School of War

Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster was on the phone with the Pentagon when the plane struck the building on September 11, 2001. “I thought, Okay, we are going to war,” he recalls. Twenty-five years after 9/11, McMaster joins Aaron MacLean to discuss the wars that followed. Drawing on his experience as a wartime commander and national security adviser, McMaster explains why he considers Afghanistan a self-defeat, how American withdrawal helped enable the rise of ISIS in Iraq, and why he thinks the latest Iran ceasefire was “a big mistake.”

4:39 McMaster on 9/11

7:27 Adapting to Iraq

12:33 Lessons From Iraq

15:13 Counterinsurgency’s Legacy

21:19 The Post-9/11 Wars

23:23 Afghanistan’s “Self-Defeat”

25:07 When America Leaves

29:53 Sustaining Afghanistan

32:14 Defending the Afghan Mission

35:37 The Axis of Aggressors

44:41 Trump’s Messaging About the War

49:07 Politics in the Military

This episode of School of War is brought to you by Maven Smart System, the builder platform for the American warfighter, fielded across the force and live on the frontline today. Learn more at palantir.com.

This episode of School of War is also brought to you by Stratolaunch, a leading pure-play hypersonics company. Stratolaunch helps the U.S. and its allies move new hypersonic technologies from concept to capability, faster and cheaper. Learn more about how Stratolaunch is accelerating the future of hypersonics at Stratolaunch.com.

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A Chinese hypersonic missile targeting either U.S. coast would leave room for “about 10 minutes of warning time.” Zachary Krevor, CEO of Stratolaunch, is building vehicles to help the Pentagon learn to detect, track, and intercept this threat. Today, Krevor joins School of War to explain how China and Russia have outpaced the U.S. in hypersonic weapons testing, why AI-enabled missile “swarms” may be on the horizon, and what it will take for America to defend itself against them.

2:32 What Makes a Weapon Hypersonic?

4:47 The Real-Life Top Gun: Maverick

6:14 From Model Airplanes to Hypersonics

9:09 Why America Stopped Investing in Hypersonics

10:55 Two Types of Hypersonic Weapons

14:09 Glide Bodies vs. Cruise Missiles

15:44 Surviving the Heat of Mach 5

20:20 Testing America’s Hypersonic Technology

23:20 China and Russia’s Hypersonic Advantage

25:24 How to Stop a Hypersonic Missile

29:09 The Coming Age of Hypersonic Swarms

40:38 Can Golden Dome Stop Hypersonic Weapons?

This episode of School of War is brought to you by Maven Smart System, the builder platform for the American warfighter, fielded across the force and live on the frontline today. Learn more at palantir.com.

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When it comes to world superpowers, Cambridge historian Brendan Simms argues there are only four that matter—and two of them are fading. Today, Simms joins Aaron MacLean to argue that Britain still belongs among the world’s leading powers; why its place among them is “by no means guaranteed”; and why Hitler is no longer the absolute evil against which people define themselves.

4:08 The Four R’s of Great Power

4:29 Defining Great Power

8:09 Iran’s Regional Power

11:44 The Great Powers Return

15:39 The Cold War

17:44 Europe Wakes Up

21:45 American Unipolarity Ends

25:16 Britain’s Great-Power Claim

35:47 The New World Order

38:26 Realism’s Blind Spots

42:07 Losing Postwar Optimism

45:53 A “Post-Hitler World”

This episode of School of War is brought to you by Maven Smart System, the builder platform for the American warfighter, fielded across the force and live on the frontline today. Learn more at palantir.com.

This episode of School of War is also brought to you by Stratolaunch, a leading pure-play hypersonics company. Stratolaunch helps the U.S. and its allies move new hypersonic technologies from concept to capability, faster and cheaper. Learn more about how Stratolaunch is accelerating the future of hypersonics at Stratolaunch.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The story of Air Force General David Goldfein, who miraculously survived after his plane was shot down over Serbia in 1999, has since become military legend. Today, he joins School of War to recount the harrowing rescue mission that saved him, how he stayed alive behind enemy lines, and the lessons his remarkable career offers about leadership, airpower, and preparing America for the next war.

2:43 An Air Force Family

3:25 Rejected by the Air Force Academy

6:39 Becoming an F-16 Pilot

8:12 What Makes a Great Fighter Pilot?

12:36 Information Overload in Combat

15:28 Goldfein’s First Combat Mission

19:57 Training for Confidence Under Fire

21:37 A Leadership Lesson from the Gulf War

24:32 Shot Down Over Serbia

28:51 Surviving Behind Enemy Lines

31:48 The Race to Rescue Goldfein

36:22 Guiding the Rescue Helicopter

44:50 The Impact on His Family

48:53 Witnessing the Attack on the Pentagon

51:19 Digitizing the American Military

This episode of School of War is brought to you by Maven Smart System, the builder platform for the American warfighter, fielded across the force and live on the frontline today. Learn more at palantir.com.

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More than 75 years after the Korean War, its lessons endure—and divisions over isolationism and American power continue to shape the discourse around modern global conflicts. Dane J. Cash, historian and author of The Forgotten Debate: The Korean War and the Roots of America's Ideological Divisions, joins School of War to explain how the left’s hawk-dove divide during the Korean War foreshadowed the neoconservative break from the liberal consensus during the 1970s and why the political battles of the early Cold War continue to splinter America today.

2:10 America Before the Korean War

3:08 The Debate Over Containment

4:15 Multilateralism vs. Unilateralism

5:29 Did Acheson Invite the War?

8:23 Why North Korea Attacked

8:55 Conservative Criticism of Truman

11:10 Liberal Divisions Over Korea

13:30 The Roots of Neoconservatism

17:14 Truman’s Lonely Middle Ground

19:51 The Right’s Foreign Policy Split

22:05 Taft, Eisenhower, and the GOP

22:58 MacArthur’s Moment

25:31 China Enters the War

30:37 Herbert Hoover’s Foreign Policy Revolt

33:51 Stalemate, POWs, and Ukraine Parallels

This episode of School of War is brought to you by Maven Smart System, the builder platform for the American warfighter, fielded across the force and live on the frontline today. Learn more at palantir.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices