FDD's Foreign Podicy

Vladimir Putin expected to conquer Ukraine in three days. But the brutal and bloody war he launched against his neighbor has dragged on for one year. The factors that gave rise to this war are still widely misunderstood. How or when it will end remains unclear, too. To unpack everything, Foreign Podicy host Cliff May — FDD's Founder and President and Chairman of its Russia Program — is joined by three FDD experts. RADM (ret) Mark Montgomery Mark Montgomery serves as senior director of FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation, countering cyber threats that seek to diminish America’s national security. Mark also directs CSC 2.0, an FDD initiative that works to implement the recommendations of the congressionally mandated Cyberspace Solarium Commission, where he was executive director. Mark previously served as policy director for the Senate Armed Services Committee under the leadership of Senator John McCain, coordinating policy efforts on national security strategy, capabilities and requirements, and cyber policy. Before that, Mark served for 32 years in the U.S. Navy, retiring as a rear admiral in 2017. Bradley Bowman Bradley Bowman is senior director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power, focusing on U.S. defense strategy and policy. Brad spent nearly nine years as a national security and defense advisor in the U.S. Senate. Prior to that, he served more than 15 years on active duty in the U.S. Army, including as a company commander, helicopter pilot, congressional affairs officer in the Pentagon, and staff officer in Afghanistan. He also was an assistant professor at West Point, teaching foreign policy and grand strategy. John Hardie John Hardie serves as deputy director of FDD’s Russia Program, focusing on Russian foreign and security policy, U.S. policy toward Russia and the post-Soviet space, and transatlantic relations. John holds an M.A. in security studies from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

The Islamic Republic of Iran possesses the largest ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East, and Tehran is working hard to increase its size and quality by pursuing improvements in precision, range, mobility, warhead design, and survivability. That’s one of the conclusions drawn by FDD Senior Fellow and Iran expert Behnam Ben Taleblu in his major new FDD Monograph, "Arsenal: Assessing the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ballistic Missile Program." Leveraging an impressive array of English and Persian-language sources, Behnam has produced one of the most comprehensive publicly available assessments to date of Iranian ballistic missile program. In it, he warns that we should expect more missile attacks and transfers from Iran in the future. In his foreword for the monograph, Vice Admiral (Ret.) James D. Syring, Former Director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, writes that Behnam’s “findings and recommendations will stimulate a productive policy discussion regarding the steps Washington must take to counter the rising Iranian ballistic missile threat.” So, what are the origins of Tehran’s ballistic missile program? How has it evolved? What are its current capabilities? How does the Islamic Republic view and use its missile arsenal? And what should the U.S. and its allies and partners do about it? To discuss these questions and more, Behnam and Lieutenant General (retired) H.R. McMaster — soldier, former White House National Security Advisor, and Chairman of the Board of Advisors at FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power — join CMPP Senior Director and guest host Bradley Bowman.    

Mike Waltz is a warrior and a diplomat. In 2014, he wrote a fascinating book called “Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret’s Battles from Washington to Afghanistan.” In 2015, he was a non-resident senior fellow at FDD. In 2018, he became the first Green Beret elected to Congress, taking the seat that had belonged to the now-Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis. In the current session of Congress, Rep. Waltz serves on the House Armed Services Committee, the House Foreign Relations Committee, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. These assignments suggest that he’s thinking harder than ever about national security and foreign policy at a critical and dangerous moment. He joins host Cliff May along with Bradley Bowman, senior director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power, to discuss. MORE: https://www.fdd.org/podcasts/2023/02/10/warrior-diplomat-on-the-hill/

The United States and Israel conducted the Juniper Oak 23 multi-domain military exercise in late January. The Pentagon calls it the “largest” and “most significant” bilateral U.S.-Israel exercise in history. This exercise comes as the Islamic Republic of Iran deepens its relationship with China and Russia, continues to export terrorism, inches toward a nuclear weapon, and expands the missile means to deliver a weapon of mass destruction to its target. So, what was this military exercise all about? What makes it unique? Why does it matter? What comes next? Filling in for Cliff May, senior director of FDD's Center on Military and Political Power Bradley Bowman asks Lieutenant General Gregory Guillot. Lt. Gen. Gregory Guillot is the Deputy Commander of U.S. Central Command, which is the Pentagon’s regional combatant command responsible for the Middle East. CENTCOM was established a few years after the  revolution in Iran in 1979 and views deterring Iran as its number one command priority. Lieutenant General Gregory Guillot General Guillot received his commission from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1989 and has commanded a flying squadron, operations group, and two flying wings. Most recently, he served as the commander of the Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central), Combined Force Air Component Commander within CENTCOM. He’s a senior air battle manager with more than 1,380 flying hours.

