Featured Guests

Brian Katulis
Senior Fellow
Middle East policy, US national security policy in Middle east, democratization of Middle East, peacebuilding
Center for American Progress
Carl Conetta
Co-Director
Threat assessment, US defense policy and planning, military transformation and readiness issues Military defense, defense alternatives, disarmament, arms control, defense budget, military strategy, "strategic precision attack", NATO expansion, military "readiness", confidence building, public opinion on defense spending, China and Chinese military issues, assessing threats to US national security, defense strategy and budgeting, critical appraisal of the war in Afghanistan, casualties in the war in Afghanistan, the new kinds of terrorism and how to fight it; number of Iraqi casualties and how that affects the US occupation
Project on Defense Alternatives
Melvin Goodman
Senior Fellow
international security policy and strategy; intelligence; homeland security
Center for International Policy
Patricia DeGennaro
Adjunct Assistan Professor, New York University's Center for Global Affairs
US Foreign Policy, International Security, Civil Military Affairs, Military Policy, Wartime and Post-Conflict Transition
Huffington Post
Ray McGovern
Career Analyst for the CIA: 27 years, from the Administrations of John F. Kennedy to George H. W. Bush
CIA, intelligence, security
Richard Klass
President, Veterans’ Alliance for Security and Democracy
Richard Klass
Robert Gard
Chairman
International relations and security issues; Human Resources Development for the U.S. Army; military and international affairs; strategic military studies; national missile defense system; explosive remnants of war and nuclear threat reduction; U.S. ban on the production, sale, transfer, and use of antipersonnel landmines
The Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation

Featured Funder

General Stanley McChrystal? Who is That?

General Petraeus Replaces the “Runaway General”
Issue Area:


General Stanley McChrystal? Who is That?

President Obama announced Wednesday that he has accepted General Stanley McChrystal’s resignation and has nominated David Petraeus to replace him.

The resignation is seen as fallout from a candid interview with the General and his staff in the June 2010 edition of Rolling Stone during which an aide called National Security Advisor Jim Jones, “[a] Clown who remains stuck in 1985.” McChrystal poked fun at Vice President Biden, “Are you asking about Vice President Biden? Who is that?” On Tuesday President Obama stated, “I think its clear that the article in which he and his team appeared showed a poor…showed poor judgment.”

McChrystal met with President Obama for a mere 30 minutes Wednesday before the resignation was announced. Following the meeting, the General commented, “I strongly support the president's strategy in Afghanistan and am deeply committed to our coalition forces, our partner nations, and the Afghan people.”

What does this controversy tell us about the situation in Afghanistan and the leadership capabilities of the President? Will General Petraeus fare any better?