Senator Mark Kelly on Ukraine Weapons, NATO & Iran | EYES ON GEOPOLITICS

In this episode, Senator Mark Kelly discusses a range of pressing geopolitical issues, including the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the role of NATO, U. S. defense policy, and the humanitarian implications of foreign aid. He emphasizes the interconnectedness of global threats, particularly in relation to Iran's nuclear ambitions and the situation in the Middle East. The conversation also touches on the future of warfare, the importance of military technology, and the need for a cohesive U. S. foreign policy that supports allies and addresses emerging threats. Support the show on Patreon:⬇️ https://www.patreon.com/TheTeamHouse New merch, patches, and stickers! ⬇️ https://theteamhouse-shop.fourthwall.com Find Mick Mulroy here: Fogbow ⬇️ https://fogbow.com/ Lobo Institute ⬇️ https://www.loboinstitute.org/ Twitter ⬇️ https://x.com/mickmulroy?s=21&t=-Ze3F_Ix2vlJ18KFvORTCA LinkedIn ⬇️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-patrick-mulroy-31198b52/ Bluesky ⬇️ https://bsky.app/profile/mickmulroy.bsky.social Mick’s publications ⬇️ https://www.loboinstitute.org/publications/publications-of-michael-mick-patrick-mulroy/ Find Andy Milburn here: Twitter ⬇️ https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2Fandymilburn8 LinkedIn ⬇️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewmilburn2023 Substack ⬇️ https://amilburn.substack.com/ Andy’s book ⬇️ https://www.amazon.com/When-Tempest-Gathers-Mogadishu-Operations Bluesky ⬇️ https://bsky.app/profile/andy-milburn.bsky.social Find Jason Lyons here: LinkedIn ⬇️ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-lyons-666873316?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app Bluesky ⬇️ https://bsky.app/profile/bgsilverback73.bsky.social Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Senator Mark Kelly 03:00 The Ukraine Conflict: Analyzing U. S. Support 05:57 Military Strategy and Intelligence in Ukraine 08:53 Sanctions and Economic Measures Against Russia 11:54 NATO's Role and Global Defense Spending 15:09 Leadership and Decision-Making in the Pentagon 18:06 The Importance of Soft Power and Humanitarian Aid 21:14 The Situation in Gaza: Israel and Hamas 24:10 Rebuilding Gaza and Regional Stability 27:04 The Broader Middle East Dynamics and Iran 39:04 The JCPOA Withdrawal and Its Consequences 41:07 Iran's Nuclear Ambitions and Military Strategy 49:04 The Future of Warfare and Technological Advancements 01:01:13 Geopolitical Interconnections: China, Russia, and Taiwan Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-team-house--5960890/support https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-team-house--5960890/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

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• 1:17Speaker 04

  Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Eyes on Geopolitics. Very special one today. We have Senator Mark Kelly from Arizona with us. If you guys don't know him, I mean you should if you listen to this show. Former naval officer, former NASA astronaut, and uh... I believe you're the senior senator from Arizona, correct?

• 1:38Speaker 05

  Yeah, now I am, yeah.

• 1:39Speaker 04

  Yeah, so, and of course we're joined with Mick Mulroy, Jason Lyons, and myself, Dimitri Kontakos. We have a lot going on.

• 1:47Speaker 04

  Let's just rock into it. I mean Mick, Mick sent over a bunch of questions Mick, so you can rip it, rock and roll if you want.

• 1:54Speaker 06

  First of all, thank you very much for joining us, Senator. I believe your junior senator is a former Marine. Am I right about that?

• 1:59Speaker 05

  He is, yeah.

• 2:00Speaker 06

  I just wanted to point that out.

• 2:02Speaker 05

  Good guy.

• 2:03Speaker 06

  Excellent.

• 2:04Speaker 05

  Really, really enjoy serving with Ruben, so we speak the same language.

• 2:08Speaker 06

  I bet you do. So, I'd like to start with Ukraine, if that's all right. Obviously, a big topic right now. Essentially, starting from the beginning and then moving up to today, you know, hindsight's 2020, but I always thought that since we had such good intelligence on the fact that Russia was going to invade Ukraine, that we would have been better off telling President Putin, "If you do, we're going to support them 100%, not to survive, but to win."

