Ash Carter: The Interview

The relationship between journalists and the U.S. military is simultaneously intimate and distant. In the last several decades and the last two in particular, many things have changed in the way that journalists cover the military, but perhaps not as many as you think. Three defense and national security journalists of different generations joined Ryan Evans of War on the Rocks to talk about how covering the military has and has not changed over time: David Wood, the veteran, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist at The Huffington Post Nancy Youssef, senior national security correspondent for The Daily Beast Paul Shinkman, national security reporter for U.S. News & World Report Have a listen! Image: U.S. Navy photo by Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway

25 Jan 20161h 2min

WOTR's Ryan Evans sat down with Colin Kahl, the National Security Advisor to Vice Present Joe Biden, to talk about the mess of the Middle East and what the Obama administration is doing about it. From Iran to the Gulf states to Syria to Iraq to Turkey and beyond, Kahl explains how the White House views the problems and opportunities there. He also discusses what it's like to be in a presidential administration in its final year. If you like this podcast, be sure to check out our last conversation with Kahl about the Iran nuclear agreement. Image: USAF, Senior Airman Matthew Bruch

12 Jan 20161h 3min

We are trying something a little new with our podcast series. Segments! And music! In the first segment of our new podcast, Ryan Evans sits down with Claude Berube to talk about his new novel, Syren's Song. Ryan then joins Gen. Bob Scales to talk about his recent trip to Europe where he looked at the ability of U.S. and European forces to fight Russia in the event of a war. Gen. Scales expands on some of the concerns he expressed in the Wall Street Journal. Happy listening!

17 Dec 201544min

In histories of the Second World War, the Vatican has not fared well. Pope Pius XII has been condemned as "Hitler's Pope" and the Church castigated for not doing enough to avert war and save the victims of the Third Reich. Enter Mark Riebling's new book, Church of Spies: The Pope's Secret War Against Hitler. After years of painstaking research in the Vatican's archives, Riebling has a different and heart-pounding story to tell of the Pope's network of spies that fought to bring about Hitler's downfall. In this podcast, WOTR's Ryan Evans and Mark Stout (himself a veteran of the CIA) sits down with Riebling to chat about this amazing book that combines the rigor of history with the storytelling of a novel. His final verdict on Pius XII: "He wasn't Hitler's Pope, but he wasn't Anne Frank's Pope either." Listen! Image: Public Domain

2 Nov 201527min

What's going on around the world? For our latest podcast, WOTR editor-in-chief Ryan Evans was joined by a great group to talk about Russia and its intervention in Syria, the Middle East more broadly, America's approach to foreign policy, the refugee crisis in Europe, the international economy, and Congress. Our guests were Justin Johnson of the Heritage Foundation, Denise Natali of the National Defense University, Bill Rosenau of CNA, and Erin Simpson of Caerus Associates.

13 Okt 201557min

Will McCants of the Brookings Institution and David Ignatius of The Washington Post sat down with Ryan Evans to chat about the topic of Will's new book, ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State. In this wide-ranging conversation, our guests reached back into the origins of the Islamic State and came all the way up to the storm of violence that covers so much of the Middle East today. Have a listen!

24 Sep 201548min

Dmitry Gorenburg, an occasional WOTR contributor and expert on Russian military affairs at the CNA Corporation, sat down with Ryan Evans to chat about the state of Russia's armed forces, its campaigns in Ukraine and Syria, Putin as a strategist, and how one becomes an expert on Russian military affairs. Have a listen!

22 Sep 201542min