Author Archive
Join us at 5pm (Eastern U.S.), 6 Jan 2013, for the first live episode of the new year, Episode 157: “Force Structure and Tipping Points”:What happens when a global maritime power finds itself in a position where it can no longer sustain the global presence it once considered an essential requirement?
The US Navy has been in a period of decline in both numbers and capability for awhile, and as budgetary reality sets in and burn out starts to hollow remaining capabilities – the decline is set to continue for at least another decade.
How far the decline goes until stability sets in is unknown, but what is the best reaction to this reality? Are the lessons one can derive from history that can help policy makers shape direction and priority going forward?
Our guest for the full hour to discuss will be Daniel J. Whiteneck, Ph.D.
Dr. Whiteneck is a Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Naval Analyses. He has directed projects ranging from Tipping Point and the future of US maritime dominance, to the use of naval forces in deterrence and influence operations. He also led studies on naval coalition operations and maritime security operations focusing on counter-piracy and counter-proliferation.
Dr. Whiteneck deployed twice with Carrier Strike Groups for OEF and OIF. His CNA field assignments included two tours on numbered fleet staffs, as well as field representative to the Commander of NATO Joint Command Lisbon in 2004-05. He also did three tours in the Pentagon as CNA Scientific Analyst to N51, N31, and OPNAV DEEP BLUE.
He held academic positions at the Seattle University, the University of Colorado, and the Air Force Academy, before joining CNA. In addition to authoring a number of CNA studies over the past 14 years, he has published articles and book chapters on US and British global leadership and naval operations, NATO’s expansion and operations, and the role of conventional and strategic deterrence against terrorist networks and rogue states after 9/11.
Join us live here or download the show later from Midrats on BlogTalkRadio or from our iTunes page.
Posted by Eagle1 in Hard Power, Homeland Security, Maritime Security, Navy | read comments (0)
Join us Sunday 12-16-12 at 5 pm (Eastern U.S.) for Episode 154: Offshore Control and Asia/Pacific with TX Hammes With significant budget cuts already underway and expected for years, how do we adjust through the Pacific Pivot as these cuts take place, yet still remain postured to influence the region in peacetime and defend our national interests in war?
What is the best way to match required capabilities inside an economically sustainable military budget?
While many are familiar with the concept of “Offshore Balancing” – what is “Offshore Control?”
Our guest for the full hour to discuss the concept he raises in his latest article in the United States Naval Institute’s Proceedings, Offshore Control is the Answer, will be Colonel T.X. Hammes, USMC (Ret.)
Col. Hammes served thirty years in the Marine Corps at all levels in the operating forces. He participated in stabilization operations in Somalia and Iraq as well as training insurgents in various places.
Hammes has a Masters in Historical Research and a Doctorate in Modern History from Oxford University, and is currently a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University and an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University.
He is the author of “The Sling and the Stone: On War in the Twenty-First Century” and “Forgotten Warriors: The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, the Corps Ethos, and the Korean War,” and many articles and opinion pieces. He has lectured at U.S. and International Staff and War Colleges.
Listen live (or download later) here or pick it up from our iTunes page.
Join us this Sunday, 9 December at 5pm Eastern U.S. for Episode 153: NATO and the Challenge of Relevance :From the conflicts that came following the break-up of Yugoslavia, a decade in Afghanistan, land and sea-based ballistic missile defense, Libya, and now Patriot missiles deployed to the Turkish-Syrian border, NATO continues to test what kind of alliance it is after the fall of the Soviet Union roughly a quarter-century ago.
Where does the alliance stand, and what direction is it going? Are the roles of the member states changing? Where is the alliance strongest, and where does it need the most improvement?
Our returning guest for the full hour to discuss this and more will be Dr. Daniel Goure, is Vice President with the Lexington Institute.
Dr Goure has held senior positions in both the private sector and the U.S. Government, as a member of the 2001 Department of Defense Transition Team, two years as the director of the Office of Strategic Competitiveness in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, as a senior analyst on national security and defense issues with the Center for Naval Analyses, SAIC, SRS Technologies, R&D Associates, and System Planning Corporation.
