In Episode 159 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Chris Brose, fmr. Staff Director of the Senate Armed Services Committee, a fmr. speechwriter to two Secretaries of State, and the current Head of Strategy at Anduril Industries, a defense product company working at the bleeding edge of innovation in defense strategy, procurement, and development.
This is a conversation about the story that the American public tells itself about the strength and primacy of American military power and how that story has increasingly fallen out of step with the reality of how our military operates, the technologies it has at its disposal, and the threat that countries like Russia and China pose to America’s battle-networks, systems, and platforms. How do we navigate these challenges while still trying to maintain peace and security both at home and abroad? How is the nature of warfare changing, and how can America’s military evolve to meet the challenge posed by new systems of automated warfare, next-generation weaponry, and shorter development cycles? And as we work to meet these challenges, how do we guard against the weakening of our civil and political institutions in an effort to overcome them? These are just a few of the questions that Chris and Demetri tackle in the first part of today’s conversation.
In the overtime, the two discuss some of the initiatives and projects that Chris is most excited about at Anduril, and how the company is revolutionizing the way we think about the relationship between commercial technologies and military technologies, battle networks and platforms, as well as the overall budgetary procurement and acquisition process.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week’s episode through the Hidden Forces Supercast Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
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Chris Brose is Head of Strategy at Anduril Industries and Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. From 2015-18, he was staff director of the Senate Armed Services Committee. In that capacity, he managed the Committee’s professional staff in support of the Chairman and other majority members in overseeing all of the programs, policies, and resources of the Department of Defense, as well as confirming all of the Department’s senior civilian and military leaders. He was also responsible for leading the production, negotiation, and passage of four National Defense Authorization Acts (FY16-19), which set policy and authorized spending for all U.S. national defense activities. From 2009-14, he served as senior policy adviser to Senator John McCain (R-AZ), supporting his work on the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He conducted official travel to more than 60 countries during his work in the Senate. From 2008-09, he was senior editor of Foreign Policy magazine. Prior to that, he served as policy adviser and chief speechwriter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice from 2005-08, working as a member of the Secretary’s Policy Planning Staff and supporting the Secretary on regular foreign travel. He began his career in public service as a speechwriter for Secretary of State Colin Powell.
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