Richard Spencer, the 76th US Navy secretary, discusses the Littoral Combat Ship program, the Pentagon’s FY19 budget-request highlights, the service’s upcoming 30-year shipbuilding plan, modernization, balancing efficiency and efficacy, improving training, culture change and much more during an exclusive, wide-ranging Feb. 3, 2018, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian in San Diego just before the commissioning of the USS Omaha, the 12th LCS and the sixth Independence-class vessel.

Col. J.R. Clearfield, USMC, commander of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, discusses highlights of the USS America Amphibious Ready Group’s seven-month deployment (which included the ships San Diego and Pearl Harbor that visited every continent but South America and Antarctica), the capabilities of the ARG-MEU team, and more during a Feb. 2, 2018, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian, taped after the ships and 4,500 sailors and Marines returned to San Diego.

Bruce Bennett, PhD, senior international defense researcher at the RAND Corporation think tank, discusses deterring North Korea, the country’s nuclear program, President Donald Trump’s proposed “bloody nose” strategy, role of information warfare operations, and more during a Feb. 1, 2018, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the think tank’s headquarters in Santa Monica, California.

Richard Aboulafia, vice president for analysis at the Teal Group, shares data-based commercial- and defense-aviation insights, and predicts what we can expect from both sides of the industry in 2018 during an exclusive, wide-ranging Jan. 24, 2018, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian, filmed in our Washington studio.

Janice Stein, PhD, Belzberg professor of conflict management at and founding director of the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, discusses deterring the North Korean nuclear threat, what the the international community’s role in pressuring the nation should be, and emerging threats to global security during a November 2017 interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the 2017 Halifax International Security Forum.

Frank Kendall, former US under secretary for defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, discusses how even short-term government shutdowns and continuing resolutions can negatively impact defense, how the Budget Control Act shaped the US defense-industrial base during his time at the Pentagon, the Pentagon’s acquisition reorganization and more in a Jan. 22, 2018, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. 

Vice Adm. Clive Johnstone, RN, commander of NATO’s Allied Maritime Force, discusses its renewed focus on “operations and operational behavior,” its to-do list (including boosting fleet and force readiness, and increasing allied naval forces more flexibility), his priorities as commander, the influence of Russia’s Kalibr cruise missile on future force planning, hybrid warfare at sea and more during a Jan. 17, 2018, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at Atlantic Council headquarters in Washington following its “NATO’s Maritime Frontier: A View from NATO’s Maritime Command” event.