Prior to joining the Lexington Institute, Dr. Goure was the Deputy Director, International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
He has consulted for the Departments of State, Defense and Energy. He has taught or lectured at the Johns Hopkins University, the Foreign Service Institute, the National War College, the Naval War College, the Air War College, and the Inter-American Defense College. Since 2001, Dr. Goure has been an adjunct professor in graduate programs at Georgetown University, and the National Defense University since 2002.
Dr. Goure holds Masters and Ph.D. degrees in international relations and Russian Studies from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in Government and History from Pomona College.
If you can’t make the show, listen later on iTunes or at BlogTalkRadio.
Join us at 5pm (Eastern U.S.) on 2 Dec 12 for Episode 152: “Navy Next, Interrupted” on Midrats
Elections have consequences. There are paths not taken, and paths that remain.In the last election, national security was very much kept in the background, but once you peeled away a layer or two and looked carefully, there was a lot of “there there” – and a lot of it involved what to do with the direction of the US Navy.
The erstwhile nautical corner of Team Romney had a direction they wanted to take the Navy.
What was that direction? What informed it, and what were the guiding requirements that shaped their concepts?
For the full hour we will have a Midrats regular, Bryan McGrath on to discuss this and more.
Bryan McGrath is a retired Surface Warfare Officer. He commanded USS BULKELEY (DDG 84) from 2004-2006, and finished his career by leading the team that wrote the nation’s current maritime strategy.
He retired in 2008 and is currently a Washington DC based defense consultant at Delex Systems. From August 2011 to November 2012, he served on the Mitt Romney for President Defense Policy Working Group.
Join us this coming Sunday at 5pm Eastern U.S. as we talk with Capt. Wayne Hughes, USN (Ret)on Midrats, Episode 150: “Policy, Fleet Size, and the Navy Next” on Blog Talk Radio:“If we cannot have the navy estimates of our policy, then let’s have the policy of our navy estimates.”—- Lieutenant Ambroise Baudry, French Navy
As our guest this week noted in his book Fleet Tactics: Theory and Practice, “These are the watchwords for the twenty-first-century American navy.”
As we leave our land wars in Asia and look forward to the future maritime challenges of our nation, what size and kind of Fleet should the US Navy have?
How will budgets impact the size and nature of our Fleet, and how will that impact the ability of the Navy to meet what it will be asked to do?
What are the major schools of thought on what should drive our Fleet design, and what does history have to tell us about where we should head, and what we should be cautious of?
Our guest for the full hour to discuss this and a lot more will be Wayne Hughes, Captain, USN (Ret), who in addition to being the author of innumerable books and articles, is a Professor, Department of Operations Research at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.
Captain Hughes received an MS in Operations Research from NPS in 1964, and returned in 1979 and continued as a civilian instructor for thirty-two years, including 5 years as Dean of the Graduate School of Operational and Information Sciences, he is a Distinguished Alumnus of NPS.
On active duty he commanded a minesweeper, a destroyer, and directed a large training command. Ashore, he was Deputy Director of the CNO’s Systems Analysis (OP-96), and Aide to Under Secretary of the Navy R. James Woolsey.
Join us live here (and you can listen/download the show from there later, too) or pick the show up on iTunes here.
Dear U.S. Naval Institute:
You have many wonderful programs and forums that are held in Washington, DC, Norfolk, VA, Annapolis, MD and San Diego, CA.I would like to attend them all. Sadly, though, I do not live in Washington, Norfolk, etc.
In order to attend a forum in DC, for example, I would have to incur travel costs including airfare, hotel, meals, cab fare and/or gas. In addition, it means time off from work or projects.
Even if the admission to the forum is free or at a reduced price I am still looking at substantial out of pocket costs.
So, here’s a plea from the hinterlands, next time you plan an event like the 2012 Defense Forum Washington: The Fiscal Cliff: What Does This Mean for Defense and National Security?, please consider offering an option of allowing virtual attendance – I’d be happy to pay for the privilege of being able to watch and listen in on my laptop or desktop computer. Since my admission price to the live event is $15 (being a USNI member), I’d pay that (and perhaps a little more) to save the hundreds of other dollars of having to travel hither and yon.
