terrorist who was deradicalized and later flew special operations combat missions against the Taliban-Haqqani network and aided evacuation of Afghans Pilots in 2021. 2020-2022, Lead Editor of the Foreign Area Officer Association book, Culture Shock: Leadership Lessons from the Military's Diplomatic Corps. Foreword by LTG (Ret) Charles Hooper. Publishing advisor and book formatting for 4 books. 2021: Brand Elverston's Proclivity and Nasirullah Safi's Get the Terp Up Here!2022: Brand Elverston's Instruments of Ignorance and Nasirullah Safi's Indispensable: Tale of a Military Interpreter Various Studies (contributor and author/co-author)2009, US Strategy Review of US and NATO Afghanistan Policy, ISAF2009, A Case Study in Security Sector Reform: Learning from Security Sector Reform/Building in Afghanistan (October 2002-September 2003), US Army War College press2010 Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Programme, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan2021, “No Going Backward”: Afghanistan's Post–Peace Accord Security Sector, USIP2022, Afghan Women: “I Don't Feel Safe.” A Global Friends of Afghanistan survey report, GFA Select recent articles and columnsAug 2022, Afghanistan Has Become a Terrorist Paradise, The National InterestAug 2022, How Can We Help Afghanistan? Ask the Afghans, The National InterestMar 2022, Information Operations: How is Ukraine Different Than Afghanistan? ClearanceJobs NewsMar 2022, Lessons Learned from the Last 20 Years: 9 Flaws in the American Way of War, ClearanceJobsDec 2021, U.S. Foreign Affairs Influence and the Afghanistan Fallout for the U.S., ClearanceJobs NewsOct 2021, Why Afghan Peace Talks Got Derailed, ClearanceJobs NewsSep 2021, ‘You Are Fighting in the Wrong Country.' How We Failed Afghan Policy Miserably, The Pilot19 Aug 2021, Taliban Takeover in Kabul: Pakistani Invasion Complete in Afghanistan, ClearanceJobs9 Aug 2021, Where is the Taliban with the Doha Peace Process? ClearanceJobs NewsMay 2021, Terrorists Kill Around 90 Afghan Students: The World Shrugs, ClearanceJobs NewsApr 2021, Afghanistan Needs a Weaker President: Decentralizing power can be key to long-term peace, Foreign Policy, with Shabnam NasimiFeb 2021, Taliban Keep Showing True Colors with Mockery of the Doha Peace Process, ClearanceJobsJan 2021, Path to Peace in Afghanistan for the Biden Administration, ClearanceJobs NewsDec 2020, Time to Make the Taliban Diplomatically Uncomfortable, ClearanceJobs NewsFeb 2019, America, don't abandon Afghanistan…Again, CNN, with Abdul Rahman Rahmani

John Sherwood interviews General Kenneth F. “Frank” McKenzie Jr., USMC Ret. about his new book The Melting Point: High Command and War in the 21st Century.  General McKenzie served as the commander of CENTCOM from March 2019 to April 2022. In that role, he oversaw the 2020 strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, the leader of the Iranian Quds Force; and America's final withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.  

General Kenneth F. McKenzie, USMC, retired as the fourteenth commander of U.S. Central Command in 2022 and is the author of The Melting Point: High Command and War in the 21st Century (https://a.co/d/a2RmIDK). He joins the show to talk about the strategic significance of the Middle East. ▪️ Times      •      01:16 Introduction      •      01:38 The Citadel     •      04:15 The humanities     •      10:00 Central Command        •      13:43 Thinking globally     •      17:53 Iran pushes back     •      23:05 Pursuing peace     •      26:15 Afghanistan     •      32:01 Collapse     •      37:58 A regional war Follow along on Instagram Find a transcript of today's episode on our School of War Substack

