School of War

Nicholas Eberstadt, the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute, joins School of War to discuss global population decline. What does a shrinking and aging population mean for the United States? What does it mean for China, whose demographic crisis may be even more severe? How could population decline reshape economic growth, military power, and geopolitical competition? And what happens to the international order when the world stops growing?

03:02 Population decline in America

006:15 Deaths exceeding births in the US

07:31 Global birth crash

14:49 Grounds for optimism

17:12 Small family trend

18:17 GDP relationship with population size

19:23  Individual prosperity vs. National strength

21:24 Rise in human life expectancy

24:36  Ben Carson’s prediction

27:11 Ukraine’s military revolution 

30:47  American bad habits

33:48 AI and the labor market

37:25 Chinese depopulation crisis

48:50  What would a world war look like today?

51:48 US Alliance relationships

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Rich Goldberg, senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and Garrett Exner, adjunct fellow at Hudson Institute, return to School of War to discuss the complicated news out of the Strait of Hormuz. What is President Donald Trump’s new plan, “Project Freedom”? Does it put the ceasefire at risk? What’s really happening in this critical waterway?

Times:

02:31 - President’s statement

04:00 - Understanding Project Freedom

07:15 - Attacks against tankers

09:53 - Central Command statement

12:15 - Ceasefire breakdown

16:25 - Coordination cell or escort

18:00 - Trump buying time

20:40 - US Navy escort option

23:06 - Missile defense

24:45 - Economic impacts

27:01 - Iran under pressure

31:50 - Live news US vessel transit

34:15 - Human factor of outbound transit

37:30 - American gas production

39:28 - Predictions in America’s favor

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Lance R. Blyth, command historian of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), joins School of War to discuss the evolution of North America’s air defense. How has NORAD adapted to shifting threats over the decades? Are today’s threats manageable? Are we in a new Cold War? And what can the command, with operations deep inside a Colorado mountain, teach us about defending the continent in an era of renewed great-power competition?

Times:

02:04 History of NORAD

07:02 Threats of the 1950s

13:50 Sensors, effectors, and connectors

15:15 Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE)

19:45 SABRE travel system

21:14 Aerospace missile warning systems

22:07 Cheyenne Mountain Complex

24:13 NORAD in films

27:56 False missile launches

31:31 Adapting to new threats

34:23 New joint surveillance system

35:19 Importance of Canada

36:21 September 11

40:21 Operation Noble Eagle

43:00 Today’s threats

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Douglas Murray, journalist and author of On Democracies and Death Cults, joins School of War to discuss the assassination attempt that we both witnessed in person at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday. Was there a lapse in appropriate security? Is political violence being normalized? Can it be contained?

Times:

02:44 - White House Correspondents Dinner
04:38 - Shots fired
06:51 - Security at the dinner
09:58 - Bobby Kennedy and Erika Kirk
16:25 - Secret Service valor
17:25 - Israeli security style
19:42 - Trump’s ballroom
21:35 - The shooter’s manifesto
27:26 - Past American political violence
29:13 - Assassinations can change history
31:09 - Hitler comparison
34:47 - Civic hygiene
36:49 - Justifying violence on NYT podcast
40:22 - Echoes of the Russian Revolution
47:05 - Failure of the education system
54:23 - The melding of the president and media

 

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Huw Davies, an associate dean and professor of British military history at King’s College London and author of several books, including The Wandering Army, joins School of War to discuss what the 18th-century British Army can teach us about modern warfare. How does battlefield failure drive military innovation? How did institutions of the past respond to change? And in an era of drones, autonomy, and AI, have we learned from the past, or are we destined to repeat it?

Times:

02:40 18th century military enlightenment

06:30 War of the Austrian Succession

12:43 The British officer class

18:39 Tension between ancients and moderns

20:20 Discovering Sir Henry Clinton’s notebook

20:48 False caricature of the British Army

27:02 Challenges of North American warfare

29:32 Battle of the Monongahela

35:09 Importance of light infantry

38:17 Rifle evolution

39:00 Why armies resist change

43:40 Lessons for today

46:42 Human behavior in war

47:10 Learning curve of war technologies

49:11 Is Ukrainian drone warfare a turning point?

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