School of War – Details, episodes & analysis

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School of War

The Free Press

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Frequency: 1 episode/5d. Total Eps: 350

In School of War, CBS News National Security Analyst and Free Press columnist Aaron MacLean sits down with secretaries of state, top military historians, war planners, and key political decision-makers to help understand the lessons of war. Tune in as School of War takes you to the front lines. Aaron MacLean is a former senior fellow at Hudson Institute. He has worked as a foreign policy advisor and legislative director to Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and spent seven years in the U.S. Marine Corps. Visit our Substack for episode transcripts Follow along on Instagram

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http://schoolofwar.substack.com
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https://www.palantir.com/
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https://cesionline.org
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Score global : 69%

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What the Dutch Empire Reveals About America Today

Friday, October 2, 2026 • Duration 01:02:42

How do you fight a superpower you can’t afford to stop trading with? The Dutch faced that problem at the start of the 17th century in their war against Spain, and their answer was the Dutch West India Company, a business built to wage war. Alexander Bick, a historian who served on the National Security Council under Barack Obama and Joe Biden, joins School of War to discuss his new book, Minutes of Empire. He explains how the company helped secure Dutch independence and why the Dutch kept trading with Spain while fighting it, taxing certain exports to “plow that money back into the military,” and what that reveals about America’s tangled relationship with China. All of which raises a question about Donald Trump’s foreign policy: Is America reviving an older style of empire? 02:52 — The Rise of the Dutch Republic 06:25 — How Dutch Trading Companies Began 09:47 — Shareholder Profits vs. National Strategy 11:59 — Who Invested in the Company? 14:33 — Challenging Spain in the New World 19:19 — The Costs of Conquering Brazil 22:49 — Who Ran the West India Company? 31:58 — Business Failure, Strategic Success 39:36 — The Dutch Legacy in Britain 43:16 — America and Trading with the Enemy 49:13 — Biden and Trump: What Changed? 55:30 — Trump, Venezuelan Oil, and Empire 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

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How the Middle East Got So Screwed Up, with Simon Sebag Montefiore

Tuesday, September 29, 2026 • Duration 01:14:52

“Let’s whisper it,” said historian Simon Sebag Montefiore. “The Trump blockade is working.” It can be hard to parse the state of play in the Middle East amid escalating rhetoric, but history gives us the necessary perspective to call balls and strikes in the present day. Today, the author of The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East joins School of War to discuss the forces that created the modern Middle East, why he thinks Trump’s strategy in Iran is working, and the growing rivalry between Israel and Turkey. “There is a real danger that Erdoğan will talk himself into a war with Israel,” he warns. 05:22 — The Middle East Is Not Monochrome 09:49 — Four Eras of the Modern Middle East 11:45 — The Problem With Nation-States 18:30 — Why 1979 Changed the Middle East 25:22 — Can Iran’s Revolution Survive Regime Change? 34:28 — Iran, Hormuz, and the Nuclear Question 39:57 — Could Iran’s Regime Reach a Breaking Point? 44:42 — Why Iran’s Regime Is Built for War 50:46 — Trump, Soleimani, and the 12-Day War 52:28 — Can the Iran Blockade Work? 54:23 — Israel’s Post–October 7 Grand Strategy 1:04:56 — Israel, Turkey, and Erdoğan’s Neo-Ottoman Ambitions 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

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America’s Aging Shipyards Are a Crisis Waiting to Happen

Friday, September 25, 2026 • Duration 47:23

If America wants to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty, it needs to build more warships. China currently dominates global shipbuilding—producing vessels at a scale the United States can no longer match. Alex Wong, an executive at South Korean shipbuilding giant Hanwha Group and a former Trump administration national security adviser, thinks he has the solution. Today, Wong joins Aaron MacLean to discuss how the United States lost its shipbuilding capacity, how South Korean technology and investment could help revive American shipyards, and what it will take to rebuild the country’s naval industrial base. “America doesn’t have 20 years” to regain its maritime dominance, he warns. 02:23 — America’s Shipbuilding Crisis 05:44 — How America Lost Its Shipbuilding Industry 09:43 — Why Commercial Shipbuilding Matters to the Navy 12:28 — America vs. China’s Shipbuilding Capacity 13:54 — Rebuilding America’s Shipyards 16:16 — Robots and the Future of Shipbuilding 23:52 — Rebuilding America’s Shipbuilding Workforce 29:11 — Building Ships for Golden Dome 30:11 — Can America Build Enough Ships? 32:46 — Replacing Ships in Wartime 34:54 — Trump, Kim Jong Un, and North Korea 43:06 — Taiwan, Korea, and a Two-Front Crisis 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

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The Middle East After America?

