Modern War Institute

Forty years ago this month, President Ronald Reagan signed the Goldwater-Nichols Act into law, dramatically reforming the way the US military operates. Today, the joint force remains shaped by many of the features introduced in October 1986. But how did it happen? What problems did the legislators behind it want to solve? And how did Congress manage to enact a wide range of reforms that the Pentagon vehemently opposed? This episode marks the fortieth anniversary of Goldwater-Nichols by examining those questions and more. To do so, John Amble is joined by Arnold Punaro, who served as staff director of the Senate Armed Services Committee as Goldwater-Nichols took shape. He simultaneously served in the Marine Corps Reserve, ultimately retiring as a major general after commanding a division, giving him a unique perspective that he brings to the episode's discussion. The MWI Podcast is produced with the generous support of the West Point Class of 1974. Chapters (00:00:04) - Introduction and Guest Background(00:02:38) - Arnold Punaro's Military Career and Vietnam Service(00:05:04) - Joining the Marine Corps Reserve on Creighton Abrams' Advice(00:08:01) - The Defense Department Before Goldwater Nichols(00:10:15) - Failures That Drove Reform: Vietnam, Beirut, Grenada(00:13:14) - Overcoming Pentagon Opposition(00:16:18) - Overarching Goals: Jointness, Civilian Control, Special Ops(00:20:28) - Legislative Strategy and Passing the Bill(00:24:58) - Service Secretaries, Civilian Control, and Waivers(00:27:23) - Building a Culture of Jointness(00:29:56) - Chairman and Vice Chairman Tour Length Adjustments(00:31:42) - Testing the Reforms: Panama and Desert Storm(00:35:40) - Institutionalizing Goldwater Nichols Through Confirmations(00:37:10) - Scorecard: What's Working and What Needs Reform(00:39:27) - Bureaucratic Bloat and Need for Permanent Reform(00:44:37) - Looking Ahead: New Technologies and Future Commands(00:48:16) - Closing Thoughts and Thanks

An Army that reads is an Army better prepared to fight and win its nation’s wars. When the stakes on the battlefield are life and death, victory or defeat, the force that brings more knowledge, more wisdom, and better understanding to the fight has a distinct advantage. And reading is a key means of building that advantage. That’s why we recently launched the MWI Book Club. For each episode of the new podcast, hosts John Amble and Theo Lipsky pick a book, read it, and then record their exploration of the book’s lessons for today’s warfighters. Four episodes are already live, and in this special bonus episode, you’ll hear one of them—featuring Joe Haldeman’s classic of military science fiction, The Forever War. Episodes of the MWI Book Club release monthly, and you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts so you don’t miss an episode! The MWI Podcast is produced with the generous support of the West Point Class of 1974. Chapters (00:00:00) - Introducing the MWI Book Club crossover(00:02:54) - Episode intro: The Forever War(00:03:24) - About Joe Haldeman and why this book(00:06:40) - Book overview and time dilation concept(00:08:52) - Part One: Training and becoming a soldier(00:16:29) - Realism, desensitization, and training casualties(00:21:21) - First combat engagement and berserker bloodlust(00:24:24) - Bayonet training and psychological conditioning to kill(00:28:15) - Part Two: Return to a dystopian Earth(00:35:08) - Mary Gay Potter and the civil-military divide(00:38:42) - South Dakota commune and return to the military(00:43:24) - Part Three: Command and leadership dilemmas(00:53:24) - Technology, measure-countermeasure cycles, and war(01:02:57) - Final battle, AI, and moral distance in killing(01:08:28) - Strategic critique of the war and its ending(01:14:22) - Margin notes: naming, moral injury, and brain drain(01:22:05) - Saved rounds: film adaptations and literary influences(01:24:29) - Starship Troopers rebuttal debate(01:26:27) - Bonus reads and closing thoughts(01:28:35) - Upcoming books and sign-off

