Arsenal of Democracy

War today is being fought drastically different than it was even 20 years ago. While manpower still matters, future conflicts will call for warfare centered around technological advances, with AI as the lynchpin. Armada CEO Dan Wright joins the show this week to discuss how AI will enhance both military and civilian industries with advancements like edge computing.

Shield AI Co-founder and President, Brandon Tseng, joins the show to explain why the current state of America's industrial base needs to be seen as a national security emergency. Tseng argues we lack government finances and mobilization capabilities to bring mass defense systems online if needed, but thankfully we don't lack is the technology, of which his company Shield AI as a perfect example.  

Read Tseng's article in the First Breakfast Newsletter: https://www.firstbreakfast.com/p/the-imperative-of-emergency

Bryan Clark, senior fellow and director of Hudson's Center for Defense Concepts and Technology, joins the show to explain why an emphasis on software-centric innovation is needed to keep America's defense tech at the cutting edge in an era of great power competition. He illustrates how Ukraine is an example of resourceful software-centric warfare, and why the United States urgently needs to resolve its development issues now to stop China from invading Taiwan.

What if Xi Jinping owned a controlling stake in CNN? Or the New York Times? This week's guest Geoffrey Cain argues that TikTok's dominance over the flow of information and news to America's population should be seen as a direct threat to our digital sovereignty and digital infrastructure, all on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party. Cain and host Marshall Kosloff discuss what can be done about this and why Section 230 is the wrong frame for this debate. 

Neil Keegan, co-managing partner and CEO of Marlinspike, a DC-based venture capital firm, joins Marshall Kosloff to give a glimpse into the private sector side of defense innovation and marketplace challenges. Keegan explains how companies like Space X are creating a new blueprint for private-public partnerships on defense innovation that are cost-effective and impactful. Such efforts can ultimately lead to a safer America.

Following first-hand trips to Taiwan, Israel and Ukraine, Hudson Institute President and CEO joins host Marshall Kosloff to recap what he saw and heard, as well as the role that America should be playing in each theater. Walters notes that US leaders need to begin calling out Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping for the despots they are and show that the US military is prepared to use soft and hard power to establish a new era of global deterrence. 

Jonathan Ward, senior fellow at Hudson Institute, joins Marshall Kosloff to discuss the economic threats of the Chinese Communist Party, arguing that now is the time to build up America’s industrial base, and that private industry and US political leaders needs to unite to defeat the CCP economically—or risk losing the decade to China and presaging future conflict.

It's no revelation that America is behind when it comes to manufacturing. But the reality that we stand alone as the world's leading software creators should headline discussions around today's Arsenal of Democracy. Guest Shyam Sankar, CTO at Palantir, argues that a new marriage of software and American manufacturing can and should spark innovation across industries, including defense. In conversation with host Marshall Kosloff, Sankar explains how to improve DoD acquisition, mobilize for future conflicts today, and ensure that going forward "made in America" means "made to be the best."

Amid ongoing war in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as China’s looming threat over Taiwan, the United States faces the possibility of wars on three fronts. Can America's modern Arsenal of Democracy sustain such engagement? Will US allies join the efforts? Foreign Policy's Jack Detsch joins host Marshall Kosloff to answer these questions and more. 

Read Jack's piece: The Pentagon is Trying to Rebuild the Arsenal of Democracy

Hudson Senior Fellow Riley Walters joins Marshall Kosloff to recap the recent elections in Taiwan, which saw new coalitions forming inside the strategic island nation. Additionally, they discuss why Taiwan is, and will be, at the center of global technological supply chains for a long time thanks to its leadership in chip and superconductor development. 

The U.S. defense industry has found itself straddling the line of simultaneous developments challenges. On one hand the innovation is lurching forward with technology like AI and hypersonics leading a new weapons revolution, while on the other hand we need a defense industry capable of supplying enough 1980s Stinger Missiles to support allies fighting right now. Host Marshall Kosloff is joined by Ursa Major CEO, Joe Laurienti, to discuss what the modern day Arsenal of Democracy needs to be success now, and in the coming conflicts. 

The Arsenal of Democracy team was invited last week to the Tenth Annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, to record conversations reckoning with the intersection of technology, innovation, and defense. Hudson Senior Fellow Nadia Schadlow joined Marshall Kosloff in person to discuss why accountability and follow-through are necessary to procuring and acting on technology that protects and advances America's interests.

There have always been skeptics of China's continued rise, and yet the Chinese Communist Party-led economy stills carries on. However, in a new report titled, "China’s Economic Weakness and Challenge to the Bretton Woods System: How Should the US Respond?" Hudson Senior Fellow Tom Duesterberg explains why the Chinese economy is now, more than ever, standing on fragile foundations and could be headed for a downturn. 

China is bankrolling its own “Arsenal of Autocracy” through forces like Russia and North Korea. At the same time, the conversation around TikTok and its roll in undermining American culture and unity is coming to a head. Jacob Helberg, a commissioner at the United States–China Economic and Security Review Commission, joins the show to review the full spectrum of actions the US can take to counter the Chinese Communist Party’s autocracy and nefarious tech ambitions.