Tuesday, September 22, 2026 • Duration 48:57

Could Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey form a “Muslim NATO?” Pakistan has the nuclear arsenal, Saudi Arabia has the wealth, and Turkey has the NATO-trained military—“you put these three together and it becomes a pretty formidable force,” says CBS News senior foreign correspondent Imtiaz Tyab. Today, he joins School of War to discuss whether the pact could really become an effective alliance, what the effort reveals about America’s changing role in the Middle East, and what five years of Taliban rule have meant for Afghanistan: “I’ve never seen the Taliban more confident,” he said. 02:14 — Reporting From Afghanistan 05:42 — The War in Afghanistan 11:29 — A More Confident Taliban 13:09 — Life Under Taliban Rule 16:13 — Afghanistan’s Secret Girls’ Schools 20:26 — Letters From Afghan Girls 25:30 — Afghanistan Under the Taliban 28:47 — A Girl’s Plea to the World 30:07 — The Pakistan-Saudi-Turkey Alliance 31:47 — A “Muslim NATO”? 40:33 — The Abraham Accords 44:27 — Testing the New Defense Pact 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

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Why John Boyd Still Matters

Friday, September 18, 2026 • Duration 59:58

John Boyd was one of the most influential military thinkers of the 20th century, and the intellectual godfather of the U.S. Marines’ military strategy. Today, as artificial intelligence continues to transform battlefields in Ukraine and the Middle East, author and retired Marine officer Ian Brown argues that Boyd’s ideas are more relevant than ever. Today, Brown joins Aaron MacLean to discuss how Ukraine is harnessing Boyd’s concept of narrative warfare, what Boyd can teach us about conflict in the age of AI, drones, and precision strikes, and his new book co-authored with Frans P. B. Osinga, Snowmobiles and Grand Ideals. 2:20 Who Was John Boyd?7:25 What Boyd Learned From Dogfighting15:37 From Air Combat to the OODA Loop23:49 Is the OODA Loop Really About Speed?29:33 What Do Blitzkrieg and Insurgency Have in Common?36:44 Surfaces and Gaps41:25 Why Did the Marine Corps Embrace Boyd?48:25 The Marine Corps’ Warfighting Doctrine50:25 Does Modern Warfare Challenge Boyd?53:18 Information as a Weapon53:53 Boyd’s Ideas Meet Drone Warfare54:55 From Nagorno-Karabakh to Ukraine 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

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What War Teaches Us—If We Survive It

Tuesday, September 15, 2026 • Duration 01:02:01

People think retired Army Major John Spencer lost part of his ear in combat. He didn’t; he lost it in a fight behind a bar that cost him his spot in the Army Rangers. Spencer went on to serve repeatedly in combat and become one of the country’s leading experts on urban warfare. He joins Aaron MacLean to discuss his origin story and other anecdotes from his new book, Twenty Times I Almost Died, as well as why he thinks the U.S. “is clearly winning” the war in Iran. 3:30 War With Iran 9:43 Battle of Hormuz 10:42 Wartime Stockpiles 12:32 The Stakes of Failure 15:34 Losing His Ear 23:34 Losing the Rangers 25:51 Resilience 28:58 Invading Iraq 33:59 Common Sense in Combat 39:08 The IED Trap 44:25 Battle of Marjah 51:01 Gangs of Baghdad 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

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‘We Are Going to War’: H.R. McMaster Remembers 9/11

Friday, September 11, 2026 • Duration 56:48

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

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Ten-Minute Warning: The Hypersonic Threat

Tuesday, September 8, 2026 • Duration 44:20

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

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What to Expect When You’re Expecting Great Power Conflict

Friday, September 4, 2026 • Duration 55:17

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

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Shot Down over Serbia: General Goldfein’s Incredible Story

Tuesday, September 1, 2026 • Duration 01:03:02

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

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School of War – Details, episodes & analysis

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School of War – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Substack1

Other2

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Substack1

Other2

Apple Podcasts

Spotify