• 2:38Speaker 06

  And made the decision theirs, whether we would be providing them with F-16s and Abrams tanks and HIMARS and everything else. So if there's any criticism I'd have of the past administration would be that incremental approach to approval on these key weapon systems. And then jumping into this administration, I would say my criticism, to the extent anybody cares, would be we went even, we went way further down in our support from Ukraine, cutting off intelligence, cutting off critical security assistance to a partner who would be guaranteed security to back in the 90s

• 3:16Speaker 06

  at a time when they're completely under assault. So, Ukraine has agreed to our proposal, you know, the ceasefire back in March. Russia has not. Russia has escalated substantially. They're now producing around 5,000 drones a month. And they're launching, I think last night was the second largest attack since the beginning of the invasion. And they're going directly after civilians, right? Infrastructure and civilians themselves. So it does look like, Senator, that the administration has gotten the message. We'll see. That Russia has no interest in a ceasefire, and that it hopefully understands that it's in our interest, not charity,

• 3:58Speaker 06

  to support Ukraine in defeating Russia. So my thought, my question is...

• 4:06Speaker 06

  Where do you think we should go from here? Specifically, when it comes to the sanctioning Russia act to the frozen funds that both the United States and Europe and other allies have of Russia around the world? And just generally, where do you think we can go to get to a point where Ukraine can actually win this? Because we all know they've been fighting the fight for over three years. Most people gave them three weeks, and they're still in the fight. But they really do rely on not just our European NATO partners, but the United States specifically to be the leader of the free world. So what's your thoughts on where we should go?

• 4:42Speaker 05

  Yeah, well, Nick, let me let me start back at the beginning because you mentioned, you know, what happened back in, I guess, February now, 2022, when they invaded. We knew they were going to invade. And as you know, you know, guys that work in the agency were really good at gathering intelligence. We're somewhat good about predicting like what's going to happen, maybe tomorrow or the next day. I think predicting the future and how any conflict is going to unfold is really, really hard. You know, we we thought the Russians were going to make it to Kiev in a matter of days. They haven't gotten there in years.

• 5:19Speaker 05

  We thought the Afghans, it would take, I think, something like nine months to take Kabul. It took nine days, right? So sometimes predicting what's going to happen can be really, really challenging. And in the case of this conflict, yeah, I mean, we got it wrong. We thought the Russians were going to perform much better on the battlefield. I always had my questions about them. I've flown in space with Russians on multiple occasions. I knew some of these guys who served in the Russian air force and just their culture in their military. They're a different breed, you know, they're not motivated like Americans are, you know,

• 6:02Speaker 05

  we, we are all, generally, I would say, almost every American that works for the government is motivated by mission success. You want to complete the job, that's like the top thing, top of the list. That's not true for Russians, you know, for Russians, it's probably how you're going to rip off your employer first. What can you steal? And then maybe second after that is just like the appearance that you're in charge, or, or maybe who to blame. Um, I've, I've seen that with the cosmonauts. And, so, yeah, they've got cultural problems. You talk about, you know, maybe what we could have given, given them stuff early? I think that's fair. I think that's a very fair observation.

• 6:43Speaker 05

  I mean, if we knew then what we know now, and if you're going to give them the pick'em rounds, artillery rounds, the cluster munitions for 155 millimeter artillery, which I advocated for, if you're ever going to give it to them, you might as well give it to them as early as possible. The F-16s, which on the other hand, I thought was going to be, I thought would be, um, a difficult ramp up for them, it has proven to be difficult, and I wanted to make sure they were ready before we start shipping F-16s over to the Ukrainian air force that, in the beginning of this conflict, were in no way ready to accept them and use them effectively

• 7:28Speaker 05

  in any kind of operation. They've gotten a lot better, we could talk about that some more, uh, later. Attackem's rounds. Um, it took us a long time to get there, I was an advocate of giving them attackem's rounds, and then let them use them against military targets, even when those targets were inside of Russia. Would have been better if we would have done that quickly.

• 7:51Speaker 05

  But, you know, you can't put the ship back in the donkey, right? And we, we're at a place now, we can't go back in time. Um, I think we've got to be, you know, flexible. Um, and, uh, extremely motivated to help the Ukrainians because this fight is not just about Russia and Ukraine. I mean, this could expand to Romania, where I was a couple of weeks ago. Uh, the Baltics, where I was last year. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, they all feel like they might be next. Poland thinks it could be next. Finland thinks it could be next.

