Securing America with Frank Gaffney 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.

With Claudia Rosett, Ted Bromund, Fred Fleitz, Steven Hayward. CLAUDIA ROSETT, Journalist-in-Residence at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, explains how the U.S.’s recent actions have made any nuclear weapons threat from it far less credible, and has therefore encouraged North Korea to test the limits of American patience. TED BROMUND of the Heritage Foundation unfolds the implications of the passage of the UN conventional arms control treaty. FRED FLEITZ of Lignet.com reasons that despite the soon to be reopened North Korean plant being unable to produce a bomb for at least three to five years, the international community will nonetheless feel pressured to grant the country more concessions. STEVEN HAYWARD of the Claremont Institute sets the criteria for examining the accuracy of climate modeling and determining its suitability as a factor in defense planning.

DEAN CHENG of the Heritage Foundation breaks down the realities and relationships surrounding calculations of war on the Korean Peninsula. Former assistant secretary of defense and combat Marine BING WEST shows that the Vietnam War is a teachable moment for understanding what is likely to happen if the United States withdraws from Afghanistan without leaving adequate support behind. ROWAN SCARBOROUGH, writer for the Washington Times, talks about the impact the politicization of the Chiefs of Staff had on preparing for sequestration, and why the media is siding against the Pentagon in the budget fights. Author of The Death of the The Grown Up, DIANA WEST finds historical context for the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood across the Middle East dating back to the Bush administration in a policy described as the Sunni Crescent.

Richard Miniter guest hosts. REBECCAH HEINRICHS of the Heritage Foundation explains that the different mindset with which nations such as Iran and North Korea view the world, and why a misunderstanding of that difference is leading the United States to willingly hollow out its military. ANDY McCARTHY, former federal prosecutor and author of Spring Fever, talks about the ways in which groups like Hamas use our own civil liberties, such as free speech, against us. He also questions whether Brandenberg v. Ohio (1951) is suitable for dealing with 21^st century international threats. BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, a research fellow at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, discusses the European Union’s reluctance to classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization ADAM KREDO, Senior Writer for the Washington Free Beacon, reports on the absurd yet oft-repeated claim made recently by the Palestinian nonprofit group Miftah that the matzah bread eaten during Passover is made with the blood of Christians, and urges listeners to demand that Miftah issue an apology in Arabic.

With Kevin Freeman, Michael O'Hanlon, Adm. Ace Lyons, Gordon Chang What can the Cyprus banking crisis tell us about U.S. vulnerability in cyber and economic warfare? Center for Security Policy Senior Fellow KEVIN FREEMAN explains how what we see in Cyprus gives us insight into a piece of the global threat matrix. MICHAEL O'HANLON of the Brookings Institute and co-author of Bending History, discusses the good, bad, and ugly for a post –U.S. Afghanistan. Admiral ACE LYONS, former Pacific Fleet Commander, discusses the North Korean and Iranian threats, both nuclear and cyber. GORDON CHANG of Forbes.com describes in great detail the state of the North Korean regime.

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.

Former U.S. Senator from Arizona JON KYL explains the differences in America’s ability to defend itself according to respective administration’s priorities for missile defense and nuclear deterrence. Senior adviser for the Menges Hemispheric Security Project at the Center for Security Policy, Dr. LUIS FLEISCHMAN lays out the global strategic importance of the Iranian access to Latin America post Chavez as well as the significance of the new Pope. ILAN BERMAN of the American Foreign Policy Council breaks down Iran’s options and the difference between strategic and tactical implications of sanctions on their weapons program. The director of the Langley Intelligence Group Network, FRED FLEITZ covers a menu of updates ranging from the Cypriot banking crisis to the new Russian bomber threat.

With Raymond Stock, Faith McDonnell, Jim Hanson, Diana West RAYMOND STOCK, the Middle East Forum Shillman/Ginsburg Writing Fellow, breaks down the elements of power in Egyptian society among Islamists and military amidst dictatorial style persecution of President Morsi’s political critics. From the Institute on Religion and Democracy, the director on religious liberty programs, FAITH McDONNELL relates the tragic state of affairs for religious minorities in Pakistan. Military blogger of Blackfive.net, JIM HANSON, explains the unintended ripple effects of the inevitable cut backs in military training that will result from the President’s defense budget priorities as well the meaning behind Secretary John Kerry’s visit to Afghanistan. The Death of the Grown Up author, DIANA WEST uses the recent re-appearance of General David Petraeus to review truly unresolved issues around his career from Benghazi to COIN policy in Afghanistan.

SETH CROPSEY of the Hudson Institute and former Deputy Undersecretary of the Navy, weighs the increasing threats and instability in the Pacific with the corresponding sequestration cuts to Naval forces. Dr. PETER PHAM of the Atlantic Council enumerates the failure of the U.S. to compete for economic, political, and military influence in Africa in terms of accelerated Chinese influence in that space. HANS VON SPAKOVSKY of the Heritage Foundation discusses a ponderous report by the Justice Department’s inspector general with allegations of misconduct by Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez who is the President’s current nominee for Labor Secretary. ANDREW MCCARTHY, author of Spring Fever, explains the strategic blunder by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in yielding to pressure by the U.S. president to apologize for enforcing a legal naval blockade barring aid to terrorist group Hamas.

ROBERT ZARATE of the Foreign Policy Research Institute raises several questions about Sec. Def. Chuck Hagel's recent announcement to renew the Bush administration's commitment to ground based missile interceptors in the U.S. which the Obama administration cut back in its first term.  Will sequestration allow the plan to follow through?  Was the cancellation of long range ICBM interceptors in Europe in fact the more important element of the announcement as it is a strategic step backward and a concession to Russian power in the region? Former Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp member and CIA agent REZA KHALILI reports new intelligence on a covert Iranian nuclear site, nuclear material, and weapons capability including numbers on weaponized grade Uranium that would seem to exceed stated Red Lines of the United States. World renowned investigative journalist, CLAUDIA ROSETT, explains the meaning of the strange death in London of a Russian Oligarch who had fallen from the grace of the Putin regime. GORDON CHANG of Forbes.com breaks down the nuclear threat matrix between the U.S. and China based on new reports of the China's Carrier Killer 12,000 mile range missile.