From the Crows' Nest

The congressional defense budget process will be heating up over the next few weeks. To understand what we should expect for defense funding in the fiscal year 2022, Ken Miller talks with Madison Strader Arcangeli and Katy Nazaretova of Forza DC, a federal strategies and consulting firm that helps organizations engage with Capitol Hill over defense, technology, and cyber security issues. Madison and Katy break down the National Defense Authorization Act and Defense Appropriations Bill, explaining how these bills differ from each other and what each bill covers. We also discuss the big-ticket items the defense budget committee will grapple with, how congressional staff will navigate the political dance of defense bills, and what the future holds for the responsible defense budgets. To learn more about today’s topics or to stay updated on EMSO and EW developments, visit our homepage.

From Ukraine to China, NATO to Congress, a lot has happened in May. In this episode, host Ken Miller talks with JED editor, John Knowles to take a step back and discuss where these topics stand in the EW community. John and Ken particularly discuss how these current conflicts have generated a lot of new interest in EMSO, and they ask the question: how can we move EMSO past this type of episodic interest driven by conflict to become a sustained and managed practice? John and Ken also update us on the new phase of conflict in Ukraine, the role of EMSO in NATO, and what the Russia-Ukraine conflict implies for China and Taiwan. To learn more about today’s topics or to stay updated on EMSO and EW developments, visit our homepage. 

In this episode, host Ken Miller sits down with Col. William “Dollar” Young, Commander of the USAF 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing to discuss how the Air Force is addressing the challenges of achieving and sustaining EMS Superiority. Ken and Dollar talked at the AOC Dixie Crow Symposium 2022 in March in Warner Robins, GA.Let us know what you think of From the Crows’ Nest! The Association of Old Crows wants our podcasts to serve you, our audience, in the best ways possible. Please take just a moment to rate us or comment wherever you down our podcast.Thank you!

In this episode of From the Crows’ Nest, host Ken Miller revisits Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) and sits down with Bryan Clark and Dan Patt from the Hudson Institute to discuss their new report, “One Size Fits None: Overhauling JADC2 to Prioritize the Warfighter and Exploit Adversaries Weaknesses.” Ken, Bryan and Dan talk about the need to think differently about JADC2, an ambitious and potentially costly vision that may miss the mark when it comes to its primary customer – the warfighter. As technology changes at the tactical edge, the Defense Department must change the way it conducts business and implements potentially game-changing capabilities for the joint forces.

In this episode, host Ken Miller welcomes Col. Jeffery Fischer, USAF (Ret), to discuss current developments in Ukraine and how the conflict may change how we think about fighting in the electromagnetic spectrum. Jeff is a 30-year Military Aviator and Electronic Warfare Officer with seven combat tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans. He flew both the Air Force's EC-130H Compass Call and the EA-6B Prowler while on a joint exchange with the US Navy. He also served as Diplomatic Defense Official to U.S. Embassies in Austria and Kosovo and at NATO Special Operations Headquarters in Mons, Belgium. Today he is a consultant and author of military fiction thrillers. You can learn more here.Let us know what you think of From the Crows’ Nest! The Association of Old Crows wants our podcasts to serve you, our audience, in the best ways possible. Please take just a few minutes to complete our 2022 listener survey, because your opinion is very important to us. Thank you!

In this episode, host Ken Miller welcomes a group of young engineers from NAVAIR at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. In recent years, the local Association of Old Crows chapter at NAS Pax River coordinates the visit of a group of early career young engineers to the annual AOC Symposium and Convention in Washington, DC. Ken sits down with three representatives from this group - Troy Robinson, Kyle Robinson-Jordan, and Kaylee Arceo – to talk about their unique education and career journeys and the impact they can have on their field at NAVAIR.  Let us know what you think of From the Crows’ Nest! The Association of Old Crows wants our podcasts to serve you, our audience, in the best ways possible. Please take just a few minutes to complete our 2022 listener survey, because your opinion is very important to us. Thank you!

In this episode, host Ken Miller welcomes guest, Dr. Karen Zita Haigh. She is an author, speaker, and consultant on Cognitive Electronic Warfare and Embedded Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML). She recently co-authored a new book, Cognitive Electronic Warfare: An Artificial Intelligence Approach. They discuss how cognitive systems and artificial intelligence (AI) can be used in electronic warfare (EW) and how these new technologies force us to rethink our underlying assumptions about a conflict environment. Let us know what you think of From the Crows’ Nest! The Association of Old Crows wants our podcasts to serve you, our audience, in the best ways possible. So please take just a few minutes to complete our 2022 listener survey because your opinion is very important to us. Thank you!

In this episode, host Tala Alshaboot fills in for usual host Ken Miller to talk about a topic that has become the focal point of world news the past few days. Tala sits with JED editor, John Knowles to talk about the unfolding of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and what that means for the state of EMSO, the possible implications of the conflict on the U.S., and the likelihood of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine extending to space.

In this episode, host Ken Miller shares with the listeners a special discussion that took place at AOC 2021, the 58th Annual AOC International Symposium & Convention. The discussion covered the rise of the Taliban, Global Security, and Counterterrorism 20 years after the beginning of Afghanistan and Iraq. EMSO is central to combat operations across all warfighting domains and is quickly becoming the backbone of Global Security. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Douglas Ollivant, Senior National Security Studies Fellow at the New America Foundation and Managing Partner at Mantid International. The panel also included: Ambassador Douglas Lute, former United States Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s standing political body, Mr. Mark Kimmitt, former Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs under President George W. Bush, and Mr. Peter Bergen, journalist, documentary producer, Vice President for Global Studies & Fellow at New America, and CNN national security analyst. 

In today’s episode, podcast host Ken Miller and CAPT David J. Rueter, US Navy, Program Manager for NAVAIR PMA-234, discuss the progress and future of the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ), the Navy’s state-of-art replacement for the venerable ALQ-99 Jamming Pod currently used on EA-18G Growlers, and the EA-6B Prowlers before that. Ken and CAPT Rueter also discuss today’s dynamic threat environment and what the NGJ brings to the fight, including each of the three NGJ increments: mid-band, low-band, and high-band. Thank you to our episode sponsor, Raytheon Intelligence and Space.