WEBVTT 00:00:04.809 --> 00:00:08.650 All across America and around the world, this 00:00:08.650 --> 00:00:15.009 is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio. And 00:00:15.009 --> 00:00:19.030 now, your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry. 00:00:21.929 --> 00:00:24.670 Hey, good afternoon and welcome to Veterans Radio. 00:00:24.789 --> 00:00:28.089 My name is Dale Throneberry. I was a cw2 helicopter 00:00:28.089 --> 00:00:31.949 pilot in Vietnam 1969 I want to welcome to our 00:00:31.949 --> 00:00:34.350 program. I've got a couple of really cool things 00:00:34.350 --> 00:00:37.109 going on today number one we're hoping to talk 00:00:37.109 --> 00:00:40.409 with one of the members of the MidMichigan honor 00:00:40.409 --> 00:00:43.390 flight who talk about what they do and how they 00:00:43.390 --> 00:00:46.920 get people from here to there It's kind of interesting. 00:00:47.020 --> 00:00:48.719 We're waiting for a phone call from the president 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:51.399 of that. But I also have somebody who's gone 00:00:51.399 --> 00:00:53.520 on one of those flights. So if we can get him, 00:00:53.619 --> 00:00:57.000 we can take care of that if necessary. And then 00:00:57.000 --> 00:00:59.439 I've got a pretty good interview that I did yesterday 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:02.700 or the day before with Rebecca Grant. Dr. Grant, 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:06.900 of course, is our resident foreign affairs expert. 00:01:06.939 --> 00:01:09.870 We've had her on our program. numerous times 00:01:09.870 --> 00:01:13.950 starting back in 2008, 2009. And she's going 00:01:13.950 --> 00:01:17.189 to talk about what is going on in Ukraine, what's 00:01:17.189 --> 00:01:20.090 going on with China, what's going on with this 00:01:20.090 --> 00:01:22.349 new administration and some of the things that 00:01:22.349 --> 00:01:24.670 are happening and some of the things that might 00:01:24.670 --> 00:01:27.909 be upsetting to some of our listeners out there. 00:01:28.129 --> 00:01:31.750 So make sure that you stick around for that interview. 00:01:32.549 --> 00:01:36.209 We're hoping that I found it really interesting 00:01:36.209 --> 00:01:39.980 anyhow. And I think that that you will too. And 00:01:39.980 --> 00:01:42.420 before we get into that, I got to thank our sponsors 00:01:42.420 --> 00:01:44.640 because we can't do the program without our sponsors. 00:01:46.180 --> 00:01:48.480 So I want to thank the following for their continuing 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:50.500 support of Veterans Radio. You know, Veterans 00:01:50.500 --> 00:01:55.079 Radio is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. So we 00:01:55.079 --> 00:01:58.019 don't really do commercials, we do more of the 00:01:58.019 --> 00:02:01.909 sponsorship. Horson so the support so legal help 00:02:01.909 --> 00:02:04.609 for veterans specializing in veterans disability 00:02:04.609 --> 00:02:06.969 claims call legal help for veterans at eight 00:02:06.969 --> 00:02:10.449 hundred six nine three four eight zero zero or 00:02:10.449 --> 00:02:13.349 go to their website legal help for veterans .com 00:02:13.349 --> 00:02:16.550 the national veterans business development council 00:02:16.550 --> 00:02:20.000 better known as envy BDC is the nation's leading 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:22.800 third party authority for certification of veteran 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:25.240 owned businesses. For more information, go to 00:02:25.240 --> 00:02:28.900 their website, nvvdc .org or give them a call 00:02:28.900 --> 00:02:34.979 at 888 -237 -8433. PiroClean, the paramedics 00:02:34.979 --> 00:02:37.939 of property damage. PiroClean is one of the nation's 00:02:37.939 --> 00:02:40.620 leading restoration franchise networks and is 00:02:40.620 --> 00:02:43.960 made up of entrepreneurs just like you. And veterans 00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:48.099 get 25 % off the franchise fee. For more information, 00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:52.699 go to puroclean .com. It's the Charles S. Kettles 00:02:52.699 --> 00:02:55.099 VA Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For 00:02:55.099 --> 00:02:58.199 more information, go to va .gov slash Ann Arbor 00:02:58.199 --> 00:03:01.080 Health Care. The Irwin Prescott and American 00:03:01.080 --> 00:03:05.000 Legion Post 46 and the Charles S. Kettles Vietnam 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:07.840 Veterans of America chapter 310, both of Ann 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:10.620 Arbor, Michigan. If you'd like to support Veterans 00:03:10.620 --> 00:03:13.520 Radio, please go to our website, veteransradio 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:16.750 .org and click on the donate button. Thank you 00:03:16.750 --> 00:03:19.310 very much in advance and we'll get right into 00:03:19.310 --> 00:03:24.409 our program here. We are going to be talking 00:03:24.409 --> 00:03:26.569 to, actually we're going to be talking to Brian 00:03:26.569 --> 00:03:30.550 Graf. Brian Graf is a board member of the Veterans 00:03:30.550 --> 00:03:34.189 Radio America and he's also gone on one of these 00:03:34.189 --> 00:03:38.490 mid -Michigan honor flights. And so Brian, tell 00:03:38.490 --> 00:03:43.629 me what they do. Well thank you, Dale. It was 00:03:43.629 --> 00:03:46.330 probably the thrill of my lifetime. A quick story, 00:03:46.550 --> 00:03:50.189 I was driving up north on US -23 and I saw a 00:03:50.189 --> 00:03:52.729 billboard sign, electronic billboard sign, it 00:03:52.729 --> 00:03:55.870 said honor flight. And I pulled over real quick 00:03:55.870 --> 00:03:59.389 and wrote down the number, went home that evening, 00:03:59.669 --> 00:04:02.590 called that number. Actually, I looked online, 00:04:02.789 --> 00:04:06.210 to Google it online, and they do fly veterans 00:04:06.210 --> 00:04:09.699 to Washington DC to see all the monuments. It 00:04:09.699 --> 00:04:12.120 was a two -day affair, and I thought, well, that 00:04:12.120 --> 00:04:15.060 was very intriguing. So I filled out an application, 00:04:16.180 --> 00:04:18.819 emailed it in, and I thought, well, I'd never 00:04:18.819 --> 00:04:22.259 get a call. And I did get a call one day, and 00:04:22.259 --> 00:04:25.379 they said, we'd like to fly you to DC. And I 00:04:25.379 --> 00:04:27.920 said, well, I can't make it. I'm down south at 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:30.720 our property down south. And, well, we'll put 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:33.220 your application back in the pile. I figure I'd 00:04:33.220 --> 00:04:35.420 be back in the bottom of the pile, or they would 00:04:35.420 --> 00:04:38.540 forget it. The following year, I got another 00:04:38.540 --> 00:04:41.990 call. And I said, I'm going this time. And it 00:04:41.990 --> 00:04:51.910 was very exciting. There was 139 veterans on 00:04:51.910 --> 00:04:55.730 the flight going to DC. 76 of them were Vietnam 00:04:55.730 --> 00:05:00.509 veterans. And of course, we didn't get that welcome 00:05:00.509 --> 00:05:03.350 home, so to speak, when we came back from Vietnam. 00:05:04.360 --> 00:05:07.180 They applaud us when we got off the plane in 00:05:07.180 --> 00:05:10.040 Washington DC. There was about 30 or 40 people 00:05:10.040 --> 00:05:13.639 at the airport there. I got to see all the monuments. 00:05:14.459 --> 00:05:16.500 I went to the wall, which is very difficult for 00:05:16.500 --> 00:05:20.759 me. When we came back, flew back that evening, 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:23.560 I flew out of Battle Creek, Michigan. They gave 00:05:23.560 --> 00:05:26.620 us a large envelope and somehow I knew what was 00:05:26.620 --> 00:05:28.879 going to be in that envelope. I did not open 00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:32.060 it when I was on the plane. And it was exactly 00:05:32.060 --> 00:05:34.480 what I thought it would be. It was a lot of letters 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:37.920 to thank you for your service. It was all from 00:05:37.920 --> 00:05:41.899 family members and friends. And even when we 00:05:41.899 --> 00:05:45.399 got off the plane in Battle Creek and they... 00:05:45.550 --> 00:05:49.970 They convoyed us over to an air museum in Battle 00:05:49.970 --> 00:05:52.910 Creek, and there were hundreds and hundreds of 00:05:52.910 --> 00:05:56.329 people in that museum just cheering for us, clapping 00:05:56.329 --> 00:05:59.610 for us, and thanking us for our service and welcome 00:05:59.610 --> 00:06:02.129 home, and that brought tears to my eyes. Well, 00:06:02.129 --> 00:06:04.810 I can only imagine. In that envelope were, again, 00:06:04.910 --> 00:06:09.149 letters from family members. That was very exciting. 00:06:09.329 --> 00:06:12.089 I have two of them on my desk that I look at 00:06:12.089 --> 00:06:14.129 almost every other day, and one of them's from 00:06:14.129 --> 00:06:19.370 a nephew. who's an Airborne Ranger and someday 00:06:19.370 --> 00:06:21.689 he may be able to go on one of those flights 00:06:21.689 --> 00:06:25.930 too. So I encourage people to put in an application 00:06:25.930 --> 00:06:27.589 because you never know if you're going to be 00:06:27.589 --> 00:06:31.930 called and it's something I would love to do 00:06:31.930 --> 00:06:35.029 it again one day. It was really exciting. Well 00:06:35.029 --> 00:06:38.329 you don't go by yourself on this. No you do. 00:06:38.329 --> 00:06:42.310 You have to have a sponsor, kind of a chaperone 00:06:42.310 --> 00:06:45.699 so to speak. So I invited my son who's been trying 00:06:45.699 --> 00:06:48.279 to get me to go back to Vietnam to get some closure. 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:52.420 And I told him, I said, I've got closure. I don't 00:06:52.420 --> 00:06:56.259 need to go back. So close my eyes every night 00:06:56.259 --> 00:06:59.759 and I'm almost there. But my son went with me 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:02.319 and it was very exciting for him too. He really 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:06.379 enjoyed it. We met two World War II veterans 00:07:06.379 --> 00:07:08.980 on that flight. There were five Korean veterans. 00:07:09.370 --> 00:07:12.110 but these two World War II veterans, one was 00:07:12.110 --> 00:07:16.069 96 and the other one was 98. The gentleman that 00:07:16.069 --> 00:07:20.889 was 98 was a pediatric surgeon from U of M hospital 00:07:20.889 --> 00:07:24.910 and you would think he was in his 60s. Very exciting 00:07:24.910 --> 00:07:29.230 to talk to, very sharp and great stories to tell. 00:07:29.689 --> 00:07:34.269 So we did hear a lot of stories and it was such 00:07:34.269 --> 00:07:37.970 a great feeling to be the camaraderie. We took 00:07:37.970 --> 00:07:41.399 our very large group picture in front of the 00:07:41.399 --> 00:07:45.800 Irojima Memorial. There was hundreds of us there, 00:07:45.819 --> 00:07:48.959 and it was pretty exciting. I would think it 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:52.019 would be a great trip. I know you told me I needed 00:07:52.019 --> 00:07:55.600 to put my name on the waiting list, so I didn't 00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:58.800 do it yet, but I will. We've been talking with 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:01.639 Brian Graf who got to go on one of those honor 00:08:01.639 --> 00:08:04.160 flights, and unfortunately we're not able to 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:06.259 connect with the people here locally for the 00:08:06.259 --> 00:08:10.149 mid -Michigan Honor Flight and for more information 00:08:10.149 --> 00:08:13.449 you can go to their website it's actually midmichiganhonorflight 00:08:13.449 --> 00:08:17.110 .org all their information is there they have 00:08:17.110 --> 00:08:21.089 got a number of flights coming up I think they've 00:08:21.089 --> 00:08:24.089 got four coming up this year and you just put 00:08:24.089 --> 00:08:26.290 your name on the list on their on their website 00:08:26.290 --> 00:08:28.870 and hopefully they'll call you and you get to 00:08:28.870 --> 00:08:30.589 take a sort of kind of I'd like the way you put 00:08:30.589 --> 00:08:32.750 that kind of a chaperone it's nice we're at this 00:08:32.750 --> 00:08:35.090 point in our life now where we have to have chaperones 00:08:35.090 --> 00:08:38.700 so we don't go wandering off Well, that's true. 00:08:38.700 --> 00:08:43.679 That's true. I encourage anybody from all branches 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:46.720 of the service, no matter when did you serve, 00:08:47.240 --> 00:08:51.340 it's an exciting time. I think it's a great opportunity. 00:08:51.740 --> 00:08:53.659 And, you know, there are still, it's hard to 00:08:53.659 --> 00:08:55.580 believe that there are still many, many people 00:08:55.580 --> 00:08:58.059 that haven't had the opportunity to get to Washington 00:08:58.059 --> 00:09:01.519 to see all these monuments. And, you know, as 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:03.759 you pointed out, it's a great opportunity for 00:09:03.759 --> 00:09:07.830 people to welcome us home. And you know as you 00:09:07.830 --> 00:09:10.669 said we didn't get the the best welcome back 00:09:10.669 --> 00:09:14.049 in you know 100 years ago but uh yeah i would 00:09:14.049 --> 00:09:15.909 encourage people to check that out thanks very 00:09:15.909 --> 00:09:18.970 much brian uh appreciate your time and telling 00:09:18.970 --> 00:09:21.710 this story and maybe we can get the head honchos 00:09:21.710 --> 00:09:24.929 from the organization on the next time sounds 00:09:24.929 --> 00:09:28.309 great thanks thanks brian all right we are going 00:09:28.309 --> 00:09:30.570 to take a real quick break and then we're going 00:09:30.570 --> 00:09:32.669 to come straight back into our interview with 00:09:32.669 --> 00:09:37.049 dr rebecca grant so um Stick around. I think 00:09:37.049 --> 00:09:39.129 you're going to really enjoy this interview. 00:09:39.190 --> 00:09:41.129 You know, she's probably one of the smartest 00:09:41.129 --> 00:09:43.649 people I've ever met that can really explain 00:09:43.649 --> 00:09:46.529 what's going on in the world. So you're listening 00:09:46.529 --> 00:09:49.590 to Veterans Radio. I'll be back after she's done. 00:09:49.950 --> 00:09:53.090 So you're listening again to Veterans Radio. 00:09:53.250 --> 00:09:56.529 See you soon. The Medal of Honor is the highest 00:09:56.529 --> 00:09:58.710 award for valor in combat given a member of the 00:09:58.710 --> 00:10:00.809 Armed Forces of the United States. There had 00:10:00.809 --> 00:10:03.750 been over 3 ,400 recipients of the nation's highest 00:10:03.750 --> 00:10:07.240 award. This is one of them. Sergeant First Class 00:10:07.240 --> 00:10:10.080 Stanley Adams led a 13 -man charge against the 00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:14.200 North Korean force of 150. Details after this. 00:10:15.159 --> 00:10:17.379 If you have a VA claim denied by the Board of 00:10:17.379 --> 00:10:19.500 Veterans' Appeals, contact Legal Help for Veterans 00:10:19.500 --> 00:10:24.220 at 1 -800 -693 -4800. They're experts in handling 00:10:24.220 --> 00:10:26.519 cases before the U .S. Court of Appeals for Veterans 00:10:26.519 --> 00:10:30.679 Claims. Their number again, 1 -800 -693 -4800. 00:10:31.159 --> 00:10:33.960 Adams' platoon, holding an outpost some 200 yards 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:36.460 ahead of his company, came under a determined 00:10:36.460 --> 00:10:40.500 attack by an estimated 250 enemy troops. In 10 00:10:40.500 --> 00:10:42.720 small arms, machine gun and mortar fire from 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:45.379 three sides pressed the platoon back against 00:10:45.379 --> 00:10:49.740 the main line of resistance. Observing approximately 00:10:49.740 --> 00:10:53.200 150 hostile troops silhouetted against the skyline 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:56.220 advancing against his platoon Adams leaped to 00:10:56.220 --> 00:10:59.559 his feet, urged his men to fix bayonets and with 00:10:59.559 --> 00:11:02.179 13 members of his platoon charged the hostile 00:11:02.179 --> 00:11:05.820 force. Within 50 yards of the enemy Adams was 00:11:05.820 --> 00:11:07.559 knocked to the ground when pierced in the leg 00:11:07.559 --> 00:11:11.259 by an enemy bullet. He jumped to his feet and 00:11:11.259 --> 00:11:13.720 ignoring his wound continued on to close with 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:15.919 the enemy when he was knocked down four times 00:11:16.190 --> 00:11:18.190 from the concussion of grenades which had bounced 00:11:18.190 --> 00:11:22.029 off his body. Shouting orders, he charged enemy 00:11:22.029 --> 00:11:24.370 positions and engaged them in hand -to -hand 00:11:24.370 --> 00:11:27.570 combat where man after man fell before his terrific 00:11:27.570 --> 00:11:31.009 onslaught with bayonet and rifle blood. After 00:11:31.009 --> 00:11:33.990 nearly an hour of vicious action, Adams and his 00:11:33.990 --> 00:11:36.929 comrades routed the fanatical foe, killing over 00:11:36.929 --> 00:11:40.850 50 and forcing the remainder to withdraw. Upon 00:11:40.850 --> 00:11:43.009 receiving orders that his battalion was moving 00:11:43.009 --> 00:11:47.049 back, He provided cover fire while his men withdrew. 00:11:47.490 --> 00:11:49.909 Adam so inspired his comrades that the enemy 00:11:49.909 --> 00:11:52.750 attack was completely thwarted, saving his battalion 00:11:52.750 --> 00:11:55.629 from possible disaster. The Medal of Honor series 00:11:55.629 --> 00:11:59.129 is a production of Veterans Radio. Military veterans 00:11:59.129 --> 00:12:01.509 touch everyone's life. I'm guessing right now 00:12:01.509 --> 00:12:03.730 you're thinking of a veteran, a close friend, 00:12:04.169 --> 00:12:06.909 relative. Maybe it's you. Even the toughest of 00:12:06.909 --> 00:12:09.149 us sometimes need help but don't know where to 00:12:09.149 --> 00:12:11.330 turn for support. You don't need special training 00:12:11.330 --> 00:12:13.889 to help a veteran in your life. Even small actions 00:12:13.889 --> 00:12:16.429 can make a world of difference. If you know a 00:12:16.429 --> 00:12:18.950 veteran in crisis, please call the Veterans Crisis 00:12:18.950 --> 00:12:26.149 Line 800 -273 -8255. 800 -273 -8255. A message 00:12:26.149 --> 00:12:27.929 from the U .S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:48.019 Welcome back to Veterans Radio. Our guest today 00:12:48.019 --> 00:12:51.120 is Dr. Rebecca Grant. She is one of the vice 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:53.840 presidents at the Lexington Institute. She is 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:56.279 a frequent contributor to Veterans Radio. In 00:12:56.279 --> 00:13:00.200 fact, she is our most trusted source of information 00:13:00.200 --> 00:13:03.779 for about what's going on in the world. So Dr. 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:07.360 Grant, welcome back. I'm glad to join Veterans 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:10.120 Radio again. What a pleasure. Thank you very 00:13:10.120 --> 00:13:12.870 much. All right. Well, let's get to the I don't 00:13:12.870 --> 00:13:15.129 know which elephant is in the room or not, but 00:13:15.129 --> 00:13:18.090 I suppose we should probably take a look at Ukraine 00:13:18.090 --> 00:13:20.730 right off the bat. There's a whole lot of information 00:13:20.730 --> 00:13:23.809 out there. Some of it I think is a little misleading. 00:13:25.090 --> 00:13:27.889 The meeting that Zelensky had with the president, 00:13:28.029 --> 00:13:32.309 was it just last week, where it got a little 00:13:32.309 --> 00:13:38.590 testy? Yes, it's coming up now on two weeks ago 00:13:38.590 --> 00:13:42.850 since the most dramatic Oval office meeting that 00:13:42.850 --> 00:13:45.889 we've ever seen, you know, we always knew that 00:13:45.889 --> 00:13:49.350 foreign leaders and our US presidents would have 00:13:49.350 --> 00:13:52.690 arguments behind closed doors. But when Vladimir 00:13:52.690 --> 00:13:56.090 Zelensky met with President Trump and most of 00:13:56.090 --> 00:13:57.789 his cabinet in the White House, it was February 00:13:57.789 --> 00:14:01.950 28th, Zelensky had come specifically to sign 00:14:01.950 --> 00:14:06.129 a deal about a joint venture for mining critical 00:14:06.129 --> 00:14:09.409 minerals in Ukraine. And there was to be a press 00:14:09.409 --> 00:14:13.190 conference and a fancy lunch with flowers and 00:14:13.190 --> 00:14:17.110 herb chicken and whatnot. And it turned into 00:14:17.110 --> 00:14:20.730 a brawl, a hockey match, not a fist fight, but 00:14:20.730 --> 00:14:25.240 almost. with Trump and Vice President JD Vance 00:14:25.240 --> 00:14:29.019 really angry at Zelensky, and Zelensky holding 00:14:29.019 --> 00:14:31.360 his own in front of the cameras. And this was 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:33.419 just the first time we've seen this play out 00:14:33.419 --> 00:14:36.000 in real time. You know, I have a PhD in international 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:38.059 relations, and I've done a lot of historical 00:14:38.059 --> 00:14:40.220 archival work, and I'm telling you, sometimes 00:14:40.220 --> 00:14:43.279 they'll keep stuff classified just because... 00:14:43.129 --> 00:14:46.330 For example, President Eisenhower in the 1950s 00:14:46.330 --> 00:14:48.850 said something mean about Francis President Charles 00:14:48.850 --> 00:14:51.649 de Gaulle. 30 years of classification on that 00:14:51.649 --> 00:14:54.809 one. Right, yes. So it was a shock to see it 00:14:54.809 --> 00:14:59.070 play out. It took a very serious turn, and it 00:14:59.070 --> 00:15:03.330 has been repaired. But what had to happen in 00:15:03.330 --> 00:15:06.929 the end was that Zelensky did apologize for his 00:15:06.929 --> 00:15:10.120 conduct. And I felt he really He really owed 00:15:10.120 --> 00:15:14.799 it to the U .S., but also to NATO. The NATO nations 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:17.820 have supported Zelensky so strongly. And when 00:15:17.820 --> 00:15:21.659 NATO Secretary -General Mark Rutz asked to get 00:15:21.659 --> 00:15:25.659 this knitted up, that was important. But meanwhile, 00:15:26.299 --> 00:15:30.480 the U .S. for a while paused military aid to 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:34.000 Ukraine. And I'd love to spend just a moment 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:36.139 on that if that's okay with you. No, that's fine. 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:38.340 I think it's really important. As you know, as 00:15:38.340 --> 00:15:41.279 your listeners know, it's not just sending the 00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:44.360 missiles or the Abrams tanks or the F -16s that 00:15:44.360 --> 00:15:48.759 they have. There's a constant process of aid, 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:51.759 including things like software updates for the 00:15:51.759 --> 00:15:54.139 F -16s. When the F -16s went over last summer, 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:58.879 the Air Force's 68th Electronic Warfare Squadron 00:15:59.100 --> 00:16:03.019 tuned them all up and made them special secret 00:16:03.019 --> 00:16:06.399 ready to deal with Russian electronic warfare. 00:16:06.840 --> 00:16:09.120 And you know, that's a constant process of back 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:11.639 and forth. The same is true with maintenance, 00:16:12.100 --> 00:16:15.139 even on something like the high Mars, there are 00:16:15.139 --> 00:16:18.039 continual maintenance updates that go on. And 00:16:18.039 --> 00:16:20.480 there's just this, you know, software is what 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:22.919 you go to war with. Now, this is the modern battlefield. 00:16:23.019 --> 00:16:25.379 You don't fight without constant tech refresh. 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:29.639 So to pause U .S. assistance to Ukraine, even 00:16:29.639 --> 00:16:32.200 for a week, as it turned out, it's been turned 00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:36.159 back on now, was really quite dramatic. And then, 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:38.580 of course, there's a lot of intelligence sharing. 00:16:39.059 --> 00:16:41.940 You know, they're pretty quiet about it, but 00:16:41.940 --> 00:16:46.779 NATO has included Ukraine in its cyber defenses 00:16:46.779 --> 00:16:50.379 actually since the beginning of the war and then 00:16:50.379 --> 00:16:53.039 formally over the last two years. We also do 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:57.629 a lot of space systems support to Ukraine. You 00:16:57.629 --> 00:17:01.009 know, if you know how you track Russian bombers 00:17:01.009 --> 00:17:04.730 and incoming missiles and drones, you know, that 00:17:04.730 --> 00:17:07.890 all works best when you have space queuing for 00:17:07.890 --> 00:17:10.549 those systems. And then we know that from the 00:17:10.549 --> 00:17:12.589 very beginning, some of our U .S. companies like 00:17:12.589 --> 00:17:16.289 Microsoft and Amazon have supported Ukraine by 00:17:16.289 --> 00:17:19.269 literally pulling Ukrainian government operations 00:17:19.269 --> 00:17:22.309 up into the cloud before the Russians could hack 00:17:22.309 --> 00:17:26.559 them. So when the aid was turned off, that was 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:29.339 a pretty strong signal. It has been renewed. 00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:34.680 And now we're looking at a series of peace negotiations. 00:17:36.259 --> 00:17:39.920 Right. Yeah, I saw that. They offered an agreement. 00:17:40.220 --> 00:17:42.140 And I guess evidently right now our good friend 00:17:42.140 --> 00:17:46.920 Putin is pushing back a little bit on that. Well, 00:17:47.019 --> 00:17:49.059 here's another headache. I mean, what did we 00:17:49.059 --> 00:17:51.140 really think? So for two weeks, the attention 00:17:51.140 --> 00:17:54.259 focused on repairing the U .S.-Ukraine relationship, 00:17:54.259 --> 00:17:58.400 and that's been done. Now, the issue is, will 00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:01.539 Putin negotiate at all? And, you know, I see 00:18:01.539 --> 00:18:03.900 a couple things going on here. One, there is 00:18:03.900 --> 00:18:07.720 a lot going on behind the scenes. I note that 00:18:07.720 --> 00:18:10.720 our CIA Director John Ratcliffe has been talking 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:16.640 to his counterpart in Russia. We've seen Trump's 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:20.039 special envoy, Stephen Witkoff, who is a longtime 00:18:20.039 --> 00:18:22.680 friend of Donald Trump's back from their days 00:18:22.680 --> 00:18:25.940 doing real estate in New York. He has been off 00:18:25.940 --> 00:18:29.700 negotiating as well. There's just a multi -layered 00:18:29.700 --> 00:18:31.579 approach going on. So I hope there's something 00:18:31.579 --> 00:18:34.799 going on behind the scenes because out in public, 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:39.240 it's looking pretty tough. Zelensky and the Ukrainian 00:18:39.240 --> 00:18:43.799 side have agreed to a temporary ceasefire. This 00:18:43.799 --> 00:18:46.319 is just the stop the shooting for let's say a 00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:49.420 period of 30 days and then go to another phase 00:18:49.420 --> 00:18:53.019 that will be formal negotiations. And there's 00:18:53.019 --> 00:18:54.660 some pretty good things in that piece of the 00:18:54.660 --> 00:18:58.920 deal that if a ceasefire happens, it would be 00:18:58.920 --> 00:19:02.039 obviously no shooting on the front. Also no drone 00:19:02.039 --> 00:19:05.319 and missile attacks, mainly by Russia, but Ukraine 00:19:05.319 --> 00:19:10.559 did launch a small drone attack into Russia a 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:13.599 couple days ago. And then here's the big one. 00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:17.660 Pause operations in the Black Sea. Now, Ukraine 00:19:17.660 --> 00:19:21.500 has been just wiping the floor with Russia's 00:19:21.500 --> 00:19:24.019 Navy in the Black Sea. You know, that's where 00:19:24.019 --> 00:19:26.440 Crimea juts out into that. And there used to 00:19:26.440 --> 00:19:29.900 be a big, important Russian naval base there 00:19:29.900 --> 00:19:33.640 at Sevastopol. But the Ukrainians have done such 00:19:33.640 --> 00:19:37.950 a great job with unmanned surface vehicles. and 00:19:37.950 --> 00:19:41.069 ships that are kind of remotely piloted, some 00:19:41.069 --> 00:19:43.829 interesting coastal defenses. The US and NATO 00:19:43.829 --> 00:19:46.069 have helped them a lot with that. But the result 00:19:46.069 --> 00:19:49.190 is the Russians really can't use the Black Sea 00:19:49.190 --> 00:19:51.150 for naval operations in the way they used to. 00:19:51.150 --> 00:19:53.509 And they've even moved their fleet headquarters 00:19:53.509 --> 00:19:56.890 out of Sevastopol and Crimea up to a safer spot. 00:19:57.309 --> 00:20:01.009 So this ceasefire would do some really good things 00:20:01.009 --> 00:20:02.549 for Ukraine. It would do some good things for 00:20:02.549 --> 00:20:06.220 Russia as well. Sadly, Putin has said, well, 00:20:06.299 --> 00:20:08.799 you know, I don't think so. You know, I'll propose 00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:13.460 my own ceasefire. And of course, behind all of 00:20:13.460 --> 00:20:17.380 this is the number one thing that Putin has used 00:20:17.380 --> 00:20:20.759 to go to war. And that is the support of China. 00:20:20.859 --> 00:20:26.500 It is China that buys Russia's energy. We believe 00:20:26.500 --> 00:20:29.779 China also supplies some high tech components 00:20:29.779 --> 00:20:33.670 that have helped Russia modernize its helicopters, 00:20:34.069 --> 00:20:37.869 tanks, et cetera. And Xi Jinping in China continues 00:20:37.869 --> 00:20:42.329 to give his friend Vladimir Putin full support 00:20:42.329 --> 00:20:46.230 for this war in Ukraine, this illegal invasion. 00:20:46.769 --> 00:20:49.970 And of course, under this alliance, they've gone 00:20:49.970 --> 00:20:53.650 so far as to include North Korean troops fighting 00:20:53.650 --> 00:20:57.569 in Russia around the Kursk region. So it is an 00:20:57.569 --> 00:21:00.690 incredibly complicated factor to have China saying 00:21:00.690 --> 00:21:04.670 to Putin, yeah, go on. We don't mind a bit. My 00:21:04.670 --> 00:21:07.130 question, I guess, is, I think it was Zelensky 00:21:07.130 --> 00:21:10.150 was saying, or somewhere I was reading, that 00:21:10.150 --> 00:21:15.170 Putin is not known for keeping his word. And 00:21:15.170 --> 00:21:17.250 I think that that's something that we have to 00:21:17.250 --> 00:21:23.609 really consider. I mean, it's just crazy. when 00:21:23.609 --> 00:21:26.150 they were trying to promote the whole idea that 00:21:26.150 --> 00:21:31.150 Ukraine started this war? And I'm just wondering 00:21:31.150 --> 00:21:34.730 what your thoughts on our trusting Putin or is 00:21:34.730 --> 00:21:37.190 he becoming sort of a mini puppet of the Chinese? 00:21:38.369 --> 00:21:41.509 Well, that is exactly right, Dale. And economically, 00:21:42.509 --> 00:21:46.390 Russia is becoming a vassal state of China. But 00:21:46.390 --> 00:21:49.069 your point about negotiations is so well taken. 00:21:49.269 --> 00:21:51.769 I mean, this is Putin, even if he agrees to something. 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:55.519 We know that he's going to maneuver. And the 00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:58.420 past record is that he has broken ceasefires. 00:21:58.759 --> 00:22:03.339 This was part of what made things so hot in that 00:22:03.339 --> 00:22:07.940 Oval Office meeting. Zelensky, who ironically 00:22:07.940 --> 00:22:12.200 was elected in 2019, first time into politics, 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:15.640 he was an entertainer. He ran on the platform 00:22:15.640 --> 00:22:19.519 of getting peace. And there have been multiple 00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:22.220 ceasefires in Ukraine, not to go too far into 00:22:22.220 --> 00:22:25.720 the history. So Zelensky is there saying, I had 00:22:25.720 --> 00:22:28.759 an agreement with Germany and France and Russia 00:22:28.759 --> 00:22:31.920 to have a ceasefire and Putin continued to break 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:37.180 it. So that is a real question. And I hope that 00:22:37.180 --> 00:22:40.299 the last couple of weeks... have really shown 00:22:40.299 --> 00:22:42.900 everybody what you just said, that this war was 00:22:42.900 --> 00:22:46.119 Putin's idea. There's fighting in Ukraine because 00:22:46.119 --> 00:22:52.019 Putin has a crazy, bizarre idea that he has to 00:22:52.019 --> 00:22:56.740 destroy some so -called Nazi regime in Ukraine 00:22:56.740 --> 00:22:59.619 and regain Russian dominance. This is just a 00:22:59.619 --> 00:23:01.900 crazy idea here in the 21st century, and that 00:23:01.900 --> 00:23:05.029 is the only reason. that there is a war going 00:23:05.029 --> 00:23:08.029 on though. This is not because NATO exists. This 00:23:08.029 --> 00:23:10.349 is not for any other reason. This is not to do 00:23:10.349 --> 00:23:12.069 with any previous Ukrainian governments. It's 00:23:12.069 --> 00:23:16.589 really all in Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin's 00:23:16.589 --> 00:23:21.369 mind. And sadly, he has a taste for war. This 00:23:21.369 --> 00:23:23.509 is where the negotiations are gonna have to take 00:23:23.509 --> 00:23:26.029 place. There's gonna have to be a leverage or 00:23:26.029 --> 00:23:28.990 pressure on Putin that will get him to implement 00:23:28.990 --> 00:23:32.579 a reasonable agreement and then keep it. Right. 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:35.420 And you hope that the, and I know this may not 00:23:35.420 --> 00:23:37.299 happen at all, but the idea that the Russian 00:23:37.299 --> 00:23:39.519 population themselves will say, you know, they're 00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:41.500 getting tired of losing their men and women out 00:23:41.500 --> 00:23:45.460 there. They are some interesting developments 00:23:45.460 --> 00:23:51.259 as Putin has started organizing veterans groups 00:23:51.259 --> 00:23:55.640 inside Russia. And by organizing, I really mean 00:23:55.980 --> 00:23:58.579 starting to formalize them so that there can't 00:23:58.579 --> 00:24:02.119 be groups of discontented veterans. You know, 00:24:02.180 --> 00:24:05.559 the casualty lists, hard to get a clear number, 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:10.240 but I think the best one I've seen says 172 ,000 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:15.359 Russians dead, about another 610 ,000 wounded. 00:24:16.200 --> 00:24:20.799 Putin pays a bounty to the families of the dead 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:23.000 soldiers, maybe he does for the wounded as well. 00:24:23.240 --> 00:24:25.680 But you're looking at a situation where you've 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:30.000 got nearly a million Russian casualties of one 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:32.160 sort or another, and that's not including the 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:34.519 Russians that maybe aren't wounded, but are, 00:24:34.519 --> 00:24:37.140 you know, it's a terrible war. Coming back into 00:24:37.140 --> 00:24:39.099 Russian society and how will they handle the 00:24:39.099 --> 00:24:43.200 families? This was enough when the Soviet Union 00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:45.519 fought in Afghanistan and the casualties were 00:24:45.819 --> 00:24:49.200 under 50 ,000, but it was enough to help bring 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:53.240 down the old Soviet Union. How does Putin deal 00:24:53.240 --> 00:24:56.599 with the discontent over this truly pointless 00:24:56.599 --> 00:25:00.440 and brutal war? So we see him, he has obviously 00:25:00.440 --> 00:25:03.259 complete control, clamps down on the media, anything. 00:25:03.759 --> 00:25:06.519 that goes on in Russia, he controls, and he's 00:25:06.519 --> 00:25:09.940 obviously now seeking to get ahead of any veteran 00:25:09.940 --> 00:25:12.539 discontent and control those veteran groups in 00:25:12.539 --> 00:25:15.180 Russia. Kind of scary. It's very scary. We're 00:25:15.180 --> 00:25:18.619 talking here with Dr. Rebecca Grant, our expert 00:25:18.619 --> 00:25:22.420 of what's really going on in the world. Some 00:25:22.420 --> 00:25:25.059 of our sources are not as trustworthy as they 00:25:25.059 --> 00:25:28.160 used to be, I think. So you mentioned the idea 00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:30.500 of this whole thing not being against NATO. You 00:25:30.500 --> 00:25:33.359 know, the current administration is, you know, 00:25:34.299 --> 00:25:36.720 blustering and, you know, threatening the idea 00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:41.099 of pulling out of NATO, which I know in my heart 00:25:41.099 --> 00:25:44.539 will not happen. But why do you think that I 00:25:44.539 --> 00:25:46.200 know he's trying to get everybody to pay their 00:25:46.200 --> 00:25:49.819 fair share. What do you think about that? It 00:25:49.819 --> 00:25:53.420 is about getting NATO to do its part. And then 00:25:53.420 --> 00:25:56.640 I think if you look back, the NATO alliance, 00:25:57.400 --> 00:25:59.980 the first commander was General Dwight Eisenhower 00:25:59.980 --> 00:26:02.089 before he was president. He came back. He was 00:26:02.089 --> 00:26:04.049 the president of Columbia University in New York. 00:26:04.670 --> 00:26:06.509 And he agreed to leave that job and go back and 00:26:06.509 --> 00:26:10.230 take over NATO. And they gave him Field Marshal 00:26:10.230 --> 00:26:12.990 Bernard Law Montgomery as his deputy. And you 00:26:12.990 --> 00:26:16.150 will remember. Those two guys, yes. They didn't 00:26:16.150 --> 00:26:21.390 get along all that well. But the idea was that 00:26:21.390 --> 00:26:23.809 NATO would, I don't think anybody ever envisioned 00:26:23.809 --> 00:26:26.549 NATO lasting as long as it has. Now, that said. 00:26:26.829 --> 00:26:29.670 NATO was a very different alliance than it was 00:26:29.670 --> 00:26:32.329 during the Cold War. We got, you know, 32 members 00:26:32.329 --> 00:26:35.470 at this point with Finland and Sweden. Sweden 00:26:35.470 --> 00:26:39.549 had not been in any alliance since the era of 00:26:39.549 --> 00:26:42.609 Napoleon, 200 years. I thought that was really 00:26:42.609 --> 00:26:44.589 unusual or interesting. Yeah, pretty amazing. 00:26:44.789 --> 00:26:46.329 They sat, they've been neutral, they have, you 00:26:46.329 --> 00:26:48.490 know, strong defense. And heck, Sweden, you know, 00:26:48.650 --> 00:26:50.750 back in the day actually occupied Moscow about, 00:26:50.750 --> 00:26:54.240 you know, hundreds of years ago. The threat of 00:26:54.240 --> 00:26:57.460 Russia under Putin is so serious that Sweden 00:26:57.460 --> 00:27:00.339 threw aside that tradition and joined NATO. So 00:27:00.339 --> 00:27:03.680 NATO is a very strong defensive alliance. I do 00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:08.019 not for one second hold with this idea that NATO 00:27:08.019 --> 00:27:11.380 expansion provoked Putin. It's just an excuse. 00:27:12.119 --> 00:27:14.519 These are democracies that have willingly joined 00:27:14.519 --> 00:27:16.619 NATO, and they're very different from Helsinki 00:27:16.619 --> 00:27:19.019 to Istanbul. Got some real different governments 00:27:19.019 --> 00:27:22.140 there. What is Trump's objective? He does want 00:27:22.140 --> 00:27:24.859 to see if we're going to continue to go forward, 00:27:25.059 --> 00:27:27.960 you know, NATO has already passed 75 years. We're 00:27:27.960 --> 00:27:29.380 going to go forward with this. He does want to 00:27:29.380 --> 00:27:32.500 see the Europeans pay more. Several countries 00:27:32.500 --> 00:27:35.359 have agreed to do that. Top of the list is Poland, 00:27:35.400 --> 00:27:39.900 which is approaching spending five percent of 00:27:39.900 --> 00:27:42.299 GDP on defense, which is huge. Heck, we only 00:27:42.299 --> 00:27:44.799 spend a little under three. Great Britain has 00:27:44.799 --> 00:27:48.140 agreed to do more. So has Finland. So have many, 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:51.400 many others. This is a long -standing quest from 00:27:51.400 --> 00:27:54.980 President Obama, President Trump, President Biden, 00:27:55.160 --> 00:27:57.079 President Trump. Again, they've all wanted NATO 00:27:57.079 --> 00:28:00.079 to increase defense spending. Part of this, of 00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:02.900 course, for the NATO nations is that they do 00:28:02.900 --> 00:28:04.799 buy a lot of U .S. equipment, but they also want 00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:07.160 to make some of their own. And it's an issue 00:28:07.160 --> 00:28:10.839 of how to get that going. I don't see any... 00:28:10.839 --> 00:28:12.619 So I think Trump is going to be really hard on 00:28:12.619 --> 00:28:15.819 them. And at the same time... There's some pretty, 00:28:16.420 --> 00:28:18.640 if you look at the tariffs with Europe, there's 00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:20.680 some things that would really surprise you. Germany 00:28:20.680 --> 00:28:23.420 has super high tariffs on U .S. cars, and yet, 00:28:23.559 --> 00:28:25.259 you know, obviously we see a lot of German cars 00:28:25.259 --> 00:28:27.440 in the United States. There's some very uneven 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:30.420 things. And he's kind of setting out to redo 00:28:30.420 --> 00:28:32.579 all that, and it's a big shock. We haven't seen 00:28:32.579 --> 00:28:35.839 this type of diplomacy on the security or the 00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:40.099 economic side at all. But the U .S. remains incredibly 00:28:40.099 --> 00:28:43.880 important to NATO, and I like to look at NATO's 00:28:43.880 --> 00:28:46.619 new operational concept, which is really about 00:28:46.619 --> 00:28:49.740 how to defend against Russia for the long term. 00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:51.940 You know, our European NATO partners are really 00:28:51.940 --> 00:28:55.240 scared, especially on the eastern front. You're 00:28:55.240 --> 00:28:58.839 talking in the Baltic states, Poland, and so 00:28:58.839 --> 00:29:01.059 many others. That really is the new front line. 00:29:01.180 --> 00:29:03.900 Don't forget, we have 10 ,000 U .S. Army forces 00:29:03.900 --> 00:29:07.000 permanently stationed in Poland at this point. 00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:09.160 It was rotational, but the garrison's becoming 00:29:09.160 --> 00:29:12.420 permanent. And so I think that the commitment 00:29:12.420 --> 00:29:15.200 remains very strong on the military side. NATO 00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:18.079 is very interlaced. And one thing we want to 00:29:18.079 --> 00:29:22.039 see out of Ukraine is an ability to continue 00:29:22.039 --> 00:29:26.380 to have NATO step up in defending all of Europe, 00:29:26.380 --> 00:29:29.099 because the Russian threat is not going away. 00:29:29.099 --> 00:29:31.960 There could be a ceasefire tomorrow, and we'd 00:29:31.960 --> 00:29:33.839 still have a problem with Russia's rearmament. 00:29:34.039 --> 00:29:36.680 Oh, absolutely. I mean, it's just, as you say, 00:29:36.819 --> 00:29:40.880 just a threat. It's always there. And I, you 00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:43.119 know, you think we're, you know, we're nervous 00:29:43.119 --> 00:29:45.119 about what's going on here locally. Imagine if 00:29:45.119 --> 00:29:49.400 you had, you know, you bordered Russia, you know, 00:29:49.400 --> 00:29:51.299 as you mentioned, like the Baltic States and, 00:29:51.299 --> 00:29:53.279 you know, the Estonias and all that other thing. 00:29:53.940 --> 00:29:58.380 And, oh man, I'd be nervous all the time. Let's 00:29:58.380 --> 00:30:00.819 kind of move a little bit away from, at least 00:30:00.819 --> 00:30:04.339 away from the Ukraine to what's going on a little 00:30:04.339 --> 00:30:08.220 bit more with China and how they're getting them. 00:30:08.279 --> 00:30:12.200 more involved in the world out there. You mentioned 00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:15.019 in a note to me about that they're having some 00:30:15.019 --> 00:30:17.339 naval exercises themselves in the Middle East. 00:30:19.900 --> 00:30:24.039 Yes. I mean, what a surprise, right? We've actually 00:30:24.039 --> 00:30:26.859 done this for five years in a row, but earlier 00:30:26.859 --> 00:30:31.059 this week we had naval exercises between China, 00:30:31.839 --> 00:30:38.279 Russia, and Iran. What a trio, yes. What a happy 00:30:38.279 --> 00:30:42.640 trio and they pick the most obvious public spot 00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:45.859 in the Middle East to run these exercises and 00:30:45.859 --> 00:30:49.279 that is the Gulf of Oman This is the body of 00:30:49.279 --> 00:30:51.500 water at the top of the of the Arabian Sea that 00:30:51.500 --> 00:30:53.960 goes into the Strait of Hormuz Which is that 00:30:53.960 --> 00:30:58.940 super super tiny narrow area? That is is so contested 00:30:58.940 --> 00:31:00.859 right the shipping traffic through there. It's 00:31:00.859 --> 00:31:02.960 it's incredible. It's like if you pick the most 00:31:03.660 --> 00:31:06.319 Trendy popular spot in your neighborhood with 00:31:06.319 --> 00:31:09.180 all the restaurants and shops. This is what the 00:31:09.180 --> 00:31:11.880 Gulf of Oman is like So everybody was watching 00:31:11.880 --> 00:31:15.079 we do of course have us naval forces there our 00:31:15.079 --> 00:31:18.259 aircraft carrier right now It's the Harry S Truman 00:31:18.259 --> 00:31:22.640 that is there with carrier one accompanying destroyers 00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:27.440 and there are also other NATO Navy's there Several 00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:29.279 of them, but it'd be always usually have someone 00:31:29.279 --> 00:31:32.039 from Britain France the South Koreans You just 00:31:32.039 --> 00:31:35.440 don't know who might be there So this was a relatively 00:31:35.440 --> 00:31:38.900 small exercise, a couple of Russian ships because 00:31:38.900 --> 00:31:42.279 of the Russian Navy. Not what it once was. The 00:31:42.279 --> 00:31:44.420 Iranians were there. They did a great big night 00:31:44.420 --> 00:31:48.160 fire exercise because naval gunfire looks prettiest 00:31:48.160 --> 00:31:50.220 at night. Yes, it does. It's pretty impressive. 00:31:50.740 --> 00:31:53.380 Pretty impressive. And then the Chinese sent 00:31:53.380 --> 00:31:56.759 a very interesting ship. They sent one destroyer 00:31:56.759 --> 00:31:59.920 and a supply ship with it. And so why is this 00:31:59.920 --> 00:32:04.000 relevant? Just two weeks ago, China had done 00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:07.980 a big naval exercise right by Australia. Boy 00:32:07.980 --> 00:32:10.380 were the Australians mad. You know Australia 00:32:10.380 --> 00:32:12.619 and China are big trading partners, but Australia, 00:32:12.799 --> 00:32:16.940 what a staunch ally. So China's Navy plans this 00:32:16.940 --> 00:32:21.400 out. The US Navy plans its exercises months in 00:32:21.400 --> 00:32:23.640 advance. So does China's Navy. So this is part 00:32:23.640 --> 00:32:27.529 of a planned display of military power. And back 00:32:27.529 --> 00:32:32.490 to this exact Chinese Type 052D destroyer that 00:32:32.490 --> 00:32:35.869 turned up in the Gulf of Oman. This is a destroyer. 00:32:35.950 --> 00:32:39.650 It's only about three years old. China has built 00:32:39.650 --> 00:32:45.009 more than 30 of this Type 052D in the last 10 00:32:45.009 --> 00:32:48.829 years. Huge increase in naval power. This one 00:32:49.130 --> 00:32:52.130 It's called the Baotu, named after a city in 00:32:52.130 --> 00:32:54.650 China. And it's the stretch deck version. It's 00:32:54.650 --> 00:32:57.150 got about a four meter longer deck to accommodate 00:32:57.150 --> 00:33:02.069 helicopters. Lots of VLS, vertical launch system 00:33:02.069 --> 00:33:06.029 tubes. You know, a pretty powerhouse destroyer, 00:33:06.410 --> 00:33:10.420 and just kind of a symbol in a way. of the expansion 00:33:10.420 --> 00:33:14.160 of Chinese maritime power. And to have it down 00:33:14.160 --> 00:33:15.980 there operating in the Gulf of Oman, I mean, 00:33:16.019 --> 00:33:21.559 China is no match for the US Navy and some of 00:33:21.559 --> 00:33:25.539 our allies in global force projection. But just 00:33:25.539 --> 00:33:28.779 the fact that now this is year five of a routine 00:33:28.779 --> 00:33:32.299 operation down there, they operated also in part 00:33:32.299 --> 00:33:35.200 out of a port in Pakistan, you know, around Karachi. 00:33:35.920 --> 00:33:38.319 They've long invested in the port structure there. 00:33:38.650 --> 00:33:40.410 And then I'm going to put another layer on top 00:33:40.410 --> 00:33:43.069 of it and tell you there was a huge list of observers. 00:33:43.750 --> 00:33:48.150 It included members of a group called the BRICS, 00:33:48.390 --> 00:33:51.589 which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China. 00:33:52.029 --> 00:33:56.609 This is an alternative group to the G7 run by 00:33:56.609 --> 00:33:58.549 China, trying to do a lot of currency reform. 00:33:58.609 --> 00:34:00.930 So they invited all the BRICS partners down to 00:34:00.930 --> 00:34:05.190 watch this big exercise. And it includes countries 00:34:05.190 --> 00:34:09.289 like Saudi Arabia, UAE. and others in the region. 00:34:10.010 --> 00:34:13.230 And the big picture message here is China's trying 00:34:13.230 --> 00:34:16.030 to say, hey, you don't just have to be allies 00:34:16.030 --> 00:34:19.670 with the US or the West. Here's a choice. China, 00:34:19.670 --> 00:34:22.230 we're becoming more dominant with our sea power, 00:34:22.670 --> 00:34:25.610 more dominant with our economic power. And we're 00:34:25.610 --> 00:34:29.329 a big power, too. So that's the kind of big picture 00:34:29.329 --> 00:34:32.110 of what we're dealing with as we think about 00:34:32.869 --> 00:34:35.989 Ukraine and other situations. But the truth is, 00:34:36.250 --> 00:34:39.469 China is really trying to make inroads in the 00:34:39.469 --> 00:34:41.090 Middle East. And of course, this ties down a 00:34:41.090 --> 00:34:44.610 lot of our forces. We still have about 35 ,000 00:34:44.610 --> 00:34:48.070 U .S. forces of all types deployed in the Central 00:34:48.070 --> 00:34:51.010 Command region. And China just loves to stir 00:34:51.010 --> 00:34:53.150 the pot over there. I was just saying, while 00:34:53.150 --> 00:34:55.309 you were talking, I was just thinking about the... 00:34:55.420 --> 00:34:58.400 prodding with a stick and I like okay, we're 00:34:58.400 --> 00:35:01.239 gonna stick Stick it over here on you, you know, 00:35:01.260 --> 00:35:03.500 and then oh by the way in the Pacific We're also 00:35:03.500 --> 00:35:05.920 gonna be doing it over here all these things 00:35:05.920 --> 00:35:08.980 just as almost to not only divert our attention 00:35:08.980 --> 00:35:14.139 But to just annoy us You know, I'm afraid when 00:35:14.139 --> 00:35:16.260 you were talking about all those ships and that 00:35:16.260 --> 00:35:18.559 that golf there, you know somebody's gonna run 00:35:18.559 --> 00:35:21.159 into somebody and something will happen and You 00:35:21.159 --> 00:35:23.739 know, bullets will start flying and rockets will 00:35:23.739 --> 00:35:26.139 start flying. And the next thing you know, we've 00:35:26.139 --> 00:35:30.099 got our little battleship battle going on out 00:35:30.099 --> 00:35:35.880 there. Everything seems to be very tense around 00:35:35.880 --> 00:35:38.519 the world, I think. Maybe I'm just exaggerating 00:35:38.519 --> 00:35:43.219 that myself. But I am concerned about, you know, 00:35:44.199 --> 00:35:47.199 this is kind of a transition over, about the 00:35:47.929 --> 00:35:51.210 reducing of the USAID to all these various countries 00:35:51.210 --> 00:35:53.769 around the world. And I'm wondering what that 00:35:53.769 --> 00:35:55.889 message is that we're sending. And, you know, 00:35:56.010 --> 00:35:58.929 is China just going to jump in and fill the void 00:35:58.929 --> 00:36:03.710 that we're leaving? Well, perfect point, because, 00:36:03.710 --> 00:36:07.969 you know, in looking just at USAID, the US Agency 00:36:07.969 --> 00:36:09.630 for International Development, which dates back, 00:36:09.650 --> 00:36:13.349 I think, to the 1960s, I'm sure that we would 00:36:13.349 --> 00:36:19.030 all say It's a government agency. Of course, 00:36:19.250 --> 00:36:21.050 there's some waste and some things that need 00:36:21.050 --> 00:36:26.289 to be overlooked. Overall, I think it probably 00:36:26.289 --> 00:36:29.010 wasn't about time for someone to come along and 00:36:29.010 --> 00:36:31.570 really shake up the US federal government and 00:36:31.570 --> 00:36:33.590 see, does it have to be as big as it is? I think 00:36:33.590 --> 00:36:35.909 a lot of us agree, maybe not with the specifics 00:36:35.909 --> 00:36:39.599 of every case, but with the principle. But USAID 00:36:39.599 --> 00:36:42.699 did certainly execute a mission, particularly 00:36:42.699 --> 00:36:45.000 in Africa. And OK, you can argue whether you 00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:47.659 think Africa is of vital interest or not. But 00:36:47.659 --> 00:36:50.500 a lot of what they did was work that would counter 00:36:50.500 --> 00:36:54.639 Chinese investments. So sometimes just really 00:36:54.639 --> 00:36:58.519 specific, like the production of solar energy. 00:36:58.659 --> 00:37:00.980 Now I have a lot of pros and cons personally 00:37:00.980 --> 00:37:04.679 about solar. But USAID would go and make investments 00:37:04.679 --> 00:37:07.280 in specific countries kind of trying to get ahead 00:37:07.280 --> 00:37:09.960 of where China was investing. As we know, China 00:37:09.960 --> 00:37:13.619 with its Belt and Road Initiative has done a 00:37:13.619 --> 00:37:16.800 lot of investments in Africa and throughout what 00:37:16.800 --> 00:37:19.420 we used to call the Third World. Oftentimes these 00:37:19.420 --> 00:37:21.159 investments aren't such a great deal. You know, 00:37:21.159 --> 00:37:23.039 they'll come in and build a road or a soccer 00:37:23.039 --> 00:37:27.059 stadium or something to do with water or power. 00:37:27.239 --> 00:37:29.579 And then the country owes them a lot of debt. 00:37:29.900 --> 00:37:32.969 And it's not always such a great thing. But in 00:37:32.969 --> 00:37:36.630 this case USAID did certainly part of its mission 00:37:36.630 --> 00:37:38.730 was very strategic and I wouldn't want to see 00:37:38.730 --> 00:37:42.730 that get lost. I'm told another thing that has 00:37:42.730 --> 00:37:46.110 changed a little bit here is there's been a new 00:37:46.110 --> 00:37:49.309 directive to be careful not to get rid of the 00:37:49.309 --> 00:37:53.250 cyber security components within the various 00:37:53.250 --> 00:37:56.469 departments. And then back on countering China's 00:37:56.469 --> 00:37:59.010 influence, I really got to give Secretary of 00:37:59.010 --> 00:38:03.650 State Marco Rubio immense credit because he scored 00:38:03.650 --> 00:38:07.869 an early victory really back in January in negotiating 00:38:07.869 --> 00:38:11.969 with Panama over the canal and the big win there 00:38:11.969 --> 00:38:15.869 was that Panama said they would not renew their 00:38:15.869 --> 00:38:18.610 membership in China's Belt and Road program. 00:38:19.369 --> 00:38:21.949 So Rubio basically picked off Panama, which was 00:38:21.949 --> 00:38:25.269 fantastic. I'd like to see that happen in more 00:38:25.269 --> 00:38:28.769 cases because China does use a very effective 00:38:28.769 --> 00:38:32.880 form of economic influence, economic warfare, 00:38:33.099 --> 00:38:36.159 it looks like to me, in order to gain a foothold 00:38:36.159 --> 00:38:39.079 around the world. They have a vast requirement 00:38:39.079 --> 00:38:41.659 for resources, whether that's all the fish from 00:38:41.659 --> 00:38:45.460 the coast off South America or oil that they 00:38:45.460 --> 00:38:48.679 import. And they're really after the resources 00:38:48.679 --> 00:38:51.280 and then they are after world domination. There's 00:38:51.280 --> 00:38:53.039 just, they make that so clear. They just had 00:38:53.039 --> 00:38:55.079 one of their big political meetings and made 00:38:55.079 --> 00:38:57.420 it clear again. And because of that, at this 00:38:57.420 --> 00:39:01.900 point in time, we do see a higher pace of Chinese 00:39:01.900 --> 00:39:06.000 military activity and Chinese military threat. 00:39:10.019 --> 00:39:14.019 It's a wonder any of us sleep at night. It's 00:39:14.019 --> 00:39:17.489 just. Anyway, all right, so let's let's kind 00:39:17.489 --> 00:39:20.969 of move on In your in your note yesterday you 00:39:20.969 --> 00:39:24.570 asked to ask about Trump's idea of a golden dome 00:39:24.570 --> 00:39:26.369 missile defense for the United States Would you 00:39:26.369 --> 00:39:29.030 like to kind of talk to our audience about that? 00:39:29.849 --> 00:39:34.590 Yes, this is a major project so it started out 00:39:34.590 --> 00:39:39.250 as The idea of having an iron dome over the United 00:39:39.250 --> 00:39:43.130 States an iron dome comes from us one of Israel's 00:39:43.130 --> 00:39:46.210 missile defense systems. As we know from watching 00:39:46.210 --> 00:39:48.650 the conflict with Gaza and the attacks coming 00:39:48.650 --> 00:39:51.969 in from Gaza, from Hezbollah in the north, and 00:39:51.969 --> 00:39:54.949 sometimes even from the Houthis, Israel has an 00:39:54.949 --> 00:39:58.210 extremely effective missile defense shield. A 00:39:58.210 --> 00:40:00.969 lot of it is super short -range because obviously 00:40:00.969 --> 00:40:03.929 the rockets coming up out of Gaza or incoming 00:40:03.929 --> 00:40:07.889 from southern Lebanon is very, very, very close. 00:40:08.329 --> 00:40:11.050 So part of their system is called Iron Dome. 00:40:11.500 --> 00:40:13.719 And President Trump liked it so much that he 00:40:13.719 --> 00:40:18.960 said, I want an iron dome for America. And the 00:40:18.960 --> 00:40:22.519 people in charge of this would be our U .S. Northern 00:40:22.519 --> 00:40:26.199 Command, which does all the defense, kind of 00:40:26.199 --> 00:40:29.079 dating back to the Cold War with our defense 00:40:29.079 --> 00:40:33.239 with Canada in North American Air Defense Command, 00:40:33.380 --> 00:40:36.380 what used to be the control center at Cheyenne 00:40:36.380 --> 00:40:40.090 Mountain, all that. It's now Northern Command, 00:40:40.090 --> 00:40:43.789 and they had been saying for a couple of years 00:40:43.789 --> 00:40:45.989 at Northern Command that they would really like 00:40:45.989 --> 00:40:50.789 to do more with missile defense, drone defense. 00:40:50.909 --> 00:40:52.690 I mean, you know, we have a thousand drones a 00:40:52.690 --> 00:40:54.809 month coming across the southern border. Anyway, 00:40:55.250 --> 00:40:57.510 put all this together, and Trump gave Secretary 00:40:57.510 --> 00:41:02.289 of Defense Pete Hegseth a 60 -day tasking to 00:41:02.289 --> 00:41:05.409 put together a proposal for Iron Dome for the 00:41:05.409 --> 00:41:08.400 USA. About two weeks into it, they started calling 00:41:08.400 --> 00:41:12.119 it the Golden Dome. And to be clear, it's not 00:41:12.119 --> 00:41:15.500 exactly the same Iron Dome because while Israel 00:41:15.500 --> 00:41:19.300 faces short -range threats, the U .S. faces much 00:41:19.300 --> 00:41:23.280 longer -range threats coming from over the ocean. 00:41:24.280 --> 00:41:27.960 So what's going on now is we are right, I think, 00:41:28.019 --> 00:41:33.039 about 57 days into the 60 -day tasking and various 00:41:35.260 --> 00:41:37.960 The Pentagon and industry partners have been 00:41:37.960 --> 00:41:41.039 scrambling to put together some proposals basically 00:41:41.039 --> 00:41:44.719 sort of for a small, medium, and large version 00:41:44.719 --> 00:41:47.579 of how to do this defense. Again, it won't be 00:41:47.579 --> 00:41:50.559 exactly like a complete shield, but there are 00:41:50.559 --> 00:41:53.519 definite improvements that we can make to our 00:41:53.519 --> 00:41:55.539 missile defense system. You know, what we have 00:41:55.539 --> 00:41:59.159 right now is interceptors on the West Coast, 00:41:59.840 --> 00:42:03.690 a few at Vandenberg in California. and the bulk 00:42:03.690 --> 00:42:07.090 of them up at Fort Greely in Alaska. They are 00:42:07.090 --> 00:42:09.909 designed really to intercept what we call the 00:42:09.909 --> 00:42:12.869 rogue threat, that would be you, North Korea, 00:42:13.329 --> 00:42:16.550 for anybody who's launching a small number of 00:42:16.550 --> 00:42:19.550 missiles. As far as Russia, you know, for decades 00:42:19.550 --> 00:42:21.989 now we've had kind of a mutually assured distraction, 00:42:22.550 --> 00:42:25.090 okay, we're not gonna nuke each other because 00:42:25.090 --> 00:42:27.530 we're deterred. So we don't really have a system 00:42:27.530 --> 00:42:31.280 there. But the threat from China has increased 00:42:31.280 --> 00:42:34.539 with maneuverable hypersonic missiles that can 00:42:34.539 --> 00:42:36.960 come in from unusual angles, not just coming 00:42:36.960 --> 00:42:40.579 down over the pole. And Russia has increased 00:42:40.579 --> 00:42:44.519 that threat as well. So this also connects directly 00:42:44.519 --> 00:42:49.039 to President Trump's passion for Greenland. Oh, 00:42:49.420 --> 00:42:55.860 yes. from the North Pole down to where you and 00:42:55.860 --> 00:42:58.239 I are, right? I'm in Washington. You're in the 00:42:58.239 --> 00:43:00.860 middle of the country. You'll notice that you 00:43:00.860 --> 00:43:04.679 see a lot of Greenland. Look at that. So we have 00:43:04.679 --> 00:43:07.920 a really important space for space at Petufik. 00:43:08.159 --> 00:43:10.139 We used to be called Tule. It's now called Petufik 00:43:10.139 --> 00:43:13.760 in Greenland. So the idea is what can you put 00:43:13.760 --> 00:43:17.690 together that would improve Missile intersect 00:43:17.690 --> 00:43:20.230 capability. It could have a couple of we don't 00:43:20.230 --> 00:43:22.110 know the answer yet We do know this is going 00:43:22.110 --> 00:43:24.650 to cost quite a bit of money to do this, but 00:43:24.650 --> 00:43:28.389 there will be some interesting features one The 00:43:28.389 --> 00:43:32.090 the guts of this if you will is going to be space 00:43:32.090 --> 00:43:38.369 -based We are changing from having about 75 Super 00:43:38.369 --> 00:43:40.510 important military satellites. I'm not talking 00:43:40.510 --> 00:43:43.070 about spy satellites run by the CIA or other 00:43:43.070 --> 00:43:46.139 people or whoever I'm talking having about 75 00:43:46.139 --> 00:43:48.500 military satellites that handle communications 00:43:48.500 --> 00:43:50.960 and infrared surveillance and some other things. 00:43:52.079 --> 00:43:56.699 That is going away from big satellites to a mesh 00:43:56.699 --> 00:44:00.739 architecture of smaller satellites that can be 00:44:00.739 --> 00:44:04.219 replaced more quickly and can be a self -reforming 00:44:04.219 --> 00:44:07.820 networking case that are attacked. So the space 00:44:07.820 --> 00:44:11.139 architecture piece that will detect missile launches 00:44:11.139 --> 00:44:14.909 or aircraft, you know, Russian bombers, Chinese 00:44:14.909 --> 00:44:19.170 bombers, whatever, and track them to form the 00:44:19.170 --> 00:44:20.909 track for missile defense interception, that's 00:44:20.909 --> 00:44:23.429 going to be space -based. So that's a huge component, 00:44:23.989 --> 00:44:26.610 both the small satellites, so the launch, the 00:44:26.610 --> 00:44:29.010 satellite makers, and the networks. The other 00:44:29.010 --> 00:44:31.909 piece of this that's interesting is the interceptors. 00:44:33.340 --> 00:44:37.619 We have already put a system on Guam. Guam is 00:44:37.619 --> 00:44:41.119 now defended for the first time. You know, thank 00:44:41.119 --> 00:44:42.679 heavens, right? And they tested the system in 00:44:42.679 --> 00:44:47.559 December using a standard missile three with 00:44:47.559 --> 00:44:50.599 basically a kind of a Navy type of radar ashore. 00:44:51.599 --> 00:44:53.820 So what will we use for the interceptors? That's 00:44:53.820 --> 00:44:55.860 another possibility. And one thing that we may 00:44:55.860 --> 00:45:00.920 do is use some of our terrific U .S. Navy ships, 00:45:01.119 --> 00:45:04.500 destroyers primarily. that have a missile defense 00:45:04.500 --> 00:45:06.920 capability, which they all do now. And you can 00:45:06.920 --> 00:45:08.940 take some of these and assign them certain launch 00:45:08.940 --> 00:45:11.039 boxes around the coast in the case of a crisis, 00:45:11.039 --> 00:45:13.519 and they can contribute. So missile defense, 00:45:13.780 --> 00:45:17.099 it's always multi -layered. You want to have 00:45:17.099 --> 00:45:20.980 a good ability to intercept in the exo atmosphere 00:45:20.980 --> 00:45:24.059 that's up in cold space. The way we hit up there 00:45:24.059 --> 00:45:26.360 is we actually, it's not an explosion. You actually 00:45:26.360 --> 00:45:29.099 use a kinetic kill. So hit to kill, a rock hits 00:45:29.099 --> 00:45:33.190 a rock, and that blows the missile up. the incoming 00:45:33.190 --> 00:45:35.690 missile up enough. A couple things that we have 00:45:35.690 --> 00:45:40.130 to do to get this right. This all works on radio 00:45:40.130 --> 00:45:43.530 frequency spectrum. Our best military radars 00:45:43.530 --> 00:45:46.150 operate in part of a spectrum called S -band. 00:45:46.750 --> 00:45:49.610 We see some of our 5G wireless companies wanting 00:45:49.610 --> 00:45:51.690 to kind of get in there to expand our coverage 00:45:51.690 --> 00:45:53.610 so we can all have more videos. We got to make 00:45:53.610 --> 00:45:58.380 sure we really keep clear the spectrum bands 00:45:58.380 --> 00:46:02.539 that military radars will use to contribute to 00:46:02.539 --> 00:46:05.380 Golden Dome improved missile defenses. So it's 00:46:05.380 --> 00:46:07.599 a very interesting concept. I think they will, 00:46:07.719 --> 00:46:11.159 at a minimum, come out with some good improvements. 00:46:11.900 --> 00:46:14.380 And, you know, I'm just waiting to see, or maybe 00:46:14.380 --> 00:46:16.719 even in the next month or so, what some of the 00:46:16.719 --> 00:46:20.039 possibilities are for a U .S. Golden Dome. I 00:46:20.039 --> 00:46:23.860 think that's very interesting. One last thing 00:46:23.860 --> 00:46:25.960 before I let you go today is I wanted to talk 00:46:25.960 --> 00:46:28.699 a little bit about those new Pentagon leaders 00:46:28.699 --> 00:46:32.780 out there. You know, they're getting, seems like 00:46:32.780 --> 00:46:35.760 they're getting rid of a lot of military experience, 00:46:36.280 --> 00:46:38.920 especially military, you know, the generals and 00:46:38.920 --> 00:46:43.280 everything else, bringing in businessmen. What 00:46:43.280 --> 00:46:46.699 are your thoughts about that? Yeah, some pretty 00:46:46.699 --> 00:46:50.239 exciting... some exciting good changes and some 00:46:50.239 --> 00:46:52.659 big surprises, too. Our Chairman of the Joint 00:46:52.659 --> 00:46:55.840 Chiefs of Staff General C .Q. Brown was relieved 00:46:55.840 --> 00:46:58.739 a few weeks ago. He's an airman, and I think 00:46:58.739 --> 00:47:02.719 we have to give C .Q. Brown a lot of credit for 00:47:02.719 --> 00:47:05.420 the way he deployed air forces and Navy forces 00:47:05.420 --> 00:47:08.280 to help defend Israel against attacks from Iran. 00:47:08.360 --> 00:47:10.619 That really was C .Q.'s handiwork. He commanded 00:47:10.619 --> 00:47:13.039 in the Middle East. At the same time, the Chief 00:47:13.039 --> 00:47:15.239 of Naval Operations, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, 00:47:15.380 --> 00:47:18.099 was relieved from her post. And we're waiting 00:47:18.099 --> 00:47:22.519 to see who will next take over the Navy. Admiral 00:47:22.519 --> 00:47:24.500 Kilby, as the Vice Chief of Naval Operations, 00:47:24.619 --> 00:47:27.079 is currently performing that job. I'd love to 00:47:27.079 --> 00:47:30.280 see a naval aviator. It's been 25 years since 00:47:30.280 --> 00:47:34.530 an aviator had the top job in the Navy. And we 00:47:34.530 --> 00:47:36.289 have a new nominee for Chairman of the Joint 00:47:36.289 --> 00:47:38.889 Chiefs of Staff. That will be Lieutenant General 00:47:38.889 --> 00:47:42.710 Dan Raisen, call sign Raisen Kane, who is an 00:47:42.710 --> 00:47:45.670 F -16 pilot from actually the Air National Guard 00:47:45.670 --> 00:47:48.210 with combat experience and some entrepreneurial 00:47:48.210 --> 00:47:51.389 experience. And then, you know, what I am seeing 00:47:51.389 --> 00:47:54.429 in this new crop of Pentagon civilian nominees 00:47:54.429 --> 00:47:56.530 is they all have one thing in common. They're 00:47:56.530 --> 00:48:00.610 all innovators. Whether that is businessmen like 00:48:00.610 --> 00:48:03.579 John Phelan nominated for the Navy. Or Steve 00:48:03.579 --> 00:48:06.320 Feinberg, who's nominated as Deputy Secretary 00:48:06.320 --> 00:48:08.679 of Defense. We're literally looking at people 00:48:08.679 --> 00:48:11.739 coming from running billions of dollars of venture 00:48:11.739 --> 00:48:15.099 capital funds to coming into the Pentagon. And 00:48:15.099 --> 00:48:16.960 you know what? Yeah, they need some briefings 00:48:16.960 --> 00:48:21.340 on certain systems. But these men, I think, bring 00:48:21.340 --> 00:48:24.920 an ability to make decisions quickly. And the 00:48:24.920 --> 00:48:27.380 Pentagon sure needs that. The Navy does. Our 00:48:27.380 --> 00:48:29.280 nominee for Secretary of the Air Force is a little 00:48:29.280 --> 00:48:32.199 bit different. He comes from the space world, 00:48:32.900 --> 00:48:35.239 where he has been a director at the National 00:48:35.239 --> 00:48:39.079 Reconnaissance Office. But remember, this is 00:48:39.079 --> 00:48:41.960 space. I mean, this is a man who has Elon Musk 00:48:41.960 --> 00:48:46.179 as a customer, right? And is working on some 00:48:46.179 --> 00:48:49.340 extremely innovative use of small satellites, 00:48:49.679 --> 00:48:52.019 changing the way that we do networking. And so 00:48:52.019 --> 00:48:55.340 he as well, although he's a civilian and a technocrat, 00:48:55.480 --> 00:48:58.989 brings an innovator background. This is the way 00:48:58.989 --> 00:49:00.309 that we're looking at this. Secretary of the 00:49:00.309 --> 00:49:04.230 Army Dan Driscoll similarly brings this experience. 00:49:04.670 --> 00:49:07.969 It looks to me like President Trump has primarily 00:49:07.969 --> 00:49:10.489 selected a group of innovators that can really 00:49:10.489 --> 00:49:12.309 shake up the way things get done in the Pentagon. 00:49:12.409 --> 00:49:14.210 And it could be very good. I mean, I think we 00:49:14.210 --> 00:49:17.309 need that ability to get the priorities straight 00:49:17.309 --> 00:49:19.730 and make some rapid decisions. This is coming 00:49:19.730 --> 00:49:22.550 at a time when Congress, despite all the back 00:49:22.550 --> 00:49:25.469 and forth, is very interested in increasing the 00:49:25.469 --> 00:49:28.840 defense budget to fix. shipbuilding, bring some 00:49:28.840 --> 00:49:32.340 new aircraft programs in, and of course to carry 00:49:32.340 --> 00:49:35.340 out the Golden Dome if the Pentagon decides to 00:49:35.340 --> 00:49:37.719 go forward. So it's going to be a very interesting 00:49:37.719 --> 00:49:40.900 time with a totally new and different team running 00:49:40.900 --> 00:49:44.179 the Pentagon. I think that one of the questions 00:49:44.179 --> 00:49:48.199 I guess is that, you know, I agree, many of these 00:49:48.199 --> 00:49:52.039 things all need to be fixed and changed and modified 00:49:52.039 --> 00:49:54.659 and so forth. It's just I think that many of 00:49:54.659 --> 00:49:57.380 us out here are just a little bit worried that, 00:49:57.420 --> 00:49:59.639 you know, that they're coming in with, you know, 00:49:59.920 --> 00:50:03.260 baseball bats instead of something a little bit 00:50:03.260 --> 00:50:06.860 more modified. And I think that's the thing that's 00:50:06.860 --> 00:50:10.500 got everybody concerned about what's, you know, 00:50:10.599 --> 00:50:13.980 what is happening currently in the administration 00:50:13.980 --> 00:50:16.760 and, you know, around the country and why people 00:50:16.760 --> 00:50:20.340 get so upset about certain things. But I have 00:50:20.340 --> 00:50:23.139 to give the, you know, this administration, I 00:50:23.139 --> 00:50:28.539 have to give them a chance. to implement some 00:50:28.539 --> 00:50:30.960 of the things. Some of the ideas are really great. 00:50:31.920 --> 00:50:33.340 I just wish there would be a little bit more 00:50:33.340 --> 00:50:37.480 finesse in promoting them to the American people. 00:50:37.659 --> 00:50:40.539 I think the American people right now, many of 00:50:40.539 --> 00:50:43.780 them, at least half of them, are just concerned. 00:50:44.179 --> 00:50:46.579 What do you think about that? Oh, I understand. 00:50:46.659 --> 00:50:48.559 What's the old phrase? You can't make an omelet 00:50:48.559 --> 00:50:50.820 without breaking a lot of eggs. Yeah. But we 00:50:50.820 --> 00:50:54.579 are seeing a level of change and disruption that's 00:50:54.579 --> 00:50:57.119 very unfamiliar. And you know what? If it is 00:50:57.119 --> 00:51:00.599 effective, we will all say, OK, great. That worked 00:51:00.599 --> 00:51:03.099 out. But they have to be able to deliver the 00:51:03.099 --> 00:51:06.000 results. And that means the right budgets, program 00:51:06.000 --> 00:51:08.659 stability. uh... having the right people in place 00:51:08.659 --> 00:51:11.280 like i said the decision to go back and not fire 00:51:11.280 --> 00:51:14.019 some of the cyber security specialist departments 00:51:14.019 --> 00:51:17.480 was a good one so i think there will be uh... 00:51:17.480 --> 00:51:20.659 you know there's a lot of of acts work going 00:51:20.659 --> 00:51:24.119 on they will have to deliver the results uh... 00:51:24.119 --> 00:51:25.860 and it'll be a little while so we see that i 00:51:25.860 --> 00:51:27.699 think you also need to remember that in the end 00:51:27.699 --> 00:51:30.480 this is truly congress's responsibility congress 00:51:30.480 --> 00:51:33.440 appropriates funds and it will be congress that 00:51:33.440 --> 00:51:36.829 has the same on the major programs. I do see 00:51:36.829 --> 00:51:39.269 the military working extremely hard to stay on 00:51:39.269 --> 00:51:41.969 top of executive orders and comply with those 00:51:41.969 --> 00:51:44.510 as they come along. And then, of course, this 00:51:44.510 --> 00:51:46.130 administration, at least on the defense side, 00:51:46.150 --> 00:51:48.670 has really fenced off some areas. They aren't 00:51:48.670 --> 00:51:50.909 going to tamper with the nuclear deterrence programs. 00:51:51.010 --> 00:51:52.449 They aren't going to tamper with shipbuilding. 00:51:52.929 --> 00:51:56.309 So I think as they learn their way, they may 00:51:56.309 --> 00:51:58.349 acquire a little bit more finesse. But wow, it 00:51:58.349 --> 00:52:00.469 is interesting times. I just want to make sure 00:52:00.469 --> 00:52:03.429 we see real results for the American people. 00:52:04.829 --> 00:52:07.369 That's the goal, and that's what I really would 00:52:07.369 --> 00:52:09.329 like to see. And I would really like to have 00:52:09.329 --> 00:52:12.730 you back on in, say, three months or so to give 00:52:12.730 --> 00:52:15.150 us an update of what's happening and if they 00:52:15.150 --> 00:52:16.789 are meeting some of their goals. How do you think 00:52:16.789 --> 00:52:19.409 about that? That sounds great. I tell you, ever 00:52:19.409 --> 00:52:21.829 since Secretary of Defense Hegseth started doing 00:52:21.829 --> 00:52:25.190 pushups, I've started to. I've done five. So 00:52:25.190 --> 00:52:27.090 maybe in three months, I'll be able to build 00:52:27.090 --> 00:52:30.610 up to a few more There you go. So anyway, so 00:52:30.610 --> 00:52:33.650 we've been talking with dr. Rebecca grant she 00:52:33.650 --> 00:52:38.269 was a vice president of the Lexington Foundation 00:52:38.269 --> 00:52:41.030 Our Lexington Institute, excuse me, and also 00:52:41.030 --> 00:52:45.449 she has her own Iris research group that kind 00:52:45.449 --> 00:52:47.909 of looks at what's going on in the world from 00:52:47.909 --> 00:52:49.769 a military standpoint. We didn't even get into 00:52:49.769 --> 00:52:51.969 all the aircraft and stuff today, but we'll do 00:52:51.969 --> 00:52:55.349 that in a couple of months, all right? Thank 00:52:55.349 --> 00:52:58.329 you, Dale. Thank you very much for being here. 00:52:58.690 --> 00:53:00.969 Okay, we're back here on Veterans Radio. That 00:53:00.969 --> 00:53:04.929 was Dr. Rebecca Grant, who's one of my favorite, 00:53:04.949 --> 00:53:07.510 favorite people to talk to about what's going 00:53:07.510 --> 00:53:11.449 on in the world of military aircraft and also 00:53:11.449 --> 00:53:14.610 foreign policy. I do have a couple of announcements 00:53:14.610 --> 00:53:16.429 today, and I just wanted to get out a couple 00:53:16.429 --> 00:53:19.090 of fundraisers that are going on. Number one 00:53:19.090 --> 00:53:22.409 is Fisher House in Michigan is presenting songs 00:53:22.409 --> 00:53:24.949 of service this year. This is our big annual 00:53:24.949 --> 00:53:27.150 fundraiser. It's going to be Saturday, April 00:53:27.150 --> 00:53:32.230 5th, and it's at the Book Tower in Detroit, Michigan. 00:53:32.250 --> 00:53:36.030 It begins at 8, 430. It's going to, the guest 00:53:36.030 --> 00:53:39.820 speaker is A good friend of veterans radio and 00:53:39.820 --> 00:53:42.760 that is Doug Bradley Doug is a Vietnam veteran 00:53:42.760 --> 00:53:44.739 and music historian and he's going to be talking 00:53:44.739 --> 00:53:47.639 about About what's you know, what the music of 00:53:47.639 --> 00:53:50.599 Vietnam was all about you can still get tickets 00:53:50.599 --> 00:53:52.360 are available so you can go to Fisher House, 00:53:52.360 --> 00:53:55.679 Michigan and Pick up a ticket and maybe we'll 00:53:55.679 --> 00:53:58.400 see you there. The other thing is that there 00:53:58.400 --> 00:54:04.679 is a Where they go recruiting Recruiting. The 00:54:04.679 --> 00:54:09.900 DAV and recruitmilitary .com has a virtual recruiting 00:54:09.900 --> 00:54:13.500 program going on this Tuesday, the 18th, and 00:54:13.500 --> 00:54:16.900 you just need to go to recruitmilitary .com. 00:54:17.179 --> 00:54:20.280 It's on Tuesday from 11 till three central time. 00:54:20.480 --> 00:54:25.360 It's all online. 80 employers are looking for 00:54:25.360 --> 00:54:28.780 people. This is your opportunity, ladies and 00:54:28.780 --> 00:54:30.900 gentlemen. if you just got out of the military. 00:54:31.460 --> 00:54:35.239 So that's it for today. Rebecca Grant, our heroine 00:54:35.239 --> 00:54:37.420 here in this case. Until next week, this is Dale 00:54:37.420 --> 00:56:24.869 Throneberry. You are dismissed. WAAM Ann Arbor 00:56:24.869 --> 00:56:27.789 our First Amendment at work real public radio 00:56:27.789 --> 00:56:30.510 unbiased open and honest discussion 24 hours 00:56:30.510 --> 00:56:35.250 a day wham radio Talk 1600 news this hour from 00:56:35.250 --> 00:56:39.050 townhall .com. I'm Jason Walker officials now 00:56:39.050 --> 00:56:39.190 say