For decades the Middle East has been America's top national security challenge.From terrorism, to war, to regional instability, it takes more than a military effort to find solutions.As America navigates one of the most volatile times in history, Fran Racioppi sat down with retired General Joseph Votel, one of America's most influential leaders and scholars in Middle East policy. General Votel served as Commander of United States Special Operations Command, US Central Command, Joint Special Operations Command and 75th Ranger Regiment; organizations critically responsible for America's Middle East operations. General Votel unpacked the reasons why Hamas chose to attack Israel, Iran's malign influence, and the responsibility of the other Gulf states in preventing regional instability. He also broke down the opportunities the United States has across the diplomatic, information, military and economic spectrum; including America's ability to mobilize for a peer-to-peer fight. Plus he talked all things Ranger Regiment, the officer-NCO relationship, and keys to effective leadership. Take a listen, watch, or read our conversation with one the Army's most respected leaders then head over to our YouTube channel or your favorite podcast platform to catch up on our entire national security series from Washington, DC and Fort Liberty, NC. Highlights:0:00 Welcome to Odgers Berndtson3:07 The rise of China and Russia13:47 Why is Iran on the offensive?21:14 Using the elements of National Power24:34 The impacts of the Israel-Gaza War32:55 General Votel's call to serve42:35 Advice to new leaders47:42 How the NCO corps separates the US military 56:46 The role of Special Forces in the peer-to-peer fight1:05:09 Solving the recruiting challenge1:13:28 General Votel's Three Daily FoundationsQuotes: “In a word, they've had it and they're trying to reassert themselves.” “Putin has pretty much told us what he wants to do. He wants to eclipse the United States.” “The Gulf partners, the other Arab states, aren't that keen on having a new Palestinian state in the region.”“We have over-militarized a lot of our foreign policy in these areas. We need to be leading with diplomacy.”“If you open these humanitarian corridors, are you arming your adversary?” “When I showed up to West Point…instant buyer's remorse.” “To me, leadership has really become about the basics.” “I had a Sergeant Major. Bill Thetford. We were together for eight plus years; longer than the average American marriage.” The Jedburgh Podcast and the Jedburgh Media Channel are an official program of The Green Beret Foundation. Learn more on The Jedburgh Podcast Website. Subscribe to us and follow @jedburghpodcast on all social media. Watch the full video version on YouTube.Special thanks to Odgers Berndtson for hosting this conversation.

In this episode of Eurasian Connectivity, Dr. Kamran Bokhari hosts former CENTCOM commander, Retired Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. “Frank” McKenzie, Jr., for a discussion on the intensifying conflict between Iran and Israel, the challenge of Iranian efforts to alter the security architecture of the Middle East, and the implications for U.S. foreign policy in the region and beyond.