The quality doesn’t have to be particularly high. The main thing is the access for me and others who would love to join in. Virtually.
Virtual attendance may allow younger officers and junior enlisted to join in while remaining at their duty stations.
I know that there are companies that provide technical assistance in such things here in the 21st Century.
I also note that may other organizations put on live video programs including The Heritage Foundation and The Cato Institute.
Please consider this idea.
Thank you.
MT
Marines.
Don’t leave home without them.
For 237 years, we haven’t.
Join us on Sunday, November 4, 2012 at 5pm Eastern U.S forEpisode 148: Pre-Election Pontifications by Midrats on Blog Talk Radio:
Tired of the robo-calls? Tired of the same-old-same-old election babble on the TV and radio?
Well, take a break from it all and join Sal from “CDR Salamander” and EagleOne from “EagleSpeak” this Sunday from 5-6pm as they cover the maritime and national security board from stem to stern in a Midrats free-for-all.
Now is the time to call in and ask questions of the hosts on the topics you want addressed, or jump in the chat room and steer the conversation the direction you want covered.
Open mic at Midrats … join in!
If you can’t join us for the fun, you can listen later here or from our iTunes page.
Please join us Sun, October 28, 2012 05:00PM for Episode 147: The Recipient’s Son and Navy PAOs
Our show today will have guests that have seemingly unrelated topics – but both are connected to one thing; getting the story of our Navy, its people, and its culture out to the larger population.
For the first half of the hour, we will have returning guest Stephen Phillips. Steve is a 1992 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. He began his naval career as a surface warfare officer in USS Harlan County and USS San Jacinto. He then applied and was accepted into the Navy’s Special Operations community. He subsequently served as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technician at EOD Mobile Units Six, Eight, and Ten.
Steve is the author of the awarding-winning debut novel, Proximity, describes life as a Navy EOD Technician in the war on terrorism. His second novel,The Recipient’s Son, is a coming of age story that takes place at the U.S. Naval Academy in the late 80’s early 90’s.
Our guest for the second half of the hour will be LCDR Chris Servello, USN, director, Navy Newsdesk (OI-31) and Public Affairs Assistant to the Vice Chief of Naval Operations.
Chris will be here on his own behalf to discuss the role of the PAO in today’s media environment. We’ll also discuss how someone becomes a PAO along with some of the misconceptions and surprising aspects of what a PAO does.
Join us live by clicking here or use that link to download the show later which you can also do by going to our iTunes page here.
Please join us Sunday, October 14 at 5pm (Eastern U.S.) for Midrats Episode 145: The Aden Effect with Claude Berube on Blog Talk Radio:
Terror attacks on an American embassy. Piracy on the high seas. Political intrigue. Leadership at sea.
Not just the news of the day, but some of the topics you’ll find in Claude Berube’s new non-fiction book, The Aden Effect. We’ll have the author with us for the full hour to talk about the book, writing, and perhaps a few more things as well.
Claude’s articles have appeared in Orbis, Naval History, Vietnam History, Jane’s Intelligence Review, Naval Institute Proceedings, the Christian Science Monitor and other periodicals. He has worked on Capitol Hill and for the Office of Naval Intelligence. A lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve, he has served twice overseas including a deployment to the Persian Gulf with Expeditionary Strike Group Five. He currently teaches at the United States Naval Academy.
From the description on of his new book on Amazon, “Murder, politics, seapower, Middle East instability, and intrigue in the White House are all part of this action thriller. Set against a background of modern piracy in the Gulf of Aden, the story begins as the new Ambassador to Yemen, C.J. Sumner, is assigned to negotiate access to the oil fields off the island of Socotra and enlist help countering pirates who are capturing ships at will off the Horn of Africa. Meeting with resistance to her diplomatic overtures, Sumner recruits Connor Stark, a former naval officer turned mercenary who knows the region, as her defense attache. When Stark sets up a meeting with the owner of a Yemeni shipping company and the ruling family, the challenges begin.”
Join us live (or listen later) by clicking here or listen later at our iTunes page here.
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