Senior Fellow Michael Roberts joins the show to reveal exactly how far ahead China is of the rest of the world when it comes to shipping and why its a national security threat flying under the radar. The U.S. is falling behind and increasingly reliant on Chinese-connected supply chains that could be weaponized against us at a moment's notice if China had the desire. Roberts lays out how we got here, and walks through his recent report paving a way forward for the U.S. shipping industry.

Hudson Institute Japan Chair Kenneth Weinstein joins the show to discuss why Japan is the United States’ key ally in Asia. Ken reviews Japan's political history, influential leaders, and regional realities to explain why the island nation is primed to step up to face the China challenge and to fulfill the vision first articulated by the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of a free and open Indo-Pacific.

Miles Yu, Senior Fellow and host of Hudson's China Insider podcast, joins Marshall Kosloff to pull back the curtain on the Chinese Communist Party's authoritative system of governance, and its undeniable aims at global dominance. 

Check out the China Insider podcast: https://www.hudson.org/foreign-policy/welcome-china-insider

Arthur Herman, Hudson Institute senior fellow and author of Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II, joins the show to compare the Arsenal of Democracy of World War II to what is needed today. Herman argues that to counter China, Russia, and other autocracies, the United States needs to lead an "Arsenal of Democracies," working with our allies, and we need to start now.

Michael Doran, Hudson Institute senior fellow and co-host of the Counterbalance podcast, joins the show following Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel to discuss what we can expect in a war between Israel and Hamas and the forces behind this conflict: Iran, Russia and China, working together to sow chaos globally and directly challenge the US and its allies.

Senior Fellow Luke Coffey joins the show to break down Ukraine funding, the state of the counter-offensive and how politics plays out in great power conflicts. Additionally, Coffey illustrates why the outcome in Ukraine is directly related to America's role and reputation around the globe.

Hudson Senior Fellow's Bryan Clark and Dan Patt join host Marshall Kosloff to introduce the Center for Defense Concepts and Technology and explain how defense innovation, tactics and strategies must adapt to keep America's great power adversaries guessing. 

Rebeccah Heinrichs joins Arsenal of Democracy to discuss the key elements of strategic deterrence, how the US can deter China and Russia, and the resources and political policies needed to execute such a strategy. Heinrichs is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute and the director of its Keystone Defense Initiative. She specializes in US national defense policy with a focus on strategic deterrence. Follow her latest work and analysis.

Watch the show on Hudson's YouTube: youtube.com/@hudsoninstitute

Learn more at: Hudson.org

Nadia Schadlow joins Arsenal of Democracy to discuss the intersection of national security, supply chains, and critical technologies. The principal author of the Trump administration’s 2017 National Security Strategy, Nadia discusses key considerations in formulating strategy, the United States’ technological competition with China, how the US government can solve problems, and specific technologies of importance to US national security.

• Read Nadia’s essay, “The Forgotten Element of Strategy.”
• Read Nadia’s report on energetic materials.

Nadia Schadlow is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute and co-chair of the Hamilton Commission on Securing America’s National Security Innovation Base.

What does success in the struggle against the People's Republic of China look like? Senior Fellow John Lee joins Arsenal of Democracy to deep dive on his report on the topic, co-authored with Lavina Lee, available here: https://www.hudson.org/foreign-policy/success-struggle-against-people-republic-china-john-lavina-lee

John Lee is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. He is also a senior fellow (non-resident) at the United States Studies Centre and adjunct professor at the University of Sydney.

Former US Attorney General and Hudson Institute Distinguished Fellow Bill Barr joins Arsenal of Democracy to discuss the drug crisis in the United States, the role of Mexico’s drug cartels, and what the US can do about it. Read AG Barr’s op-ed, “The US Must Defeat Mexico’s Drug Cartels” here.

William P. Barr is a distinguished fellow at Hudson Institute. He served as US attorney general from 1991 to 1993 and from 2018 to 2020.

With the first Republican presidential primary debate set to kick off the 2024 presidential election, Peter Rough joins Arsenal of Democracy to preview the key foreign policy issues that will be front and center for candidates. Peter and Marshall Kosloff discuss what has changed for the GOP since then-candidate Donald Trump burst onto the scene, how political leaders should think about and approach the war in Ukraine, and other key regions and theaters.

Peter Rough is a senior fellow and director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia at Hudson Institute. Find his policy brief, “Why a Ukrainian Victory Matters to Americans,” discussed in the episode, here.

Walter Russell Mead joins host Marshall Kosloff to review what an American “arsenal of democracy” really means and what it would take to build one for the twenty-first century. Walter and Marshall also survey the shifting world order, from the war in Ukraine to the China challenge, to identify what American leadership can do against increasingly influential great power rivals.

Watch the show on Hudson's YouTube: youtube.com/@hudsoninstitute

Learn more at: Hudson.org

A weekly podcast hosted by Marshall Kosloff, and produced by Hudson Institute, that believes that the “Arsenal of Democracy” is not merely a state of military, industrial, and societal readiness, but a conception of America’s role as the world reckons with a shifting geopolitical order, revanchist Great Power rivals, and global debates about the prospects for liberal democracy.

Join us each week by listening wherever you find podcasts or watching our video version of the show by subscribing to Hudson Institute on YouTube. See you soon.