Notre Dame International Security Center

In this episode of ‘Students Talk Security’, Dr. Farr, the leading expert in the interconnection between international religious freedom, human rights, and United States National Security will discuss his work on the implications rights internationally have on defense and security domestically. His work has led to not only scholarship and legislative and State Department action, but to the creation of the Religious Freedom Institute, the leading scholarly institution on global religious freedom. Dr. Farr and I will be discussing this argument for increased emphasis on religious freedom in U.S. foreign policy, its implications within policy itself, and its usage in current issues of national security. Interviewee: Dr. Thomas Farr Interviewer: Maura Brennan

Matt Duss is a congressional staffer and has worked with Senator Bernie Sanders since 2017. Previously he was the President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, and a national security and international policy analyst at the Center for American Progress. Recorded: March 29, 2022

This episode will cover how the Senate can influence foreign policy in the face of new threats and increasing executive power, and what an NSA for a Senator sees as the biggest future threats to American security and power. Interviewer: Christopher Libero Interviewee: Thomas Mancinelli

In this episode of Outside the Box, Mike and Jim engage LtGen Gregory Newbold, former Director of Operations (J-3) for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a hard-hitting and wide-ranging discussion of proposed modernization of the U.S. Marine Corps in the XXIst Century, the role of the U.S. Congress in shaping the development of the armed forces, the legitimate avenues of military dissent, and how to grow a more effective general officer corps for the U.S. military in the years to come. Recorded: March 14, 2022

Major Jeremy Grunert is an officer in the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps. In this capacity, he has served as a military prosecutor and legal advisor at assignments in Afghanistan, Qatar, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Major Grunert is currently assigned to the United States Air Force Academy, where he serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Law. He instructs the Academy’s core “Law for Air Force Officers” course and is the course director for the Academy’s new “Space Law” course. Major Grunert is also the Chief of Research for the Academy’s Law, Technology, and Warfare Research Cell; in this capacity, he hosts a monthly webinar series on the subject of space law. Finally, Major Grunert has published a number of journal articles and commentaries in publications such as War on the Rocks, the Air Force Law Review, the Journal of Drone Law & Policy, and the Pepperdine Law Review. Recorded: March 1, 2022

Šumit Ganguly is a Distinguished Professor of Political Science and holds the Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is a specialist on the international and comparative politics of South Asia. His most recent book (edited with M. Chris Mason) is The Future of US-India Security Cooperation (Manchester University Press, 2021).

In 2014 Lt. Gen. Daniel Bolger published his book Why We Lost: A General’s Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghan Wars. Seven years before the fall of Kabul, he had already foreseen the chaotic end of that campaign in the Global War on Terrorism. Bolger says there is much blame to go around but focuses his fire on his profession and colleagues: the senior leadership of the U.S. military. In this episode, General Bolger joins Jim and Mike to discuss why we lost and what we need to do to win our wars in the future.

Bear F. Braumoeller is Professor in the Department of Political Science at The Ohio State University and the holder of the Baronov and Timashev Chair in Data Analytics. He conducts research in the areas of international relations, political methodology, and complexity and human behavior. He received his B.A. from the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, and he held faculty positions at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Harvard University before moving to Ohio State. His present work focuses on the decline-of-war thesis, the relationship between international order and international conflict, and causal inference based on observational data. He currently co-directs the Computational Social Science community of practice under the Translational Data Analytics Institute at Ohio State. For more information, visit the Computational Social Science CoP page at TDAI.

The episode considers the future of counterterrorism in the context of a Taliban controlled Afghanistan. Beginning with a discussion of how the Taliban was able to regain control so swiftly, the podcast draws on the counterterrorism knowledge and expertise of the FBI’s Former Assistant Director for Counterterrorism Mike McGarrity to explore how the landscapes of counterterrorism and counterintelligence have shifted. Interviewer: Nick Carter Interviewee: Mike McGarrity Official Title: Former Assistant Director for Counterterrorism at the FBI Biography: Mike McGarrity served as the FBI’s Assistant Director for Counterterrorism, managing the Bureau’s global counterterrorism operation for two years between 2018 and 2019. Mr. McGarrity’s 23 year tenure with the FBI began when he joined the New York field office in 1996, where he investigated violent gangs, drug organizations, and international money laundering networks. In 2003, he moved to the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, where he participated in nu

Jayita Sarkar is an Assistant Professor at Boston University Pardee School of Global Studies, where she teaches diplomatic and political history. Her research has been published in the Journal of Cold War Studies, Cold War History, International History Review, Journal of Strategic Studies, Nonproliferation Review, and elsewhere. Her first book, Ploughshares & Swords: India's Nuclear Program in the Global Cold War (Cornell University Press, forthcoming, 2022) examines the first forty years of India's nuclear program through the prisms of geopolitics and technopolitics. Recorded: Nov 16, 2021 | Speaker: Jayita Sarkar

In this episode of ‘Students Talk Security’, undergraduate fellow, Callie Whelan, speaks with Pamela Fierst-Walsh, the Senior Advisor on Conflict Minerals and U.S. Representative to the Kimberley Process at the U.S. Department of State. Callie and Pamela dig into critical mineral supply chains, their relationships with electric vehicle production, and what it means for the United States.

An Interview with U.S. Army Civil Affairs Captain Ben Ordiway by Cullen Geahigan where they discuss the purpose and function of Army Civil Affairs operations as well as the value of Civil Affairs missions as part of the Army's guiding mission. Additionally, we covered the future role Civil Affairs will play in great power competition.

Recorded: Aug 31, 2021 Host: Dan Lindley Speaker: Fred Kaplan

The Fall of Afghanistan: What Does it Mean for America and the World? A virtual flash panel discussion on the fall of Afghanistan featuring Michael Desch, Mary Ellen O'Connell, Dina Smeltz, and Eugene Gholz. Recorded: August 24, 2021

Summary: In this episode, Mike and Jim interview Andrew Bacevich, author After the Apocalypse: America's Role in a World Transformed. In this latest book, Bacevich, a retired U.S. Army officer, former professor at Boston University, and President of the new Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, laments that America has failed both domestically and internationally since the end of the Cold War. To those failures should now be added, on the very day the interview was recorded, the unexpectedly rapid collapse of the pro-American regime in Kabul, Afghanistan. How the unipolar moment became such a disappointment what is the way forward for a renewed America at home and abroad were the topics of our discussion.

Summary: In this episode of Outside the Box, Mike and Jim are joined by Doug Bandow of the CATO Institute to discuss national service. We are once again hearing calls to institute some form of national service; whether in the military through conscription or via some form of mandatory civilian service along the lines of AmeriCorps. Proponents of some form of national service could bolster citizen engagement with our national life and inculcate a stronger sense of community, especially among younger Americas. Critics worry about both the feasibility as well as the ethics of imposing mandatory national service. We'll hash these things out on our next show.

Recorded: May 4, 2021 Host: Joseph Parent Speaker: Jeffrey Taliaferro

An Interview with Associate Professor Karrie J. Koesel by Andrew DelVecchio Summary: In this episode of Students Talk Security, Professor Karrie Koesel discusses the role that Russian domestic politics play in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. Professor Koesel uses her experience with contemporary Russian politics to explain how President Putin is constrained and catalyzed by popular opinion and NATO's best avenue for de-escalating the conflict. Biography: Karrie J. Koesel is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame where she specializes in the study of contemporary Chinese and Russian politics, authoritarianism, and the politics of religion. She is the author of Religion & Authoritarianism: Cooperation, Conflict and the Consequences (Cambridge University Press, 2014) and co-editor of Citizens and the State in Authoritarian Regimes (Oxford University Press, 2020). Her research has been featured in World Politics, Perspectives on Politics, The China Quarterly, Post-Soviet

An interview with Former U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly by Liam Karr Summary: In this podcast, I discuss America's role in the regional conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Trump and Biden Administrations have taken drastically different approaches to both our ally and our adversary, and we'll break down the different outcomes this could cause. We discuss Saudi Arabia's unique leadership situation and its role in Yemen, and also go over how America seeks to contain Iran, with a special focus on a return to the Nuclear Deal. We'll then wrap up with a broader analysis of America's relationships and actions in the Middle East, and whether they need any updating.

An Interview with Former U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly by Carson Whitesell Summary: In this episode of “Students Talk Security,” former United States Senator Joe Donnelly discusses the domestic terrorism in the United States with an emphasis on recent events like the storming of the Capitol on January 6th. Donnelly brings a special perspective to the problem because of his time in the Senate, which gives him insight into what Congress and the federal government in general can do to combat this preeminent national security threat. Biography: Joe Donnelly served as the three term U.S. Representative from Indiana’s Second Congressional District from 2007 to 2013 and the United States Senator from Indiana from 2013 to 2019. Senator Donnelly is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Notre Dame Law School. While in the House of Representatives, Congressman Donnelly served on the Veterans’ Committee, the Financial Services Committee, and the Agriculture Committee. While in the United States Senate, Senator