For years now, the war in Ukraine has been fought on a largely static battlefield—characterized by attrition, with little opportunity for maneuver, and with only incremental changes to the front lines. But recently, seemingly out of nowhere, Ukrainian forces began recapturing territory held by occupying Russian forces. The gains steadily accrued until, in mid-September, Ukrainian officials for the first time confirmed the ongoing Operation Vivaldi. But although the operation's name was only publicly mentioned in September, the foundations of the operation’s achievements extend back months, and even years. On this episode, retired Australian Army Major General Mick Ryan shares his insights on how Ukrainian forces have accomplished what eluded them for much of the war and examines what the operation might tell us about the war’s future trajectory. The MWI Podcast is produced with the generous support of the West Point Class of 1974. Chapters (00:00:04) - Introduction and Operation Vivaldi overview(00:03:37) - Origins of Vivaldi: Kursk, Starlink, and Corps reform(00:06:43) - Leadership and command excellence in Ukrainian units(00:07:41) - Combined arms structure of Ukrainian brigades(00:10:22) - Drones, autonomy, and the enduring human role in war(00:13:25) - Tanks and armor's evolving role in Vivaldi(00:16:59) - Breaking deep defensive lines and historical parallels(00:19:57) - Why Russia hasn't replicated Ukraine's success(00:22:05) - Countering Rubicon and drone saturation operations(00:23:21) - The four phases of Operation Vivaldi(00:26:51) - Vivaldi as the best operational campaign design since 2022(00:28:10) - Will Ukraine's methods spread, and will Russia fast-follow?(00:29:35) - Is maneuver warfare dead or just resting?(00:34:07) - Can Ukraine win outright on the battlefield?(00:37:05) - Rewriting the War for Ukraine book today(00:40:46) - Continuities and transformations in war's character(00:42:19) - What to watch next and closing thoughts

How did George Washington overcome virtually every material disadvantage to defeat the British during the Revolutionary War? How did Ulysses S. Grant turn the tides of the Civil War in the Union’s favor in the crucial year of 1864? How did Dwight Eisenhower manage the overwhelming personal burden of leading the Allied invasion of Europe? The answers to these questions share remarkable continuities, and together they offer a picture into the requirements of successful supreme command at war—and offer lessons that will shape the outcomes of America’s future wars. To explore them, John Amble is joined on this episode by retired Lieutenant Colonel Matt Cavanaugh, author of the book Who Wins Wars: Lessons in Leadership, Power, and Supreme Command from Washington, Grant, and Eisenhower. The MWI Podcast is produced with the generous support of the West Point Class of 1974. Chapters (00:00:04) - What Makes Strategic Leadership So Successful(00:00:45) - Discussion about Supreme Command(00:02:05) - Matt Wilkie on Supreme Command(00:02:36) - From Third Base to Home(00:04:50) - Defending the Supreme Commander(00:09:00) - The Strategic Decisions of Great Generals(00:19:55) - George Washington and Military Decisions(00:30:31) - Empathy in the Supreme Command(00:42:36) - In the Army: The Need for Mentorship(00:45:40) - Supreme Command: AI Never Replacing Human Judgment(00:48:24) - What Right Looks Like in 4 Words(00:51:22) - Who Wins Wars: The History Podcast

NATO just wrapped up its 2026 summit in Ankara, Turkey. Over two days of meetings and other events, the leaders of the alliance's thirty-two member states discussed a range of issues and challenges facing the alliance. But what did we actually learn from the summit? In a period that has been marked by intra-alliance friction, were there signs of closing fissures or do divisions remain? And were there indicators of how much progress members have made toward meeting their defense spending commitments? More importantly, how much has boosted spending translated into improvements in defense capabilities? To explore those questions and more, John Amble is joined on this episode by Rachel Rizzo, a senior fellow with the Observer Research Foundation’s Strategic Studies Programme. The MWI Podcast is produced with the generous support of the West Point Class of 1974.

