The Debrief

Synopsis:

The Space Force is the United States’s newest military service branch, established in 2019 to secure the nation’s interests in space. Organized within the Department of the Air Force, the Space Force joins a number of organizations within the Department of Defense operating within what is an increasingly contested warfighting domain. Joining The Debrief to help navigate the changes to the United States’s posture toward this new frontier is Dr. David Burbach, associate professor of national security affairs and the inaugural director of the Space Studies Group at the U.S. Naval War College.

About the Speaker:

Professor Burbach teaches the politics of U.S. foreign policy, space security and international relations. His scholarly interests include civil-military relations, defense planning and the relationship between international security and technology, particularly space and nuclear

policy. Before joining the Naval War College faculty in 2007, he taught at the Army's School of Advanced Military Studies and also worked for several policy analysis and information technology organizations.

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The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.

Synopsis:

How have new technologies, such as autonomous drones and applying artificial intelligence, changed how strategists and policymakers view conflict in the 21st century? While they have had clear impacts in the tactical and operational levels of war, how game-changing are they when it comes to strategic objectives? Are we in thrall to "strategic myths" arising from technological determinism? Join us for this important conversation.

About the Speaker:

LTC Paul Lushenko is an Assistant Professor and Director of Special Operations at the U.S. Army War College. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in International Relations from Cornell University. He also holds an M.A. in Defense and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College, an M.A. in International Relations and a Master of Diplomacy from The Australian National University, and a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy. Paul has deployed continuously, directing intelligence operations at the Battalion, Combined Task Force, and Joint Task Force levels. In his most recent operational assignment, Paul served as the Senior Intelligence Officer for the Joint Special Operations Task Force in Afghanistan and was also responsible for shaping the coalition’s strategy to defeat the Islamic State and helping to regionalize U.S. counterterrorism policy and strategy. Paul is a Council on Foreign Relations Term Member, Adjunct Research Lecturer at Charles Sturt University, and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Cornell University’s Tech Policy Institute. He is the co-editor of Drones and Global Order: Implications of Remote Warfare for International Society (2022), which is the first book to systematically study the implications of drone warfare on global politics. He also has a book forthcoming on the public’s perceptions of legitimate drone strikes, entitled The Legitimacy of Drone Warfare: Evaluating Public Perceptions (2024).

The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.

Synopsis:

The 2022 National Security Strategy identifies the People’s Republic of China as “the only competitor with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do it.” What is the nature of the threat China poses, and how is the United States adapting to meet it? To address these questions, The Debrief draws on the expertise of Kathleen Walsh, Associate Professor of National Security Affairs and Director of the Asia Pacific Studies Group at the U.S. Naval War College, and Brian Chao, Assistant Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College and associate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Study of Contemporary China.

About the Speakers:

Kathleen (Kate) Walsh is associate professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College where she has taught policy analysis since 2006. Walsh is a member of the Faculty Advisory Council, the NWC’s Asia Pacific Studies Group (APSG) director and the founder/director of the Oceanography & Maritime Security Group (OMSG). She was a senior consultant to Washington, D.C.-area think tanks including senior associate at the Stimson Center and senior associate at a D.C.-area defense consulting firm, among other past positions there. Her research focuses on China and the Asia-Pacific region, particularly issues of security, technology, innovation and ocean or "blue" economy issues.

Prof. Brian C. Chao researches great-power relations, naval power and geostrategy, and US Indo-Asia-Pacific defense and foreign policies. His work appears in “Navies in Multipolar Worlds: From the Age of Sail to the Present" (Routledge), “Security, Development and Sustainability in Asia: A World Scientific Reference on Major Policy and Development Issues of 21st Century Asia” (World Scientific), International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, and Territory, Politics, Governance, among others. He teaches theater and national-security decision-making, as well as an elective course on Taiwan. He is also an associate of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for the Study of Contemporary China.

The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.

