Midrats

How can our navy and its leadership better communicate internally and externally? What are the ways an organization can effectively inform influencers and the public in a way that is accurate, transparent, and effective?Our guest for the full hour to discuss this and more will be Commander Chris Servello, USN.Chris has more more than 20 years of global experience in strategic communication, messaging, branding, digital strategy, government affairs, and senior leader coaching.In preparing for his upcoming terminal leave and transition to the civilian sector, Chris is founding member of Provision Advisors that focuses on building relationships with media, key influencer agents and dynamic communication.

This podcast first aired in December 2015How do you design a game that has practical tactical application to the naval tactician?  Even more ambitious, how do you make one accessible and understandable with the goal of making it a mobile wargame for eventual use by sailors and warfare commands.For today's show we will discuss one of the projects of the CNO's Rapid Innovation Cell (CRIC), the game "Fleet Battle School."Our guests to discuss this game, gaming in general, and its practical application will be three individuals involved in the project; LT Matthew Hipple, Paul Vebber and Chris Kona.Chris Kona is a warfare analyst at Naval Undersea Warfare Center. A former submarine officer in the U.S. Navy, he was project lead for the CRIC’s Fleet Battle School wargame project.Paul works for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Mission Area Director for Undersea Warfare and is lead game designer on the project.LT Matthew Hipple, USN is an active duty Surface Warfare officer. 

In the mid-1930s, Leni Riefenstahl showed the power of the latest communication technology of her time to move opinion, bring support, and intimidate potential opponents.How are radical extremists using modern technology, especially in the visual arena, to advance their goals, who are their audiences, and how do you counter it?Using as a starting point the Strategic Studies Institute and U.S. Army War College Press's, Visual Propaganda and Extremism in the Online Environment, Jihadology's ISIS and the Hollywood Visual Style, and  Small Wars Journal's ISIS and the Family Man; our guests will be Dr. Cori E. Dauber, Professor of Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Mark Robinson, the Director of the Multimedia Laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.First aired, 03/16

While off the front page, ISIS is not gone, the Taliban remain a strong force, and throughout the globe, the Long War continues.A war unique in living memory in the West, it isn't going anywhere.Returning to the show for a broad ranging discussion of the war - however you want to call it - that we have been waging before we even knew it for sure in September 2001, will be Craig Whiteside.Craig is an associate professor at the Naval War College Monterey and an associate fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT)-The Hague.

Since WWII, how has the Navy's understanding of responsibility, accountability, and culpability changed? Returning to Midrats for the full hour will be Michael Junge, author of the book, Crimes of Command, which looks at this question through 14 officers who were removed from command.Michael Junge is a Captain in the United States Navy and career Surface Warfare Officer who served afloat in destroyers, frigates, and amphibious assault ships before becoming the 14th Commanding Officer of USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41). Ashore he served with Navy Recruiting; Assault Craft Unit 4; Headquarters, Marine Corps; the Chief of Naval Operations staff; and with the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy (B.S., 1990), The George Washington University (M.A., 2002), the United States Naval War College (M.A., 2004), and Salve Regina University (Ph.D., 2015) and is currently a member of the faculty in the College of Leadership and Ethics at the United States Naval War College. He

The outlaw and lawless ocean, non-state actors, intimidation, and hostile acts short of war - security on the high seas involves a lot more than fleet actions.From the South China Sea as government policy, to land conflicts and economic stress moving to adjacent seas - what exactly is the concept of insurgency and counterinsurgency at sea?Returning to Midrats to discuss this and more will be Hunter Stires.Hunter is a Fellow with the John B. Hattendorf Center for Maritime Historical Research at the U.S. Naval War College and works in a non-resident capacity with the Center for a New American Security. His work focuses on maritime strategy and logistics for forward deployed naval forces in the Western Pacific in history and today. He is a freelance contributor to The National Interest and is recently the co-author with Dr. Patrick Cronin of "China is Waging a Maritime Insurgency in the South China Sea. It's Time for the United States to Counter It."

From is largest exercise since the end of the Cold War, to Syria, to a revival of covert direct action and  intermediated nuclear weapons as an issue - Russia continues to claw back her place on the international stage.As we approach the last quarter of the 2018 calendar year, what message is Russia trying to give the rest of the world and what should we expect through the end of the decade?Our guest for the full hour to discuss is a regular here on Midrats, Dr. Dmirty Gorenburg, Senior Research Scientist at CNA, researching security issues in the former Soviet Union, Russian military reform, Russian foreign policy, ethnic politics and identity, and Russian regional politics.He is the editor of the journal Problems of Post-Communism and a Fellow of the Truman National Security Project. From 2005 through 2010, he previously held positions as the Executive Director of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies and editor of the journal Russian Politics and Law.