For years of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, US Army forces, along with their joint and coalition counterparts, benefits from a logistics enterprise that ensured every supply need was met. That enterprise—extending from installations at home, through sea and air lines, and all the way to small units in contact—operated largely without disruption by enemy forces. A major war with a peer adversary, however, will present a very different scenario, in which logistics activities will be contested across the strategic, operational, and tactical levels of war. To discuss the challenges that will entail and explore what can be done now to improve the resilience and reliability of US and allied logistics systems, John Amble is joined on this episode by Ron Ti. A retired Australian Army officer with extensive practical experience, he earned a PhD researching combat logistics on the modern battlefield and is the author of a forthcoming book on the subject. The MWI Podcast is produced with the generous support of the West Point Class of 1974.

In 1973, the US military took an enormously consequential step when it adopted an all-volunteer force model. That decision has produced the most professional, capable joint force in history. But it hasn’t come without costs—from the large budgets required to maintain it to a shrinking recruitment base that has serious implications for civil-military relations. So what does the all-volunteer force’s future look like? How much have the strategic, economic, and social conditions that drove the decision to adopt the model changed over the past fifty years? Would it hold up in a modern, large-scale war? And if strategic realities required it, how would a return to some form of conscription work? John Amble is joined on this episode by Jaron Wharton and Keith Carter, coeditors of Bend But Do Not Break: Shaping the Future of the All-Volunteer Force, to explore those questions and more. The MWI Podcast is produced with the generous support of the West Point Class of 1974.

Shortly after taking power in Moscow, Vladimir Putin began consolidating his authority over the Russian intelligence services that had long been deeply embedded in Russian and Soviet politics and a pervasive influence in society. The degree to which he succeeded was striking, ultimately transforming them into organizational assets that remained effective at what they did but were entirely loyal to him. This episode features a discussion with former CIA senior operations officer Sean Wiswesser. The author of Tradecraft, Tactics, and Dirty Tricks: Russian Intelligence and Putin’s Secret War, he shares his insights on Russian intelligence services’ role in pursuing Moscow’s objectives around the world—from the war in Ukraine to influence operations in Africa and the Middle East to information campaigns intended to subvert Western democracies. The MWI Podcast is produced with the generous support of the West Point Class of 1974.

For more than a week, the United States and Israel have struck a wide range of targets in Iran with air and missile strikes. Iran’s response has included missile and drone attacks against targets in neighboring states in the Middle East—both US military and diplomatic facilities and public sites including Dubai’s airport. What weapons, on both sides of the conflict, have defined the conflict so far? To explore that question, John Amble is joined on this special bonus episode by Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The MWI Podcast is produced with the generous support of the West Point Class of 1974.

What were the strategic calculations that drove the United States and Israel to launch a military operation aimed at a wide range of targets in Iran? And are the fundamental objectives of the two partners fully aligned? Inside Iran, as the regime's resilience and the military's capability are under more pressure than they have been in decades, how are institutions responding? What drove the decision to respond with drone and missile strikes throughout the region? How are the Gulf states positioning themselves as they have defended against Russian attacks? What role has the Gulf Cooperating Council played? What outcomes might emerge from the conflict and how are Iran's neighbors working to influence those outcomes? These questions offer insights into the strategic dimension of the ongoing US-Israeli operation against Iran. To examine them, John Amble is joined on this episode by three guests who share their insights on the strategic perspectives of the United States, Israel, Iran, and the Gulf states. Jonathan Panikoff is the director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council and formerly served as the deputy national intelligence officer for the Near East at the National Intelligence Council. Sydney Laite is a former senior intelligence analyst who spent years focused on Iranian strategic decision-making. And Rory Miller is a professor of international politics at Georgetown University in Qatar, where he is the director of the Small States Research Program. The MWI Podcast is produced with the generous support of the West Point Class of 1974.