Synopsis:

The interagency process coordinates the development and implementation of national security policies across executive departments at all levels of the federal government. How does the Defense Department translate policy guidance into operational-level planning, and how do national security professionals in regional theaters coordinate with their interagency counterparts to implement these policies? Capt. Jeff W. Benson, USN, joins The Debrief to address these questions, drawing on his experience in contributing to the interagency process on U.S. strategy in the Indo-Pacific region. Capt. Benson will be the first Commanding Officer of the new Flight III guided missile destroyer, USS LOUIS H. WILSON, JR (DDG 126), being built in Bath, ME. He is a graduate of the Naval War College and previously served as the Division Chief for China and Taiwan on the Joint Chiefs of Staff (J5).

About the Speaker:

Capt. Benson will be the first Commanding Officer of the new Flight III guided missile destroyer, USS LOUIS H. WILSON, JR (DDG 126), being built in Bath, ME. He is a graduate of the Naval War College and previously served as the Division Chief for China and Taiwan on the Joint Chiefs of Staff (J5).

The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.

Synopsis:

The African continent is often viewed through the prism of humanitarian crises, a region defined by famines and pandemics. This approach ignores Africa’s critical importance to the global economy, especially in the transition to “green” technologies; its role as an interconnector between the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific basins; its role as part of the rise of the Global South in the 21st century. Dr. Naunihal Singh lays out a new strategic approach for the United States to the continent grounded in Africa’s importance for achieving its national security objectives.

About the Speaker:

Professor Naunihal Singh joined the Naval War College in 2016. He earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University and his B.S. at Yale University. He is a scholar of African Politics, Civil-Military Relations. Author of “Seizing Power: The Strategic Logic of Military Coups” (2014) a book on the dynamics and outcomes of military coups based on 300 hours of interviews and a statistical analysis of 471 coup attempts.

The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.

The Honorable Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, visits the U.S. Naval War College (NWC) on board Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island Feb. 22, 2024. During the visit Amb. Emanuel met with NWC President Rear Adm. Pete Garvin before addressing students, staff, and faculty on U.S., Japanese relations. Ambassador Emanuel became the 31st U.S. Ambassador to Japan in December 2021, prior to his current role he served as the 55th Mayor of the City of Chicago.

About the Speaker:

Rahm Emanuel was confirmed in a bipartisan vote as the 31st United States Ambassador to Japan on December 18, 2021. Previously, Ambassador Emanuel was the 55th Mayor of the City of Chicago, a position he held until May 2019. During that time, he made the critical choices necessary to secure Chicago’s future as a global capital.

As Mayor, the Ambassador added four years to a student’s education. He increased the school day by 75 minutes and added more than 200 hours to the school year, marking the largest single increase in educational time by any city and taking Chicago from having the least educational time of any large school district in the country to being on par with its peers. He implemented universal pre-kindergarten and full-day kindergarten for every Chicago child, and made Chicago the first city in America to provide free community college.

The Mayor’s comprehensive public safety strategy focused on expanded prevention programs for at-risk youth, smarter policing strategies, and empowering parents and communities to reduce violence. The Ambassador made it a priority to bring global companies to the city, helping Chicago to lead the U.S. in corporate relocations and foreign direct investment for seven consecutive years. His administration invested in infrastructure, public transportation, open space, and cultural attractions. From the $8.5 billion O’Hare International Airport modernization program that is cementing Chicago’s status as a global leader in travel, tourism, and trade to the development of the iconic 1.25-mile Chicago Riverwalk, the City’s investments are creating thousands of good-paying jobs and making Chicago a better place to live, work, and play.

Prior to becoming Mayor, from November 2008 until October 2010, Ambassador Emanuel served as President Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff. In addition to being the President’s top advisor, the Ambassador helped the Obama administration secure the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Ambassador Emanuel was elected four times as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois’s 5th Congressional District (2002-2008). As Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Emanuel helped pass legislation to raise the minimum wage and authored the Great Lakes Restoration Act.

From 1993 to 1998, Ambassador Emanuel was a key member of President Bill Clinton’s administration, rising to serve as Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Politics. During this time, Emanuel served as a legislative liaison to Congress and spearheaded efforts to pass several of President Clinton’s signature achievements, most notably the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, and the historic Balanced Budget Act, which created the Children’s Health Insurance Program that expanded health care coverage to 10 million children. The Ambassador also worked closely with President Joseph R. Biden Jr., then a U.S. Senator, to shepherd the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 through Congress.

As a former Senior Counselor at Centerview Partners and former Managing Director at Wasserstein Perella & Co., Emanuel brings a depth of financial experience to the post.

Ambassador Emanuel graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1981 and received a Master’s Degree in Speech and Communication from Northwestern University in 1985. He is married to Amy Rule, and they have three children.

The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.

More than 20 years since the United States launched its invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the origins of the war remain highly contested, both among scholars and policy practitioners alike. As tensions continue to flare in the region and thousands of U.S. troops continue to deploy to military bases within Iraq, understanding the history of U.S. involvement in this country is critical for understanding the United States’s role in the modern Middle East. Joining This episode of The Debrief analyzes the causes and consequences of the Iraq War with Dr. Joseph Stieb, assistant professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College and author of The Regime Change Consensus: Iraq in American Politics, 1990 to 2003.

About the Speaker:

Joseph Stieb joined the U.S. Naval War College in 2022 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at The Ohio State University’s Mershon Center for International Security Studies. He received a Ph.D. in U.S. history from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2019. He studies U.S. foreign policy, politics, and ideas in the 20th and 21st centuries, particularly the Iraq War and the War on Terrorism. He is the author of The Regime Change Consensus: Iraq in American Politics, 1990-2003 (Cambridge, 2021) and has also published in Diplomatic History, Modern American History, The International History Review, The Washington Post, War on the Rocks, Foreign Policy, American Purpose, and Arc Digital.

The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.

U.S. national security ultimately rests on its nuclear capabilities to deter existential challenges to its existence, alongside the commitment to use such weapons if other forms of deterrence have failed. Join Professor Dana Struckman and Dr. Terence Roehrig to look at the challenges of nuclear deterrence and how this has evolved from the superpower rivalry of the Cold War to more unsettled conditions of great power competition in the 21st century.

About the Speakers:

Dana Struckman joined the U.S. Naval War College (NWC) faculty upon his NWC graduation in June of 2006 and served as a military professor for four years. In 2010, he joined the faculty as a full-time Professor of Practice and currently serves as the Deputy Chair of the National Security Affairs Department.

Dr. Terence Roehrig, professor of national security affairs, has been a research fellow at the Kennedy School at Harvard University in the International Security Program and the Project on Managing the Atom. He is a non-resident expert at the Center for Korean Legal Studies at Columbia University. He has published numerous books, articles and book chapters on Korean and East Asian security issues, North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, the U.S.-Republic of Korea alliance, Korean maritime issues, human rights and transitional justice. He has given presentations to U.S. Forces Korea, the U.S. Embassy Seoul and the ROK JCS J-5. He has been a past president of the Association of Korean Political Studies.

The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.

The United States has interests all around the globe, and must be able to respond to crises and challenges in different regions without compromising the national interest. Lt. Col. Rebecca Russo joins us to unpack what "global integration" means for a U.S. military and its ability to defend peace and freedom throughout the world.

About the Speaker:

Col. Russo is a command pilot with over 3,000 hours in the C-17A and T-1A. She most recently served as a strategist on the Joint Staff J7 and as a liaison to DARPA's Adaptive Capabilities Office. Previous to that position, she commanded the 691st Cyber Operations Squadron and served in staff positions at USTRANSCOM and Air Mobility Command. Col. Russo graduated with distinction from the U.S. Naval War College in June 2021.

The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.

For those serving in the military or civil service, Congress may appear to be a distant, mysterious other branch of government, yet Congress—through its powers to legislate, appropriate, confirm, and oversee—is part and parcel of the national security enterprise. In this episode, Professor Kathleen Walsh guides us through the roles of Congress and how it connects to you, the practitioner.

About the Speaker:

Kathleen (Kate) Walsh is associate professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College where she has taught policy analysis since 2006. Walsh is a member of the Faculty Advisory Council, the NWC’s Asia Pacific Studies Group (APSG) director and the founder/director of the Oceanography & Maritime Security Group (OMSG). She was a senior consultant to Washington, D.C.-area think tanks including senior associate at the Stimson Center and senior associate at a D.C.-area defense consulting firm, among other past positions there. Her research focuses on China and the Asia-Pacific region, particularly issues of security, technology, innovation and ocean or "blue" economy issues.

The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.