• 8:30Speaker 05

  And, uh, Putin's, um, designs on Europe and his, uh, you know, willingness to try to bring back the Soviet empire is a real thing. I am under no illusion that if he's successful in Ukraine, that he's gonna stop. And I don't think anybody should. Um, but what do we, you know, what do we do now? I think we've got to do a better job providing the munitions that the Ukrainians need to defend themselves and ultimately push Russia out of their country. And we can do a better job of it. Uh, what happened earlier in the week, cutting off, uh, security assistance, uh, the SecDef

• 9:14Speaker 05

  cutting it off, the White House not knowing about it, uh, not, um, signing off on, uh, on that decision is, you know, shows a certain level of dysfunction. We've got to get our shit together here and we've got to be more forceful. You mentioned the, um, the, the sanctions. It's really a tariff bill. I mean, it's sanctions, but it raises tariffs up to 500% for any country that buys Russian oil and gas. I mean, that's pointing, you know, basically at two main countries, right? China and India, who buy a lot of oil and gas. If they want to continue to do that, you're gonna suffer some significant tariffs.

• 9:56Speaker 05

  I, in general, have not supported this president's tariff policy. But when tariffs are targeted for a very specific reason, they can often make a lot of sense. And I think this does make sense to, to get this legislation passed and sign into law to give the president another tool to hit the Russians where it is gonna really hurt them.

• 10:20Speaker 05

  And that's in their pocketbook. I sit in John McCain's, you know, Senate seat. And, you know, he said once, or maybe multiple times, I love the quote, so I'm gonna use it here. John McCain used to say that Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country. And, you know, that's what it is. And if we can, if we can, you know, stop the revenue from their giant gas station, you know, Putin's gonna find himself in a really challenging position. He's an unpredictable guy. We don't know what that's gonna lead to. But you also mentioned, uh, the money that they have in Europe. And I've been the advocate of taking it.

• 11:06Speaker 05

  I mean, just think about how this thing could unfold. We could wind up, let's, let's say the Russians were to win and take Ukraine. Russia's not getting that money back. Let's say they lose and Ukraine is, you know, mostly destroyed. They're not getting the money back. So we might as well use that revenue, that, that, those resources now to help, to help Ukraine uh, in this war. I mean, you mentioned the Russians building 5,000, you know, drones a month.

• 11:42Speaker 05

  Ukrainians are building a lot of drones too. I've been to one of these underground drone factories. And it's quite remarkable, this one factory was making two kinds, two different kinds, one was longer range, obviously. That could range upwards of, I think, over about 1,000 miles with a pretty decent sized payload. Uh, if I remember correctly, maybe up to about, I don't know, like 40, 50 kilograms. Um, and they were cranking these things out, you know, fast. Um, but they are up against a much larger country with more financial resources and more manpower that they can continue to throw at this.

• 12:23Speaker 05

  So, we gotta do a better job helping them. And I, I think there are some things we can, we can do.

• 12:34Speaker 06

  Jay, you got anything?

• 12:35Speaker 07

  Yeah, Senator, I just wanted to get your opinion on as far as everything you just spoke about as NATO. Do you believe, in your opinion, that they have stepped up or are stepping up to mine the gap if, you know, to fill the gap if, you know, God forbid, we completely pull out, you know, our support of Ukraine. Do you, what are your, what's your opinion on where they're at right now?

• 13:00Speaker 05

  I think, you know what they said about many of the countries, I think Spain was an exception, but going to 5% GDP on defense is, um, it's a good step. They've got to follow through and spending it on defense, in my view, doesn't mean you're going to build a new highway between, you know, Rome and Naples, right? That's not defense. So where are they going to spend the money? Uh, what systems are they going to purchase? Um, so, so the details really, really matter in this. And I don't think it's so much as a, um, as a response to them feeling like, you know, we're going to exit the arena.

• 13:42Speaker 05

  I think it's more about the pressure and, you know, I think it's fair to give the administration some credit here. They've been, you know, putting the pressure, you know, on them on this issue for a while now. And it, it, it has had a positive effect.

• 13:59Speaker 06

  They have, you have to give them credit for that. And of course, every president has, right?

• 14:03Speaker 05

  Right, yeah, we always ask, you know, Donald Trump asks a lot and, and, and may, has made this an issue and they say they're going to do 5%. Let's see, you, let's see what actually happens. I'm cautiously optimistic. You know, I think these folks realize that

• 14:22Speaker 05

  it, it, if Putin attacks a NATO country and we wind up all of us collectively with an Article 5 obligation to defend the Baltics or Poland, um, this is going to get a lot more expensive and costly in, you know, treasure and, and lives very quickly.

• 14:41Speaker 06

  That's right. So either help, help Ukraine win or potential that the US gets dragged into a war.

