Sep 28, 2018
This week on the program: • President Trump took to the UN to say China is meddling in American politics — and trying to thwart him in particular. Defense One Tech Editor Patrick Tucker and Editorial Fellow Paulina Glass help explain (1:59) what really seems to be going on there. • Then (17:13) we’ll pivot to the war in Syria and Syria’s ally, Iran. How long does U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis want American troops staying in Syria? And how long does Trump’s National Security Adviser, John Bolton, want them to stay? Senior National Security Correspondent Katie Bo Williams gets into that and some of the less public efforts to constrain Iranian influence in the region and beyond. • Ukraine wants to build a navy to deter Russia around the Sea of Azov (26:24). Is that even possible? • And we’ll round things out by speaking with deployed Brig. Gen. Scott Jackson (36:11) of the U.S. Army’s 1st Security Forces Assistance Brigade. Jackson called us from Gardez, Afghanistan, to share what he’s learned after eight months on the job in the eastern Paktiya province, bordering Pakistan.