Tom Czekanski, senior curator and restoration manager at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, discusses why he feels D-Day was the most pivotal moment of World War II during an interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian.
Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Human Right Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division, argues that a foreign policy based on human rights serves US interests as does continued American membership on the United Nations Human Rights Council during an interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian. The interview was conducted at the Center for Strategic and International Studies after a June 7, 2017, panel discussion launching the Vision of Humanity’s 2017 Global Peace Index.
In “Meeting Security Challenges in a Disordered World,” Rebecca Hersman, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Project on Nuclear Issues, and senior adviser at its International Security Program, uses case studies to familiarize people with and equip them to function in evolving security environments which the US may face in the near future. “The United States must be prepared to operate in a range of complex environments to meet a range of security challenges and threats, such as humanitarian emergencies, terrorism and violent extremism, great power aggression, health security crises, and international criminal violence,” CSIS writes. “This study focuses on these five functional security imperatives and illustrates each imperative through regionally or subnationally defined operating environments.”
In a new report entitled “A Strategy for Ending the Syrian Civil War,” the Center for a New American Security’s Colin Kahl, Ilan Goldberg and Nicholas Heras present a framework for US intervention in Syria. The proposed plan includes uniting the Turks and Kurds to fight ISIS, counterterrorism coordination with Russia, Iran engagement and the solicitation of support from Israel and the US’ allies in the Persian Gulf region. “With deft diplomacy, the Trump administration may be able to leverage growing U.S. influence in formerly ISIS-controlled territory to broker a broader national cease-fire and eventually a negotiated political solution,” their executive summary reads. “This option would defer the question of Assad’s fate but would avoid the breakup of the Syrian state and de-escalate the conflict through a governing system where most of the power is devolved outside of Damascus.”
2nd Lt. Tyler Brewer, USAF, a laser physicist with the US Air Force Research Laboratory’s Directed Energy Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., discusses how the lab’s SHiELD (Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator) program can defend aircraft with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at DoD Lab Day 2017 at the Pentagon on May 18, 2017. SHiELD aims to explore the potential of lasers in pods that can be mounted onto future aircraft.
On this week’s episode of the Defense & Aerospace Business Report, we discuss the aftermath of the UK elections ending in a hung British Parliament, the Qatar-Saudi Arabia conflict and more. The Defense & Aerospace Business Report is sponsored by Bell Helicopter, a Textron Company.
Raimundas Karoblis, Lithuania’s defense minster, said he is reassured by the deployment of NATO troops to his country and the Baltics, but would prefer an allied brigade “in each member state” to better deter Russia during a wide-ranging interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian. Karoblis also said Russia constitutes a wide-ranging conventional threat to the alliance and discusses Lithuania’s defense priorities, acquisition programs, conscription and cooperation with its neighbors. The discussion was taped in Washington on June 8, 2017, one day before President Donald Trump reasserted the US commitment to NATO’s Article V mutual defense clause.
Lt. Gen. Esa Pulkkinen, Finnish Army, director general of the European Union Military Staff, discusses the potential impact of losing British officers from his staff in the wake of Brexit, EU security priorities, coordination with NATO and the United States, better planning and lessons from ongoing operations in Africa with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian. The interview was conducted during the European Union’s 6th annual Common Security and Defence Policy symposium — co-hosted with the Center for Strategic and International Studies — at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington on June 6, 2017.
Heather Roff, research scientist at Arizona State University’s Global Security Initiative and senior fellow at Oxford University, discusses results from a recent global public opinion poll on autonomous weapons, as well as military and police uses of artificial intelligence, or AI, with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian. The interview was conducted during the European Union’s 6th annual Common Security and Defence Policy symposium — co-hosted with the Center for Strategic and International Studies — at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington on June 6, 2017.
Margus Tsahkna, Estonia’s defense minister, discusses the role of NATO and deterring Russia, the alliance’s Article V mutual defense clause, spending priorities, cybersecurity and fighting disinformation with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian. The interview was conducted during the European Union’s 6th annual Common Security and Defence Policy symposium — co-hosted with the Center for Strategic and International Studies — at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington on June 6, 2017.