• 14:46Speaker 05

  Yeah, Mick, I think it's just cheaper. I mean, I think it's the cheaper and it's, it's, it's the way to do this that has the, uh, you know, fewer downsides for us and our other.

• 15:01Speaker 04

  Senator, question, when Secretary Hegseth paused the weapon shipments that were already in Poland and other places, obviously unilaterally, how unprecedented is something like that?

• 15:17Speaker 05

  Well, I think in a conflict like this, you know, major war in Europe between our ally and one of our adversaries, it might be unprecedented. I haven't gone back to look. I mean, I think at times, you know, being the Secretary of Defense is a really hard job. I voted against Pete Hegseth. I don't think he's equipped to do this. He wasn't when we had his nomination hearing. I don't think he's equipped now. Some of my Republican colleagues now feel the same way. Some of them who voted for him said recently, if the vote was today, they wouldn't vote for him. I think at least one, maybe, maybe somebody

• 15:59Speaker 05

  else said that as well. So I don't think he's, you know, suited for this role. I think he would have been a very effective Pentagon spokesperson. He's got the experience to do that. He's really good in front of a camera. He's good at answering questions. He is not equipped to manage a $900 billion a year enterprise, and we're seeing, you know, some of the problems because he's in this position. So, yeah, he did this, seemingly without the knowledge of the White House, and it sends a message to the Russians that, you

• 16:42Speaker 05

  know, we're not totally committed, and that we are sort of in, you know, disarray between the relationship between the Pentagon and the White House, and, you know, who's running the, you know, who's running the show? Who's the commander in chief? Who's making the big decisions? This is a really big decision. There are a lot of decisions that the SecDef needs to make on a daily basis that does not involve the White House. This was not one of them.

• 17:08Speaker 06

  And Senator, that brings up another point. At least, you know, when I was there, there was a process when it came to policy decisions, right? So not just when I was there, obviously.

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• 19:04Speaker 06

  Since we've made policy in the United States, right? And National Security Council staff with people from all agencies and National Security Advisor, decisions like this were never, were never made internal to the Pentagon, you know, to cut off a partner during a conflict with key defensive weapons systems, right? So what's your thought on the fact that so many have been let go of the NSC? Right. There was a big purge there, right? Now the Secretary of State is... Ostensibly also the National Security Advisor and from my perspective, that's impossible. We can't be in two places at once and that you'd actually have a Secretary of Defense who would

• 19:43Speaker 06

  make this decisions without even informing either the Secretary of State or obviously the President of the United States. So as a broader issue, certainly disagree with cutting off aid to Ukraine, but as a broader issue when it comes to the status of policymaking inside the executive branch right now, what you're, what you're.

• 20:02Speaker 05

  Well, SecDef also fired a couple of his senior people and a couple others quit. So who is giving him advice at this point? He doesn't have the staff he needs to do this job if he was capable. And when you consider the fact that in my view, the guy's not capable to do the job and then he's got a vacuum of leadership in the front office. He, he's got some challenges he's going to face and I think things are going to get worse before they get better. And I, you know, I, I, I think the President should let him go and put somebody in there that has a lifetime of experience or at least some more experience

• 20:46Speaker 05

  in either like coming up with policy, executing policy, experience.

• 20:54Speaker 05

  You know, people don't like the revolving door, but there's something to be said for somebody who understands these systems. And you guys know, if you serve, you know, a short period of time in the military in one area as a junior officer, that does not make you qualified to be the Secretary of Defense. And I don't think anybody has, is going to check every box. I don't think you can find a person out there that does that, but you want somebody that at least checks a few of them. And so you combine the situation at the Pentagon with what is going on at the State

• 21:34Speaker 05

  Department, which you alluded to is Marco Rubio, who I believe is a capable professional, but nobody is capable of being the Secretary of Defense and the National Security Advisor at the same time. And now he's going to lay off maybe up to 2,000 or 3,000 State Department professionals who we need to manage these relationships with our allies and our adversaries. And who knows who's going to be gone? We don't know yet. We're going to find out here in a couple of days. Unrelated to national defense, you have the President just said the Secretary of Transportation is also going to be the NASA Administrator. Makes no sense.