The State Department is the oldest Cabinet-level agency in the United States, with over 250 U.S. diplomatic posts worldwide and 70 to 80 thousand employees, almost half of whom are U.S. citizens. The structure of the State Department and career tracks for our nation’s diplomats both at home and abroad can sometimes be opaque for understanding the full range of activities and missions it serves. Unpacking these matters are Dr. Mary Thompson-Jones, professor and chair of Women, Peace and Security at the U.S. Naval War College and retired career diplomat in the Senior Foreign Service, and Walter Braunohler, Minister Counselor in the Senior Foreign Service and professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College.

About the Speakers:

Dr. Mary Thompson-Jones is a career diplomat, professor, and published author on U.S. foreign policy and the practice of diplomacy. Her book, To the Secretary: Leaked Embassy Cables and America’s Foreign Policy Disconnect (Norton 2016), was praised by Joseph Nye as “a fascinating account of how diplomacy really works from the bottom up.” Her diplomatic experience spans a 23-year career as a foreign service officer in leadership roles in the Czech Republic, Canada, Guatemala, Spain, and Washington, D.C. She retired with the rank of Minister-Counselor and is the recipient of several Superior and Meritorious Honor awards. Before coming to the USNWC, she directed a master’s program at Northeastern University.

Walter Braunohler is the State Department's senior faculty advisor at the U.S. Naval War College. A U.S. foreign service officer for over 20 years, Mr. Braunohler was most recently the counselor for public diplomacy at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine from 2020-2022. Prior to that, Mr. Braunohler was the U.S. consul general in Krakow, Poland from 2015-2018 and the spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to Thailand, Bangkok. He has also served in Sudan, Australia, Iraq and Washington, D.C. A graduate of the University of Michigan and the U.S. Naval War College, Mr. Braunohler speaks Thai, Polish and Ukrainian, and is originally from western Michigan.

The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.

In a series of essays for the Foreign Policy Research Institute, two scholars at the National Security Affairs Department at the U.S. Naval War College call for a reconceptualization of the global map in the way strategists think about geography, bureaucracy, and national security. The Debrief sits down with Dr. Derek Reveron, chair of the National Security Affairs Department, and Dr. Nikolas Gvosdev, professor of national security affairs and editor of the journal Orbis, to help us redraw the boundaries that guide our thinking in contemporary strategy.

About the Speakers:

Derek S. Reveron is professor and Chair of the National Security Affairs Department and brings decades of experience in strategy development with work in dozens of countries. He served on the Rhode Island Cybersecurity Commission and has published widely on national security, defense policy, and foreign policy. He is a faculty affiliate at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School where he teaches strategic problem-solving. He served 33 years in the Navy Reserves leading units in support of operations in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Latin America and was a special advisor in Afghanistan.

Nikolas K. Gvosdev is a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College. He holds non-residential fellowships with Foreign Policy Research Institute (editor of “Orbis”) and Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs (co-host of the “Doorstep” podcast). He is a member of Loisach Group, a collaboration between the Munich Security Conference and the Marshall Center to enhance U.S. and Germany’s security partnership. He is a contributing editor for The National Interest. He has taught at Baylor, Georgetown, George Washington, Harvard Extension and Brown universities. From 2016-20, he held the Captain Jerome E. Levy Chair in economic geography and national security.

The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.

How do foreign policy decisions get made in Washington? How do individual leaders, organizations, and domestic political processes influence the choices officials make in shaping national security policy? To help professionals make sense of this landscape, The Debrief surveys a range of analytic perspectives that inform these processes with Dr. Jessica Blankshain, associate professor of national security affairs and Foreign Policy Analysis subcourse director at the U.S. Naval War College, as well as coauthor of Decision-Making in American Foreign Policy: Translating Theory into Practice.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Jessica Blankshain joined the National Security Affairs department in 2014 with a doctorate in political economy & government. She teaches the Leadership Concepts and Policy Analysis sub-courses, as well as electives on Central Challenges of American National Security and Civil-Military Relations. Dr. Blankshain is a former graduate fellow with the Rumsfeld Foundation and a former research fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Her research interests include civil-military relations, bureaucratic politics, and organizational economics. She also worked for two years as an associate consultant in the Chicago office of the Boston Consulting Group.

The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.