Secure Freedom Radio Podcast

Provocative weakness - A neglected nuclear deterrent; Hagel’s announcement of more defense cuts; and an administration that ideologically opposes missile defense and favors unilateral arms reduction:  How have the signals coming out of Washington emboldened the resolve of North Korea’s Kim Jong Un?  BILL GERTZ of the Washington Free Beacon reports on intermediate range missile tests by North Korea, U.S. bomber flights, the state of play, and the strategic context.

Former U.S. Senator from Iowa FRED GRANDY explains his belief that Kim Jong Un is crazy in a cunning way, and why the U.S. is right to be worried about North Korea.

Former Assistant Secretary of State for Hemisphere Affairs ROGER NORIEGA gives an update on the upcoming Venezuelan presidential election, particularly how candidate Nicolas Maduro is failing--hilariously--to convince voters that he will be a new Hugo Chavez.

MARK LANGFAN lays out the tactical realities of the threat to Israel of Katusha rockets fired from Gaza and Lebanon. A strategic reality follows that if the West Bank is left to a Palestinian authority to police, the smuggling of Katusha mimicked there would put Israel’s major population centers vulnerable to chemically armed Katusha rockets at a rate which the current Iron Dome system could not sustain a desirable success rate.

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Center for Security Policy Senior Fellow FRED GRANDY breaks down the week's foreign policy events from the Morsi government's crack down in Egypt to the President's warming rhetoric for Israel.

Authors JOSEPH CONNOR and MICHAEL DUNCAN discuss their new book The New Founders and how U.S. Founding principles continue to have a bearing on U.S. national security.

Former Ambassador to the Organization of American States ROGER NORIEGA discusses that organizations lack of U.S. influence, the state of the Cuban regime, and current flux in Venezuela.

Washington Free Beacon editor BILL GERTZ reports on Chinese espionage in it's various forms as well as a renewed diplomatic offensive by the Russians and Chinese to further the diminished U.S. missile defense program.

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Broadcasting from CPAC:

Frank is Joined by Rosemary Jenks, Fred Grandy, Bill Gertz, and Rick Santorum.

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Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society EMILY DYER  discusses the findings of her newly released report "Al-Qaeda in the United States." Among the most prominent findings were statistics showing that over half of Al-Qaeda related offenses committed in the US were by citizens, over a third of whom were born in the country. This, and the fact that the majority were also either well educated or employed and not actually on the fringes of society, requires a need to change our perception of terrorists, argues Dyer.

The trial of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith in Manhattan comes with a list of factors and serious implications.  Among them is the  inability to gain intelligence from him about his protection and harbouring by the Iranian regime.  That is an opportunity that would be afforded in a military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay.  The Center for Security Policy’s Senior Fellow for National Security Affairs, FRED GRANDY assesses these factors and weighs in on the would-have-been healthy national debate on drone policy.

As the drama unfolds for in the wake of the death of Hugo Chavez, JOSE CARDENAS of Vision Americas walks us through the factions of the regime and elements of Cuban influence.  Will U.S. policy makers be able to grasp the state of play in a way that helps them avoid legitimating a legacy of oppression?

Is the Asia Pivot cancelled? What has become of our nuclear arsenal and missile defense after the success of Russian diplomacy and the failure of the Reset?  BILL GERTZ of the Washington Times and the Washington Free Beacon covers an array of topics that are crucial "Inside the Ring."

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With Sebastian Gorka, Fred Grandy, Bill Gertz, and James Carafano. Rich Miniter guest hosts with co-host Jacki.

What happens to regional stability when the U.S. acts without, “overarching doctrines and strategies?”  SEBASTIAN GORKA of Foundation for Defense of Democracies and author of Fighting the Ideological War: Winning Strategies from Communism to Islamism, makes the necessary distinctions concerning Syria’s war to understand the absence of strategy in the role of the United States and the consequences there of.

Former Iowa congressman FRED GRANDY expresses his fear that the $60 million in aid the U.S. is planning on giving to the Syrian rebels is in fact going to the wrong sorts of people. Namely, Islamists who will eventually turn against the United States.

BILL GERTZ of The Washington Times explains that because China is going beyond maritime harassment of Japan to actually moving weapons across the, the likelihood of the US getting involved because of our mutual defense treaty with Japan is greatly increasing.

On the day that sequestration is set to go into effect, JAMES CARAFANO of the Heritage Foundation predicts that in the long run the US will actually end up spending more on defense. Already military training, and from their preparedness, has been hurt by the budget cuts already made pre-sequestration.

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With Fred Grandy, Yoram Ettinger, Fred Fleitz, Bill Gertz.

FRED GRANDY, former Congressman from Iowa, predicts that unless a shocking revelation about Hagel's political or personal life comes to light within the next few days, Chuck Hagel will be confirmed as the new Secretary of Defense.

Shortly before Obama's trip to Israel, YORAM ETTINGER of the Ariel Center offers his hopes that this time Obama will not mistakenly equate a solution to the Israel-Palestine dispute with a solution for peace throughout the entire region.

FRED FLEITZ of lignet.com offers the breaking news that Iran may have enough enriched uranium for up to eight nuclear bombs.