• 22:19Speaker 05

  NASA has a 20% budget cut. They got to figure out who goes, what programs to shut down, and they're going to have a guy there that's part-time. So, you know, I just see, you know, one thing after the next is making the management and the cohesiveness and the effectiveness of our national security apparatus. It's starting to fray significantly. And I really worry about, at some point, does the whole thing crumble? And I, you know, we're going to, you know, in my job in the Senate, we're going to keep

• 23:03Speaker 05

  trying to, you know, hold the administration accountable and, you know, meet with, we had the DNI in front of the Intelligence Committee this week. I think with all the stuff going on out there and all the problems, I'd say that hearing, I felt, actually went pretty well. But there's a lot. I mean, there's a lot that we are trying to deal with in the United States Senate and the House, and the administration has made this more challenging.

• 23:34Speaker 06

  So, speaking of crumbling, if I could just add to that, because it's a good segue. And I mentioned, you know, I'm in a group of veterans that does, you know, humanitarian and everyone around the world. With the demise of USAID, it seems to me that we have kind of tossed away a lot of American soft power, which is going to be immediately filled by our most significant adversaries, specifically China and the Belt and Initiative. Russia to an extent with their military diplomacy, if you will. What's your thoughts on how this because now it's under the State Department and then there's and there's some friends that I had in the State Department, many over the

• 24:19Speaker 06

  years that would have agreed with that, actually. Certainly not agree with eliminating the USAID itself and the capacity of what it does well, right? So feeding people that are starving should be a moral, I think, obligation to any country. The United States has been, I think, exceptional at that until right now. And then developing countries so they don't become, you know, this nonstop

• 24:46Speaker 06

  need for international aid. I would I would agree with some of the criticism they get a little far off track at times on what they're funding, but their core mission, I think, I would hope, most Americans would agree with. So now that it seems to have been gone, and I don't know of the actual plan to restart it, even under the State Department. What's your thoughts on what that does at large to the US's influence overseas? At a time, you also mentioned, Senator, we're having purges in the State Department, right? What does that do to US soft power? Or is that you where is diplomacy and this, you know, aid and development part of the US foreign policy apparatus going to go from here?

• 25:30Speaker 06

  And what's the consequences if we don't get it back on track?

• 25:33Speaker 05

  Well, I think the soft power is as important as the hard power. Jim Mattis recognized that, you know, I think I said this earlier, that if the fund the State Department or a got to buy more ammunition.

• 25:47Speaker 05

  The soft power, you know, stops some conflicts from starting. You know, starving people, you know, want to leave, want to migrate, you wind up with significant problems with worldwide migration. We don't want to see kids dying. I've been in refugee camps in the Congo where there are starving children. There is nothing worse than a starving kid. And what parents having to watch their children starve to death. I remember seeing one kid. Who was seriously malnourished. And I remember saying to the, I think it was a UNICEF or UN physician. Well, that's great. The kid's here. You guys have food for the kid.

• 26:32Speaker 05

  The kid's gonna be fine. And the doctor said, not that kid. That kid's gonna die. And it was like a three or four year old. Too late. I mean, at some point, it doesn't matter if you get to the, you know, the food assistance. For some, some children, it's just too late. And now others will survive because of the generosity of the United States of America. And we've always been that country to try to help people. And it's in our best interest to do it. I was, I was talking to Cindy McCain on the train up to New York City the other day. We both happened to be on the same train. And this is John McCain's wife. And she's now the head of the World Food Program for the UN.

• 27:15Speaker 05

  And she's having to make decisions about which kids die and which get food. Because her budget was cut because we ended this assistance through USAID. So her budget went down like 40%. And most of her budget goes to buy food for children. And she's having to make these horrible decisions. Do the kids in Sudan die? Do the kids in Gaza die? Or the kids in Afghanistan or in other places in the world? We didn't have to do this. I mean, I get it that, yeah, there was things that USAID were funding that was just dumb. I mean, Sesame Street in Baghdad, did we have to do that? No.

• 28:00Speaker 05

  But, but food assistance and PEPFAR? Last year, I went with, you know, some of my other fellow senators, Lyndon Graham, Martin Heinrich, Chris Van Hollen, a couple others. We went down to South Africa to take a close look at PEPFAR. How's this working? PEPFAR was George Bush's program, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

• 28:27Speaker 05

  That program started under President Bush, 43, W. Saved the lives of like 25 million people. And we provide just medication, pretty simple. Some medication called PrEP and there's one called PEP. And if you come in and you ask for an HIV test, they, they know you, you know, you're maybe susceptible. So they put you on this medication. Well, we stopped paying for the medication. And what is happening right now is I think the number is, I think about every week in Sub-Saharan African, Africa, you wind up with about a thousand kids being born HIV positive because of this.

