I share Eliot’s point of departure on the events of late last week – the Houthi seizure of the port of Mocha, Perim and the Hanish islands and the apparent intent to control the Bal el-Mandeb as well as the Iraqi Shia militias’ attack on the Saudi East-West pipeline that was subsequently shut down due to the damage. These actions were clearly part of the larger Iranian strategy of activating its regional proxies, opening a second front, and helping it press its advantages in its effort to secure control of the Strait of Hormuz. But developments over the weekend lead me to a somewhat different conclusion and set up what I hope will be a lively conversation on this week’s show.

Rather than impelling the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to form a coalition of the willing to undue the Houthi gains on the battlefield as Eliot sketches out in his take (which I am ready to concede remains an option and a possibility), I see this as reinforcing something we have already seen in Saudi behavior throughout this conflict: hedging its response with outreach (and potential bribery) of adversaries.

Developments of note are that the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has reached out twice to President Trump asking for the US to intercede (whether with air strikes or intelligence seems a bit hazy) but has been turned down. The President has commented several times on the situation and said that despite his refusal to come to the aid of the Saudis militarily that everything will “work out fine and dandy” and added that the Houthis have reached out to the US and indicated that they have no interest in resuming the conflict between the two that took place in 2025.

Read more

I was at the Miller Center at UVA this week to join a panel moderated by former NBC journalist David Gregory on US national security in the twenty-five year shadow of 9/11. I thought Shield subscribers might enjoy watching:

Eric and I have been debating whether the war with Iran is in a state of “unstable equilibrium.” The news today suggests more instability than equilibrium. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Saudis have closed down their pipeline to the Red Sea after it has suffered from multiple strikes (presumably from Iran itself, or the Houthis, or possibly Iran-sponsored Iraqi militias). Meanwhile, the Houthis have taken over the city of Mokha and an island in the Bab el Mandeb, the strait that controls entrance to and exit from the Red Sea.

Read more

Elliott Abrams proclaims “Eliot Cohen’s The Strategist should be required reading for our military academies, new members of Congress, and every official at the National Security Council” in his review in the The University of Texas at Austin’s Civitas Outlook:

The Burdens of the War Strategist

My colleagues Frank Miller, former Senior Director for Defense Policy at the NSC in Bush 43 and Sean O'Keefe, former Pentagon Comptroller and Secretary of the Navy in Bush 41, and I have written a piece that describes the potential damage that President Trump's nostalgic whims may inflict on the US Navy and I wanted to make it easily available to all Shield subscribers. Hope you enjoy it:

Unless Stopped, Trump will Sink the Carrier Fleet

1:10 Jackassery of the Week
19:48 Remembering 9/11
45:11 To Russia With Love
54:18 AfD Election Implications
1:01:15 AI Alarm Bells
1:04:25 Iran War Update

Former Senior Officials Ask Secretary Wright to Release Saudi Nuclear Deal Documents

Eric’s Hot Take on our dangerously incompetent Secretary of Defense

Question for the show? Email mailbag@shieldoftherepublic.com!

Eliot and I frequently joke that Pete Hegseth is the “gift that keeps on giving” since he has so frequently been the butt of our japes at the chronic jackassery of the second Trump Administration. But, of course, the ridicule has always served as an entry point for more serious ruminations about the potential institutional damage that the poseur who claims he is the “Secretary of War” is doing to both the uniformed military services and the Department of Defense more broadly.

A few weeks ago, I did a lengthy conversation with friend of the show Bill Kristol wherein I lamented the potential for creating perverse incentives that would drive good officers out of the military services and promote the opportunists and careerists to the detriment of the overall quality of the American military. In recent days, we have been treated to an avalanche of additional stories about the Hegseth Defense Department that should trouble the sleep of any American who cares about the nation’s military and our country’s national security.

Hegseth began his tenure by removing a number of senior officers without explanation including the highly regarded Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General C. Q. Brown. Others had their careers blocked or curtailed on unproven suspicions of “leaking” to the press. Subsequently he has established a pattern of meddling in promotions and blocking lists of both US Navy and Army promotions. He seemed to take special pleasure in denying promotions to women and people of color across all four services on the specious grounds that these were likely “DEI” promotions. Needless to say this led many of folks in those categories to reconsider their choice of a military career.

Since the spring this issue has reached critical mass with the firing of the Army Chief of Staff (after his Deputy was sacked earlier) General Randy George, one of the most impressive and innovative service chiefs. Recent reporting seems to indicate that one of the reasons for sacking this remarkable officer was his unwillingness to block an investigation into an episode where some young Army helicopter pilots flew their aircraft over Kid Rock’s house in Tennessee. Hegseth’s former military aide, installed as Deputy Chief of Staff and the Secretary’s designated successor warned Gen. George to block the investigation and when he refused it, precipitated his ouster.

Read more

My first trip to Japan was over thirty years ago. On my latest visit, I found a country considerably less secure—particularly vis-à-vis China. I discussed with Eric how Tokyo is confronting their new reality on the podcast this week. This is a fuller account.

As a reminder, for just $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to mailbag episodes, hot takes, book reviews, and more.

Read more

As a reminder, for just $5 a month, paid subscribers gain access to mailbags, hot takes, book reviews, and more.

Read more

A recent Gallup poll has found that an astounding 89% of the public believe that American government is marked by widespread corruption. This is true across the political spectrum with Republicans, Democrats and Independents all reporting similar views. It also places the U.S. as an outlier among other advanced economies in the world based on Gallup’s polling in 38 members of the Organization of Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). Is it any wonder that Americans believe this, given the carnival of corruption, self-dealing and self-enrichment that is going on under the Trump Administration and its blurred lines of personal and national interests?

Read more

We’re happy to offer Shield of the Republic’s paid subscribers 30% off when purchasing/preordering THE STRATEGIST directly from Princeton University Press!

Eliot’s authoritative introduction to strategy—its enduring essentials, its inherent challenges, and the ways it will change in the twenty-first century—will be available Oct 20, 2026!

Read more

Periodically Eric and I thought we might dash off some brief response to an event of interest to Shield of the Republic listeners. We will not be breaking news, of course, but offering a quick thought about it, which we may take up at greater length in the regular podcast. Where possible we will put in links the stories.

The first piece of news consists of two astonishing statements by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his wife Sara. Bibi, as he is known, declared that his senior military advisers deliberately withheld information of the impending October 7, 2023 Hamas onslaught against southern Israel because they knew he would react forcefully to stop it. Sara declared that Yair Golan, a retired general in his sixties who dashed south to do what he could as a simple soldier, had clearly known about the attack in advance.

Read more

53 Days: How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy (September 1, 2026)

Takeover: Hitler’s Final Rise to Power (March 26, 2024)

Read more

Read more

Choosing Defeat: The Twenty-Year Saga of How America Lost Afghanistan

Bureaucracy Does Its Thing

Afghanistan Study Group Final Report: A Pathway for Peace in Afghanistan

Why The Afghan Security Forces Collapsed

Question for the show? Email mailbag@shieldoftherepublic.com!