What is the status of European naval power? With growing challenges from the Arctic Sea to the Mediterranean and a growing call for presence operations from the Gulf of Guinea to the South China Sea, how are the European nations building and maintaining fleets to remain effective and relevant regionally and on the high seas?Our guest to discuss this and more for the full hour will be Jeremy Stöhs.Jeremy is an Austrian-American defense analyst at the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University (ISPK) and its adjunct Center for Maritime Strategy & Security. He is also a non-resident fellow of the Austrian Center for Intelligence, Propaganda & Security Studies (ACIPSS) and author of The Decline of European Naval Forces: Challenges to Sea Power in an Age of Fiscal Austerity and Political Uncertainty. You can follow him on twitter at @JeremyStohs.

Loyalty goes both ways, the old saying goes. One shows loyalty up the chain, because one expects the same in the other direction.  They system, however, is built upon the timbers of the imperfect human condition. What happens when you have conflicting narratives, but the system that you thought was there to serve you as you served it decides to take the counter-narrative without question? Is there a point where a leader accepts that there is no loyalty above, and as a result, has to redouble his loyalty to those under him?The story of Task Force VIOLENT is one of inspired unit level leadership, and nightmarishly twisted priorities up the chain; of brave men caught in a modern day, real time, Kafkaesque circle.Following up on his 5-part series, Task Force Violent: The Unforgiven - the Tragic Betrayal of and Elite Marine Corps Commando Unit, our guest for the full hour will be MilitaryTimes journalist Andrew deGrandpre.

Our best of this week asks the question: who was "The Gun Doctor," the officer who over a century ago led the revolution in naval gunnery, the development of torpedo boat and destroyer operations, and during WWI served as the senior US naval commander in Europe?  More than the man instrumental in the establishment of the convoy system that helped keep the United Kingdom from starvation in the conflict, following the war his leadership as president of the Naval War College he help to established the creative and innovative Navy that in the interwar period developed the operating concepts for the submarines and aircraft carriers that led the victory in World War II.What are the lessons of a century ago taught by Admiral William S. Sims, USN that are critically important for the serving officer today?Our guest for the full hour to discuss this latest book, 21st Century Sims, will be returning guest, LCDR Benjamin Armstrong, USN.Benjamin "BJ" Armstrong is a naval aviator who has served as a helicopter pilot flyin

March of 2015 had some great shows, and with our Navy about to put out another document about the direction it wants to go - now more than ever - let's listen to a great navalist, retired USN Captain Barney Rubel.The role of the Navy and Marine Corps should be to provide ready and capable forces to the joint commanders. Outside of that, what is the proper role of the sea services in designing a more national strategy?What is the state of a national and a maritime strategy, who are the different players in the discussion, and what is the proper way forward?Our guest to discuss this and more for the full hour will be Captain Robert C. "Barney" Rubel USN, (Ret.), Professor Emeritus, US Naval War College.Captain Rubel, now retired, was previously the Dean of the Center for Naval Warfare Studies at the US Naval War College from 2006 to 2014.  Prior to arriving at NWC, he was a thirty-year Navy veteran, with experience as e a light attack naval aviator, flying the A-7 Corsair II and later the F/A-18 Hornet, command

This week a best of show with Chris Rawley where will return to the “unsexy but important” topic, specifically that of “alternative naval platforms and missions.”In part, the concepts that underlay Jerry Hendrix’s “Influence Squadrons” are in practice on a smaller scale today. In most cases they are being conducted using Military Sealift Command assets and the Navy Reserve.Chris Rawley is a Captain in the USNR, founder of harvest returns and President of Periplus Holdings.