• 29:11Speaker 05

  A thousand children. I mean, the epidemic of AIDS is going to explode in Sub-Saharan Africa. Now, yeah, we stopped doing this. Chinese are like, what can we do to help? You know, they want to become the partner of these other countries. And I know there's people out there, there might be people watching this podcast. You know, I see this stuff online that say, well, we shouldn't be, US taxpayer money shouldn't be, you know, feeding children around the world. We should be spending that money here. Ultimately, especially over a long period of time, a more stable world, a more stable planet

• 29:54Speaker 05

  is in the best interest of all of us, including every single US taxpayer. If we can prevent a conflict from happening or stabilize a certain part of the world, provide some food, make sure you don't have millions of people dying in Sub-Saharan Africa and the instability that causes, that in the long term benefits us. The world is a volatile and chaotic and dangerous place. And we, the United States, as the leaders of the free world and leading all of our allied countries, we've done a pretty effective job.

• 30:34Speaker 05

  You know, we don't get everything right. I get it. And in programs like USA, AID, you know, there's waste, let's clean up the waste. And if there's fraud, let's prosecute people. But by shutting the entire thing down, there are, there are, I don't know what the estimate is on the numbers, but I imagine there are tens of thousands of children around the world that have died because of the decisions that this administration has.

• 31:03Speaker 06

  I think that's a fair point. And I think you made a really good point. In addition to being the just the right thing to do, it's in our own interest. Without this, we're going to have mass unregulated migration, which obviously people don't want to see. And we're going to have the new form of some diseases that are going to pop up and almost instantaneously spread around the world. Nothing's contained anymore. Right? So that's it's those are, I think, two really good points when it comes to why it's in our interest in addition to the fact that it's just, I think, a moral obligation for countries that have the amount of wealth that we actually do.

• 31:42Speaker 04

  Yeah, Senator, like, I guess we can kind of dovetail this a little bit into what's going on in the Middle East, like broader, specifically Gaza. What's happening there? Whether it's gonna be, there's gonna be a ceasefire, there's not. I mean, there's been a ton of back and forth in the press going on. Obviously, it's still on the holding pattern, more or less. What do you make of just the entire situation between Israel and Hamas and what's happening in Gaza?

• 32:14Speaker 05

  Well, it's tragic. I mean, the whole thing going all the way back to October, a year and a half ago, October, November, it was November 7, is that right?

• 32:25Speaker 06

  October 7.

• 32:26Speaker 05

  October 7. I was there a week later, meeting with family members of hostages, some of which are now deceased, some released. Meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, you know, his staff, the head of Shin Bet and Mossad and their Secretary of Defense and

• 32:47Speaker 05

  And it the entire situation is, you know, tragic. Um, you know, I think Israel has a, like any country has a right to defend itself. And what Hamas did on that day was just horrific. And they have a right to, you know, do their best to try to eliminate this threat. And I'd say the threat is not yet eliminated. You know, at the same time, the people of Palestine who are not members of Hamas, right? They're every Palestinian in there is not Hamas. Um, they're not all terrorists, you know, a lot of them are kids have suffered, you know, significantly because of this conflict.

• 33:31Speaker 05

  And at times there were things that the Israelis were doing that I did not support. Naval gunfire is one of them, incredibly inaccurate, right? It's like dropping dumb bombs. You know, I've always advocated for giving them precision guided munitions to, you know, be more accurate. But Hamas doesn't make it easy. You know, they put these, you know, I've seen video and images and, you know, they've put, uh, you know, rocket launchers, you know, in the half basements of schools. You know, you got like half of the basements underground and you got windows, you know, kind of at the top. Load them up with these, you know, rocket launchers launching, you know, unguided rockets,

• 34:14Speaker 05

  you know, in into, uh, into Tel Aviv. Many of which are intercepted, but not all of them. And it's killing Israelis and they're under threat and I, they have a right to, you know, go after, you know, these targets. But, you know, there's been some of the stuff that's been rather, um, rather sloppy. Um, you know, I fought in the first Gulf War. Uh, there were times that we dropped, I dropped unguided munitions.

• 34:41Speaker 05

  You know, when there were, when it was really important to be accurate, we didn't have JDAM kits then, but we had laser guided bombs. And, uh, we'd laser the target usually from the airplane I was flying, but sometimes from the ground. And, you know, we hit where we're aiming at. And that's not always been the case here. So I think the Israelis need to continue to evaluate their operations to try to eliminate as much as possible civilian casualties. I want to see this thing come to an end. I think the Israelis do, too. But they're also still focused on, you know, what the long-term threat from Hamas is.

