At the Water's Edge

The Real Reason Saudi Arabia Is Buying 48 F-35s

For more than a decade, Israel has been the only country in the Middle East flying a fifth-generation stealth fighter. That's about to change. The Trump administration h

When the Military is Pulled into Politics | Robert Pape

The midterms are five and a half weeks away, and Professor Robert Pape says most of the warnings are aimed at the wrong window. Political violence around elections isn't

The Invisible War: How Gray Zone Attacks Work | fmr. NSC director F. David Diaz

Sabotage. Arson. Drone swarms over critical infrastructure. Cyber intrusions into American water utilities. Gray zone attacks are built to look like accidents, fall betwe

She Didn't Look Like a Veteran in Crisis. That Was the Problem.

Sam Hargrove spent years being known for her smile — while privately battling a rage she couldn't explain, seven rounds of anger management, and a night she nearly drove

What Happens If the US Uses a Nuclear Weapon on Iran | Robert Pape

University of Chicago professor Robert Pape (Bombing to Win, The Escalation Trap) is back for his weekly read on the U.S.-Iran conflict — and this one goes to a darker pl

The Houthis Just Dragged Europe Into the Iran War

The Houthis just took the entire Red Sea coastline — and it's about to drag Europe into a war it wanted no part of. In ten days, Houthi forces captured Yemen's Red Sea c

The Neuroscience of Suicidal Ideation: Why the Brain Can't See a Way Out

What's actually happening in someone's brain in the moments before they decide to end their life? Lindsey Gray, Suicide Prevention Manager at Wounded Warrior Project, bre

October 7 Was “A Reenactment,” Not a Rupture | Robert Malley

Rob Malley has spent three decades inside the peace process he now argues was never built to succeed. He negotiated at Camp David under President Clinton, led Obama's Ira

Iran Now Controls the Red Sea's Only Oil Bypass | Robert Pape

The Houthis have seized control of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — and with the US Navy already stretched thin in the Strait of Hormuz, there's no clear path t

Bin Laden Lost the War. America is Still Paying the Price

Twenty-five years after 9/11, one question still doesn't have a clean answer: did Osama bin Laden actually win? In this solo episode, Scott Kelly goes goal-by-goal throu

He Wanted to Die. Surviving Changed Everything

Zach Tidwell enlisted in the Marine Corps wanting to go to war — and missed it. What followed was an affair, a traumatic brain injury, and a depression he refused to talk

The Iran War Exposed America’s Real Weakness | Sean O’Keefe

Sean O'Keefe returns for his third appearance on the show — and this time, he's not pulling punches. Three months into the war with Iran, the former Secretary of the Navy

A Culture of Silence: The Real Crisis Behind the Army Secretary’s Exit

Dan Driscoll just resigned as Army Secretary after eighteen months — the shortest tenure in the role's modern history. That alone is a story. But he's the latest name on

Iran Has Put America in a No-Win Scenario | Robert Pape

Six months into the Iran war, the exchange of fire over the Strait of Hormuz just restarted. Professor Robert Pape returns to break down why the U.S. strike on Larak Isla

The 82nd Airborne Just Revealed How Long This War Could Last

We're Not Leaving: What the 82nd Airborne's Year-Long Extension Tells Us About the Iran War The 82nd Airborne Division exists to deploy anywhere in the world within 18 h

Trump's Trade War Could Starve His Own War Machine

Trump just invoked a Depression-era tariff statute that's never been used at this scale — against the one G7 ally that's a sole-source supplier for the U.S. Army's artill

Trump’s Economic D-Day Will Backfire | Robert Pape

The ceasefire MOU with Iran has expired, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has launched what he's calling an "economic D-Day" — the same day Iran's new National Securi

Washington Is Watching. Iran Is Moving. | Robert Pape

Iran has moved from survival to ambition to hard power — and it's reshaping the balance of power in the Middle East while Washington stays on the sidelines. University o

"This Is Strategic Paralysis" | Robert Pape on the Power Vacuum in the Persian Gulf

This is the latest episode in The Escalation Trap, an ongoing series with Robert Pape of the University of Chicago tracking the war with Iran in real time — and the first

Former Acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs: “The Colossus Is Awake”

America Can't Build Weapons Fast Enough | The Pentagon's Former Acting Chairman Explains Why Admiral Chris Grady (Ret.) spent over 40 years in the Navy, commanded at eve