The last quarter of the 19th Century, the Gilded Age, was a period of breathtaking change in society, technology, politics and industry. This rapid change helped drive the intellectual and institutional change that brought the US Navy to the world’s attention in the Spanish-American War of 1898.The first two decades of the 20th Century are generally called the Progressive Era, but that only took place due to the advance of progressive ideology the quarter century prior during the Gilded Age.Our guest for the full hour to discuss these and related issues raised in his new book, Progressives in Navy Blue: Maritime Strategy, American Empire, and the Transformation of U.S. Naval Identity, 1873-1898, will be Scott Mobley, CAPT, USN (Ret).Scott is the current Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy (CSLD) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.  He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and holds an M.A. in National Security affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School. Most recently, he

Eight months in to his tenure as the 33rd Under Secretary of the Navy, our guest this week will be Thomas B. Modly.We'll cover the bold-faced items including his background prior to his appointment as the Undersecretary of Defense, his first priorities and challenges as the Under, reorganization of the Department of Defense, the upcoming review of education of our leaders, and more.

A military is not an amorphous mass, but a collection of individuals each who can make decisions in their professional role that can have great impact, both positive and negative, well beyond their immediate and personal concerns.Decisions, policies, and behavior derive from the training, traditions, and fundamental culture of the people who make them. What is the role of ethics, training and other culture forming activities in defining the military professional and how he executes his responsibilities?Our guests this week to dive in to these and related issues will be Nathan Finney and Tyrell Mayfield. As a base for our discussions, we will touch on subject areas they raised in the upcoming book they are co-editors of “Redefining the Modern Military: The Intersection of Profession and Ethics” published by the U.S. Naval Institute Press.  Nathan Finney is an officer in the U.S. Army, a term member at the Council on Foreign Relations; a Non-Resident Fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute; and a fo

The future has been with us for quite awhile now, but the intersection of advance manufacturing, Moore's Law, and data storage are bringing to the front capabilities that for decades were found only in science fiction.Autonomous and varying degrees of human-robot teaming, artificial intelligence, robotics, and machine learning are not just growing parts of the modern economy, with each passing year they become more and more integrated with military operations.What future capabilities can we expect and how will we work through the ethical and legal complications that will come with them?Our guest to discuss these and related topics will be Ali Crawford.Ali Crawford Ali has an M.A. from the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce where she focused on diplomacy, intelligence, cyber policy, and cyber warfare.  She tweets at @ali_craw. 

Especially in the last two years, those reporting on defense issues in the United States have seen a significant change in access to people and information compared to the relatively open environment of a decade and a half ago.How have things changed and how does this not only impact how military journalists do their job, but more importantly, how does it impact the ability for the American citizen to keep an eye on what is being done in their name with their money.Our guest for the full hour to discuss this and related issues with be Sam LaGrone.Sam is the editor of USNI News. He has covered legislation, acquisition and operations for the Sea Services since 2009 and spent time underway with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and the Canadian Navy.

NATO, Russia, the Chinese Navy, Australia's pocket fleet of the future and a potpourri of other issues that come across the transom - it's  Midrats Melee!Open topic, open phones and we'll be trolling the chat room for ideas.Come join us live.

Building off our discussions from last week's Midrats, our guest this Sunday will be Lieutenant Joshua M. Roaf, USN to discuss part of the solution to improving the professional performance of our Surface Warfare Officers in what should be the core of their skillset; seamanship.Using many of the issues he raised in a recent article co-authored with LT Adam Biggs, USN, Bring Back the Patrol Craft, we will explore the various advantages of returning balance to the fleet with an expansion of truly small surface combatants. A native of Bennington, Vermont, LT Roaf graduated from Ithaca College, Ithaca NY in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and earned his commission from Officer Candidate School in 2010.Afloat, Lieutenant Roaf completed his division officer tours aboard USS REUBEN JAMES (FFG 57) where he served as the Main Propulsion Officer and Electrical Officer and then aboard USS ANZIO (CG 68) as the Navigator and Executive Department Head. During his sea tours, he participated in numerous Multi-N

The conditions that brought us to the series of events in WESTPAC in 2017 did not happen over night. They did not happen in one PCS cycle, or under one command climate. Layer by layer from many sources, it took time to get to where we found it.Our guest for the full hour to discuss his views of the latent causes of what is now generally accepted as a systemic failure of a "new normal" will be J.C. Harvey, Jr., Admiral USN (Ret.).Admiral Harvey retired from the Navy in November, 2012 after serving as the Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, in Norfolk, Virginia.In his 39 year Navy career, he specialized in naval nuclear propulsion, surface ship & Carrier strike-group operations & Navy-wide manpower management/personnel policy development. He served in a variety of operational command positions at sea, as the Navy’s Chief of Naval Personnel (the senior uniformed human resources official in the Navy) & as the Director, Navy Staff immediately prior to commanding U.S. Fleet Forces.Since his retirement