• 35:24Speaker 05

  So hopefully we'll get to a ceasefire. I think there's appetite in the region. I've had this discussion with MBS. I think there's an appetite here for governments to get together and fund the rebuilding of Gaza. I think they're going to want some kind of security assistance from us. During the first Trump administration, the Abraham Accords was a rather positive thing. I think we can expand upon that. And the big threat, you know, in the Middle East is the Iranians, still is. Despite what happened two weeks ago, Iran is the threat.

• 36:08Speaker 05

  They are the coordinator, they're the bandleader of terrorism throughout the region. They coordinate the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, militias in Iraq. And they've been set back on their heels a little bit, maybe a lot, as we get more intelligence. We'll have a better idea as the weeks and months pass what the situation is with them. You know, the Israelis, give them a ton of credit. I mean, it is a lot of our technology, but flying F-35s freely over, basically, you know, more than half of the country, pretty incredible. And without...

• 36:53Speaker 05

  You know, having to deal with any surface air missile threats really because they destroyed most of them. And, you know, this airplane is, you know, very capable, low, very low signature. I was, I was flying a rather sophisticated F-35 simulator a couple of weeks ago against some Chinese fighters in a simulator, this joint simulation environment at Pax River. And it's a magic plane. I'll tell you, I, I was in a real airplane in F-16 about a year and a half ago, flying against an F-35, doing some ACM against an F-35, which F-35 doesn't do great in a turn against an F-16, but it is invisible. I mean, I could

• 37:35Speaker 05

  not see this thing. When I could visually see it, couldn't pick it up on radar. It is really something. And I think this is the first conflict that we really saw the power of this platform. The Israelis flying their F-35s over Iran.

• 37:51Speaker 06

  That's right. It's like two days they had air dominance, right?

• 37:55Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 37:55Speaker 06

  Forty-eight hours.

• 37:56Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 37:56Speaker 06

  And I would have to say some of that had to do with the good work of Mossad on the ground with some pretty impressive covert operations.

• 38:05Speaker 05

  You, you are absolutely right, Nick. I mean, we can't talk about them on the pot on this podcast, but, uh, yes, some pretty incredible stuff.

• 38:18Speaker 04

  Senator, I got a question about, uh, the rebuilding of Gaza, hopefully when there is a ceasefire and that makes sense for everybody. Um, you think Israel should kick into that fund to rebuild Gaza?

• 38:29Speaker 05

  You know, I think if, I think it's in Israel's best interest to do what it can, what it can afford, um, to try to bring stability to the, to the region and to the Palestinians. Yeah, I would, I would, I would like to see them involved in it. You know, I think, you know, we might be involved, the Saudis certainly, and the Emiratis are, you know, certainly options. I've had this, this discussion with MBS, you know, one-on-one in a tent in the middle of Saudi Arabia. And, you know, he see, he seemed rather open to it. But I, I, I do think, um, I, I think there would be some upside for the Israelis to, to do that.

• 39:15Speaker 06

  Would a MBS be open to sending a couple, you know, 10, 20,000 guys there for security assistants as well, or just write a check?

• 39:25Speaker 05

  I, you know, if we had a security agreement that included the Saudis, Israel, Emiratis, us, I think there's all kinds of options that, that the Saudis would be open to. I mean, did you ever think, like, if you went back like five or 10 years ago, did you ever think that the Saudis would intercept missiles shot by the Houthis at the Israelis? I mean, that's something I never thought we'd see, and they, you know, they, they do it. Their relationship with, you know, Israel is, I mean, it's, it's, it's solid for a number of reasons. It always could be better.

• 40:09Speaker 05

  But I think we, I think there is a lot of room to, right now, to dramatically improve the securityest situation for us and our allies in the Middle East.

• 40:23Speaker 06

  Absolutely. And D makes a good point, Senator, because ultimately, Israel is not going to leave Gaza where Hamas has any real influence or ability, of course, to, to strike it again. So there has to be some security presence that replaces the IDF for them to withdraw. Doesn't, there seems to be a lot of comments, obviously, from countries in the region, but there's not a lot of solutions that I see popping up about, okay, so who's going to train, you know, a vetted, trusted Palestinian force? So who's going to send in an intermediate multinational force? Because the answer is just, no.