BILL GERTZ of the Washington Times talks with Frank about Obama's soon-to-be-announced push for unilateral disarmament of the United States' nuclear force by up to a third--even as Russia and China both increase their own stockpiles.

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With Fred Grandy, Rep. Mike Turner, James Woolsey, Bill Gertz.

FRED GRANDY of the Center for Security Policy reflects on yesterday's Senate filibuster of Chuck Hagel, and gives his reasoning for why Hagel is likely to be confirmed in the end--even despite the video from Rutgers that has just come to light.

Congressman MIKE TURNER of Ohio discusses the ever-looming threat of sequestration, as well as the State of the Union Address, which Turner says would have included talk of a scaling-back of our nuclear force, if not for the North Korean nuclear test that had just occurred.

Former CIA Director JAMES WOOLSEY points out that one of the major problems with the Obama administration's approach to foreign policy and national security is refusing to accept the idea that religion can promote violence.

Washington Times reporter BILL GERTZ discusses President Obama's new cybersecurity executive order, and expresses his relief that the administration has finally realized that the United States is basically fighting a low level, covert war, even though the order itself is unlikely to prove much of a help.

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With Dan Goure, Fred Grandy, Douglas Murray, Bill Gertz.

Vice President of the Lexington Institute DAN GOURE gives an in-depth explanation of how sequestration cuts will hurt the United States' military and create a cycle in which our inability to replenish our forces will embolden our enemies, whom we will then be unprepared to confront.

Former Congressman FRED GRANDY offers up his opinions on the spurious excuses made in yesterday's hearing on the Benghazi attack. Why, for instance, couldn't F-16s been used to disperse the crowd simply by flying overhead?

DOUGLAS MURRAY, Associate Director of the Henry Jackson Center, talks with Frank about the assassination attempt against Lars Hedegaard, which he considers an "appalling attempt" to stop our freedom of expression. Yet, as Murray points out, the usual defenders of free speech are not speaking out about the incident--rather, some feel that perhaps Hedegaard simply shouldn't have said anything in the first place.

Washington Times national security editor BILL GERTZ explains his theory that CIA personnel were in Benghazi to begin with because of a proposed plan to arm Syrian rebels, which President Obama ended up rejecting. Gertz also expresses his frustration that so much of the John Brennan hearing was focused on drones, when the bigger issue is Brennan's refusal to identify Islamist extremists as the enemy.

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Richard Miniter  guest hosts.

Former Iowa Congressman, FRED GRANDY, covers the Hagel hearings in terms of U.S. relations to Israel, Egypt, and the Muslim Brotherhood.   Will the U.S. watch the Islamists repress political opposition in Egypt as they did in Iran in 2009?

MAX BOOT, author of the newly published book Invisible Armies, goes into depth on why the U.S. was initially so unprepared for fighting guerrilla forces in Afghanistan, despite its lengthy experience with similar combat in Vietnam. Boot also expresses his concern for what will become of Afghanistan if U.S. troops withdraw substantially from the country.

Washington Times reporter ROWAN SCARBOROUGH explains how the success of the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi last year can in great part be blamed on the lack of planning by the U.S. government for such a situation. Because no plan of response had been established for an Islamist-backed mob in Northern Africa, the Africa Command had no quick reaction forces with which it could protect the consulate.

Heritage Foundation expert on Strategic Issues MICHAELA BENDIKOVA sets the record straight on Chuck Hagel’s obfuscations on nuclear forces and arms control. In reference to a nuclear policy recommendation report he co-authored for the Global Zero advocacy group which promotes reductions in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, Michaela clarifies,  “He was very adamant that the report doesn’t say that the United States should take these steps unilaterally.  It does."

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FRED GRANDY of the Center for Security Policy, deconstructs the recent Benghazi hearing and criticizes the Senate Republicans for coming ill-prepared. Fred and Frank agree that Clinton's "what difference does it make" comment was almost certainly planned, and Republicans should have expected such an outburst.

The Washington Free Beacon's ADAM KREDO questions how anyone could believe the claims Secretary of Defense nominee Chuck Hagel is making now about his supposed beliefs. After all, Kredo points out, Hagel suddenly "apparently holds none of the positions he's held for the past twenty-plus years". Kredo and Frank also discuss Obama's continued insistence in sending arms to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, even though the agreement was made with a government that no longer exists.

REZA KAHLILI, a former CIA agent within the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, describes to Frank an inside source's account of a recent covert operation directed against Iran--an attack on its nuclear facility in Fordow. According to Kahlili, certain Western countries and Israel are most likely behind the mission, since there have been strong rumors as of late that they were preparing for such an operation. Kahlili predicts that Iran, having gathered the same information itself, is likely to strike back at Israel through Hezbollah. The fact that Iran has mastered multiple chemical agents, including smallpox and anthrax, makes its likely attempt at retaliation all the more concerning.

BILL GERTZ, columnist at The Washington Times, takes a look at the decision made Wednesday to allow women into positions of direct combat within the military. This attempt at social engineering is problematic, he insists, because the United States military's purpose is not one of job creation or equal opportunity workplaces--it is about fighting wars, and winning. Gertz also discusses newly uncovered evidence that points to China creating a rail system for the ICBM's, with which it will be able to both transport and launch it's missiles.

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