China, Russia, Iran, North Korea — not to mention the persistent threat from terrorist organizations. The United States confronts an extraordinary array of threats, with many of our adversaries working together more closely than ever. So, how should we respond? What kind of military do we need? And how can we ensure the United States continues to possess the most formidable air force in the world? To discuss these questions and more, guest host Bradley Bowman — senior director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP), filling in for host Cliff May — is joined by U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Michael A. Loh. He’s the Director of the Air National Guard where he is responsible for formulating, developing, and coordinating all policies, plans and programs affecting over 108,000 Air National Guard Airmen and civilians across 90 wings and 180 installations in 159 communities throughout the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands. He has served our country for decades in uniform, including as an F-16 instructor pilot and group and squadron commander — and he has deployed many times to combat.

During the Cold War, one of the few issues on which the United States and the Soviet Union agreed, was that other states should not have nuclear weapons. The likelihood that one of them would use those weapons – or transfer them to a regime or group that would was too great. This was called the principle of non-proliferation. It was regarded as an established norm of international behavior, expressed most explicitly in the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons -- better known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT. Is it still in force or relevant or even meaningful? What is being done to prevent the acquisition of nuclear weapons – as well as chemical and biological weapons – by regimes hostile to the United States and its allies? FDD has a new Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program attempting to answer such questions and provide policy options. Chairing the program is Ambassador Jackie Wolcott, former U.S. representative to the United Nations in Vienna and the U.S. representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Charles Kupperman, who served in senior positions in both the Reagan and Trump administrations, is a member of the program’s board of advisors. They join Foreign Podicy host Cliff May to talk about nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. 

Jonathan Conricus was born in Jerusalem but grew up in Sweden. His family returned to Israel when he was 13 years old. A few years later he joined the Israeli Defense Forces, eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel and serving as the IDF’s international spokesman. He joins Foreign Podicy host and FDD founder and president Cliff May to discuss his life, career, what it was like dealing with the journalistic herd, and – now that he’s retired from the military – opine on some of the Middle East’s many conflicts and controversies. Also joining the conversation is Jonathan Schanzer, FDD’s senior vice president for research at FDD whose most recent book, Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and Eleven Days of War, challenges – and corrects – some of the major media’s inaccurate reporting on that conflict.

Not that long ago, Venezuela was among the freest and richest nations in Latin America. But in 1999, Hugo Chavez became president and introduced his brand of socialism known as Chavism. Venezuela’s liberties and prosperity were quickly eroded. Chavez died in 2013. Under his successor, Nicolas Maduro, who had been his right-hand man, Venezuela has continued to decline. In 2019, the U.S. supported an alternative “interim government” headed by Juan Guaido. At one point, Guaido was recognized by dozens of countries as Venezuela’s legitimate president. But last month, members of Venezuela’s opposition parties voted to remove Guaido and dissolve the interim government. Elliott Abrams served on the staffs of Senators Scoop Jackson and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He was an assistant secretary of state in the Reagan administration, senior director of the National Security Council for democracy, human rights, and international organizations in the George W. Bush administration, and – in the Trump administration – served as Special Representative for Venezuela. He’s currently senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and Chairman of the Vandenberg Coalition. He joins host Cliff May to discuss Venezuela.

The Muslim Brotherhood has been around for close to a century but most people – certainly most Americans and Europeans – know very little about it. Is it reformist and non-violent as its spokesmen and defenders claim? Or is it – as Cynthia Farahat argues in a new book – the world’s most dangerous terrorist organization? The book is titled: The Secret Apparatus: The Muslim Brotherhood’s Industry of Death. Cynthia Farahat is an Egyptian-American writer, counterterrorism expert, and fellow at the Middle East Forum, whose president, Daniel Pipes, a distinguished scholar, wrote the forward to her book. She joins host Cliff May as well as FDD’s Reuel Marc Gerecht, formerly a Middle Eastern specialist at the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, to discuss.

The Uyghurs are a Turkic Muslim people who live in a Central Asian land usually called Xinjiang. They have been – and are being – brutally oppressed by China’s Communist rulers. There can be no debate about that. Nury Turkel was born in a detention center in Xinjiang. As a young adult, he made his way to America, where he became the first Uyghur to earn a law degree at an American university. Today, he is a prominent human rights attorney, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, and he serves as chairman of USCIRF – the U.S. Commission on International Freedom – appointed by Nancy Pelosi. He has also written a memoir and call to action. Its title: No Escape: The True Story of China’s Genocide of the Uyghurs. He joins Cliff to discuss his life, his book, and what remains a dire situation in Xinjiang.