//The Wire//2200Z July 16, 2024////ROUTINE////BLUF: HOUTHI ATTACKS CONTINUE TO ESCALATE IN RED SEA. USSS UNDER SCRUTINY FOR SECURITY CONCERNS EXPRESSED IN THE WAKE OF TRUMP SHOOTING.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Red Sea/HOA: Houthi attacks on commercial shipping continue to escalate. Yesterday afternoon, Houthi forces successfully attacked the M/V CHIOS LION, a Liberian flagged tanker. This attack was carried out via an Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) in a similar manner as the M/V TUTOR which was sunk a few weeks ago. AC: The status of the LION remains unclear, however the Houthis released a video of the attack, showing the detonation of the USV against the hull of the LION. From this footage, it is likely that the LION suffered extremely severe damage during this attack.Admin Note: As a reminder CENTCOM and other US government agencies have modified the term “Unmanned Surface Vessels” to be “Uncrewed Surface Vessels”, due to the DoD's policy on gender-neutral language. This policy to modify doctrinal warfare terms has been in place for some time, but frequently causes confusion among those who are unaware of the stripping of the suffixes “-men” or “-manned” from certain terms. Most of the time the acronym remains the same, however keyword searches throughout military doctrine are made more challenging by the altering of such language. This should be considered when conducting independent research.-HomeFront-USA: CNN has claimed that President Trump's security detail has been increased due to an alleged Iranian plot on his life. AC: This is overwhelmingly likely to be a lie intended to detract from the security concerns observed over the past few days.Texas: Recovery efforts continue in the wake of the damage caused by Hurricane Beryl. Crime has increased substantially in some areas as many linemen have reported being attacked while trying to conduct repairs to electrical transmission lines.Pennsylvania: Questions remain unanswered regarding the Trump assassination attempt, with what little information that has been released resulting in even more questions. For instance, the Director of the USSS has provided more information regarding the reasoning behind why no security presence was on the roof occupied by the shooter. USSS Director Cheatle stated that the pitch of the roof presented a fall hazard risk so it was not occupied by security forces before the incident, even though it was identified as a security risk.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: Over the next few weeks, the USSS will likely seek to engage in narrative shaping to prevent the truth from coming to light. For one, the claims of the pitch of the roof occupied by the shooter being too steep and presenting a fall hazard are almost certainly false as that roof was less steep than an adjacent rooftop already occupied by a USSS CAT team. While the old adage of “never attributing to malice what can be ascribed to incompetence” is certainly true, we must ensure that the inverse is not attempted by the USSS within the information space. Over the past few years, it has become clear that the knee-jerk reaction by most federal agencies when faced with scrutiny is to lie, even regarding easily verifiable information. This, while not surprising, unfortunately influences the lessons learned by the average person who seeks to reduce the risk of tragedy occurring again.Though purely speculative, it must be considered that lying so openly and deliberately about a roof pitch being too steep would bring about complaints of DEI practices, incompetence, etc….anything but malice. Somewhat ironically, the USSS lying to make themselves seem like incompetent diversity hires, because that narrative is somehow more palatable than the truth, is a concerning detail that is likely to be overlooked as all sides expre

Podcast host Zach Markenson speaks with the former Combatant Commander for United States Central Command, General McKenzie (R), about his recently published book “The Melting Point: High Command and War in the 21st Century.” General McKenzie provides detailed accounts of some of the most consequential recent military operations that he oversaw, including the U.S. strike that killed IRGC Quds force leader General Qassem Soleimani, the special operations raid that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, and the United States military's withdrawal from Afghanistan. He also discusses how CENTCOM has handled heightened tensions with Iran and offers his perspective on the long-term impacts of America's withdrawal from Afghanistan.     

//The Wire//2330Z June 21, 2024////ROUTINE////BLUF: HOUTHI TARGETING CONTINUES TO ADAPT IN RED SEA. DOD FAILS TO ACCOUNT FOR FUNDING SENT TO CHINESE LABORATORIES RESEARCHING PATHOGENS.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Middle East: Growing concern has been expressed by various world powers regarding the increasing potential for an Israeli invasion of Lebanon. AC: While the Israeli military claims that the military and logistical preparations have been completed for a military operation within Lebanon, a political decision as to such has not yet been released to the public.Red Sea/HOA: Following the successful strike on the M/V TUTOR, Houthi forces have increased attempts to target commercial shipping via unmanned watercraft. Over the past few days, CENTCOM has claimed to have destroyed several such Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs), though it is not clear as to if this targeting was successful, or if it was conducted as an immediate defense against operationally deployed craft. AC: Of note, the strike carried out on the TUTOR did not involve the more advanced weaponry known to be within the Houthi Order of Battle (OOB). The Houthis have at least several different variants of USV, purpose built for attacking commercial shipping. However, the first successful use of a USV by the Houthis during this conflict was via the conversion of a standard fishing skiff, complete with the deception tactic of using mannequins by which to close with the intended target undetected. This may pose a unique challenge for American forces, who many not easily discern such USVs from legitimate fishing vessels (whereas the dedicated USVs are very easily identifiable military targets, even from a considerable distance).-HomeFront-USA: Car dealerships around North America continue to suffer the widening impacts of a cyberattack that occurred a few days ago. CDK Global, the provider of the software used by most car dealerships to manage inventory, conduct sales, etc, was rendered ineffective by a ransomware cyberattack which resulted in the company taking most of their systems offline.Washington D.C. – The DoD Office of Inspector General publicly released their report (Dated June 18) regarding the limitations of DoD systems to track the funding allocated by the DoD to Chinese research laboratories conducting research on “pathogens of pandemic potential”. -----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: It is not clear as to if the Pentagon failing to provide funding data for how much tax revenue was sent to Chinese research labs was done out of malice, incompetence, or both, but the end result is a lack of surprise on the part of the American taxpayer in any case.Analyst: S2A1//END REPORT//

