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Aug 17
1h 15m

Frank Kendall and the Weapons of Tomorro...

THE BULWARK
About this episode

Eric and Eliot discuss the week's jackassery, including the administration's stripping former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall of his security clearance for innocuous comments about Trump's new Qatari-donated Air Force One. They then discuss the irresponsibility of Trump's using that aircraft to travel to a NATO summit being held adjacent to a war zone. They also cover the new diplomatic alignment among Turkey, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, the changes in leadership in Iran, and the rival missile campaigns of Russia and Ukraine in their ongoing war. Frank Kendall then joins the show to discuss his new book, Lethal Autonomy: The Future of Warfare Whether We Like It or Not, and his determination not to be silenced or intimidated by the Trump administration.

Reminder: Shield of the Republic will be going independent soon! Subscribe at shieldoftherepublic.com and follow @ShieldPod on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Lethal Autonomy: The Future of Warfare Whether We Like It or Not:
https://a.co/d/0g3rRF6s

Shield of the Republic is a Bulwark podcast co-sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.

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