The United States military has divided the world into different regional commands and put a general or admiral in charge of planning and conducting military operations in that part of the world. For the past two and a half decades, the Middle East has been the busiest. Nick Schifrin spoke with retired Gen. Frank McKenzie, a former commander who was in charge during a particularly momentous time. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

//The Wire//1800Z June 14, 2024////ROUTINE////BLUF: HOUTHI TARGETING AGAIN INTENSIFIES IN THE RED SEA. SAUDI CROWN PRINCE CANCELS ATTENDANCE OF G7 SUMMIT. PUTIN PUBLICIZES TERMS OF POTENTIAL UKRAINE PEACE TALKS.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Red Sea/HOA: Houthi targeting increases with two major incidents occurring over the past few days. Yesterday, three ASCMs successfully targeted the M/V VERBENA in the Gulf of Aden, causing severe damage. CENTCOM confirmed that at least one crew member was medically evacuated from the VERBENA due to wounds sustained during the attack.On Wednesday, Houthi forces successfully targeted the M/V TUTOR, a Greek-flagged cargo vessel (carrying coal) in the Red Sea. This attack was carried out via an Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) and resulted in the TUTOR sustaining severe damage to the engine room. Per the latest reports, the vessel is experiencing severe flooding, and is reportedly not under command at this time. However, her current status remains unclear.AC: These attacks come as a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report was released yesterday confirming that maritime traffic through the Red Sea has decreased by approximately 90% since Houthi targeting began.Middle East: Tensions between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia quietly increase following various diplomatic slights over the past few weeks. Last week, the 1974 petrodollar agreement between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. allegedly expired, with no replacement treaty scheduled to take effect. AC: While the 1974 agreement is legitimate, it's not clear as to if a 50-year expiration date is indeed contained within the text of the agreement. Regardless of the formalization of such a specific expiration date, the opportunity not being taken to renew Saudi-US relations during such a critical time in both nation's histories speaks volumes.Notwithstanding the formalization of such poor relations, the Saudis have been trading in oil using non-USD currencies for some time now (most famously including the recent unconfirmed claims of OPEC shifting to the Chinese Yuan). This recent diplomatic spat continues the already apparent shift in the diplomatic status between the two nations, and probably will result in more OPEC+ member states shifting away from the United States and more favorably in the direction of BRICS+.Additionally, Saudi Arabia has more directly signaled increasing dissatisfaction with the U.S. via Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) abruptly canceling his attendance of the G7 summit currently underway in Italy. AC: MBS was scheduled to be a critical attendee of the summit (as Italy seeks to improve relations with the Middle East, and court various trade agreements that have been in the works for months). However, he canceled his trip just a few hours before he was supposed to arrive in Rome, citing pressing duties to oversee the Hajj season (which is a poorly-camouflaged excuse, as his attendance is not required for this holiday season, which has likewise been scheduled for many months). This G7 summit would have been his first attendance as he increasingly takes over the duties of the Saudi empire.Europe: In a televised press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly stated the conditions for a peace proposal in Ukraine.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: Though the publicity of Putin's proposal may be surprising to some, this is probably Russia's last warning before the summer offensive comes to fruition. Though Putin's demands may seem unfair to the West (the annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson, along with dropping Ukraine's NATO bid), Ukraine is almost certainly not in a position to offer much flexibility in negotiations (if they were to occur). Consequently, this may be the best deal Ukraine is likely to get. Despite the hubris of the

Host Bill Hamblet interviews former CENTCOM Commander General Frank McKenzie Jr., U.S. Marine Corps (Retired), about his latest book from the Naval Institute Press. For more information on "The Melting Point: High Command and War in the 21st Century," visit: www.usni.org/press/books/melting-point

Host Bill Hamblet interviews former CENTCOM Commander General Frank McKenzie Jr., U.S. Marine Corps (Retired), about his latest book from the Naval Institute Press. For more information on "The Melting Point: High Command and War in the 21st Century," visit: https://www.usni.org/press/books/melting-point

PREVIEW: #AFGHANISTAN: #ALQAEDA: Conversation with colleague Bill Roggio of FDD re the fact that Al Qaeda sends out a pamphlet inviting all jihadists to travel to Afghanistan for training for transnational attacks -- and the Taliban does not protest nor does CENTCOM comment. More details later tonight. https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2024/06/al-qaeda-leader-calls-foreign-fighters-to-afghanistan.php 1920 Khyber Pass, Fort Jamrud

Dr. John Sherwood interviews General David H. Petraeus about his new book, co-authored with Andrew Roberts, entitled Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine. Topics covered include the characteristics of strategic leadership in war; and how technology has changed war since World War II. He also offers some career advice to midshipmen and cadets drawn from his life experiences, which include command of the surge in Iraq, U.S. CENTCOM, and the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world. It is day 192 of the war with Hamas. Diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode. To start Berman, who is currently in the United States shares how American media has depicted the foiled Iran strike. Berman wrote an analysis following the Iran strike that examined the roles played by Israel's neighbors and Centcom partners. He analyzes how this teamwork developed and where it can go from here. Neighboring Arab countries played greater and lesser roles in foiling the Iranian projectiles, including Jordan, but also Saudi Arabia. In an interview with the Israeli Kan broadcaster, a Saudi official criticized Iran for having engineered a war in Gaza in order to destroy the progress it was making in normalizing relations with Israel. Berman weighs in. After over three hours of deliberations on Sunday afternoon, Israel's five-person war cabinet did not reach a decision as to how the country would respond to Iran's massive missile and drone barrage on Saturday night. Berman describes the United States' point of view as well as some potential strike options on Israel's table. For the latest updates, please see The Times of Israel's ongoing live blog. Discussed articles include: Live blog April 15, 2024 With its aerial attack, Iran could break Israel's isolation and reframe the Gaza war ‘Not seeking war': White House stresses US won't join Israeli counterstrike on Iran War cabinet said to favor hitting back at Iran but divided over when and how Should Israel launch an immediate retaliatory attack on Iran? Lawmakers are divided US House to vote on Israel aid package following Iran attack THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.  IMAGE: In this photo obtained from the US Department of Defense, the US Navy's aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) (IKE) transits the Strait of Hormuz on November 26, 2023. (Ruskin Naval / US Department of Defense / AFP)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eric welcomes Will Selber, Military Affairs Fellow with the Bulwark and a 20 year veteran of U.S. military intelligence with multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition to his writing at the Bulwark, you can read Will's substack - Grumpy Combat Veteran - and listen to the podcast he co-hosts, Shoulder to Shoulder. They discuss the recent IS-KP attack on the Crocus City Theater in Moscow, the terrorist threat from both IS-KP and al Qaeda operating from Afghanistan, the difficulties of establishing an over-the-horizon counter-terrorist capability for CENTCOM, the Trump and Biden decisions to withdraw from Afghanistan, the failure to hold the Taliban to the terms of the Doha agreement, the repetition of US failures in VIetnam in training the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF), a post-mortem on the shambolic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, the reputational damage to the U.S. for abandoning its Afghan allies, the importance of military introspection and accountability for some of the failures in Afghanistan, and the ongoing impact of the Afghanistan debacle on military recruiting for the all volunteer force (AVF). https://grumpycombatveteran.substack.com https://plus.thebulwark.com/p/al-qaeda-in-afghanistan-how-serious-threat https://plus.thebulwark.com/p/president-biden-should-talk-about-afghanistan https://plus.thebulwark.com/p/deeper-reason-for-military-recruitment-woes