• 41:00Speaker 05

  Yeah, I mean, sometimes people think, well, maybe it's the PA, the Palestinian Authority, that, that does it. But I, I don't know. I mean, that's probably not the, not the right answer. But, but D, you know, I, I say, I think there's an opportunity here for this to be a better, more secure Middle East. There's also the possibility this whole thing goes off the rails on us, in a, in a way, none of us wanted it, and we want to avoid, and that's the Iranians, you know, racing to get a nuclear weapon. That's the big, that's, that's the big unknown and the big risk here.

• 41:42Speaker 05

  And we may not know, right? The IAEA, they've been tossed.

• 41:49Speaker 05

  That's where we got a lot of our insight, not all of it, but that's where a lot of our insight came from.

• 41:54Speaker 06

  So on that.

• 41:57Speaker 06

  So on that note, um.

• 42:00Speaker 06

  To kind of go back a bit and then catch up. So when I was in the Pentagon and we were talking about potential withdrawal of the US from the JCPOA. The Pentagon was actually against it. Uh, not that we thought it was a great bill. But we thought that the criticism, you know, it didn't address the proxy support, support to terrorist organizations. It didn't support a lot of the, uh, didn't address a lot of ballistic missile concerns, right? The delivery system. Our position was, you're right, it didn't. So why don't we just sanction them for doing that? Instead of getting out of the actual bill that keeps them at 3.67% enrichment. Um, obviously we didn't win that argument. My point being is, uh, we got out of it. They've now got up to 60% um, since we withdrew.

• 42:47Speaker 06

  As I'm sure you know, you need 90% to basically get weapons grade and then you got to get a detonation mechanism and all that. But essentially, and then our proxy force operations went through the roof. Right? They, I mean, that's since then, they attacked Israel, Hamas, they've attacked, you know, the Houthis have, uh, let loose. Uh, but we are where we are, hindsight's 2020. So going forward, I would commend the, the administration for taking that strike. I thought it was the right time because of what you already said. Israel had essentially done a lot of the heavy work, not taking anything away from, uh, the guys in the B2. But the biggest issue for that operation was the air defense, right?

• 43:30Speaker 06

  And they had eliminated it. So, but I, I give them a lot of credit for taking that pretty bold step. And I do think it had significant, and you would know more, I don't, not the government anymore. Uh, significant, uh, damage against the facilities. But what are we going to need to do to ensure? Cause Iran has told us a hundred times and told us once, if you attack our nuclear facilities, we will go toward a nuclear weapon. We will try to acquire a nuclear weapon. So I think we need to take them for their word and assume that's what they're trying to do. So is this going to be a need for constant strikes to degrade their capability? Should we really try to entice them into a JCPOA

• 44:14Speaker 06

  part two that is more restrictions on them? What's your thoughts on where we go from here? Because I don't think, to your point, this is over. I don't think this is a one and done event and that we can just put that behind us.

• 44:29Speaker 05

  Yeah, well, Nick, one thing I would, you know, disagree with you a little bit on is I don't think we were at the point where we had to do the B2 strike on the day we did it, or even on the week, or maybe even on the month, that month. And it probably could have waited and we could have tried to exhaust all diplomatic options before we come in with the big hammer. Now, the big hammer was rather effective. I'll give them that. Didn't do what the president did when he went to the podium the night of the strike. I thought that was a mistake. I think it's always a mistake for a president to, before he's got the intelligence to say stuff like that. I mean, you shouldn't do that. And it put them in a bad position. So now they got to defend

• 45:11Speaker 05

  the president's words against the actual intelligence. I will say, those guys hit the target. I mean, and GBU-57, pretty, pretty big hammer. Effective, very effective weapon designed for this. I mean, for these targets. And from what we can tell, it did serious damage, significant damage. But we don't know how much U-235 is remaining where it is. And, you know, only time's going to tell as we get more intelligence from.

• 45:51Speaker 08

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• 47:36Speaker 05

  You know, what we can gather, what Mossad can gather, at some point, we'll have a better idea about how long it will take them to reconstitute an enrichment capability. Now, if they decide to race to get a nuclear weapon, they will take that program completely black, and they'll try to make sure we have no insight into it. So that's the risk we took by doing this. And only time is going to tell. I mean, if they develop a nuclear weapon, I think you can clearly say, well, that was a mistake.

• 48:11Speaker 05

  If they don't, and they've come to the table, maybe you could say, "Well, that was probably the right thing to do at the right time." And I think only time is going to be able to tell. We'll get more updated intelligence. I think right now, we continue to stress to them, like, "You can have a peaceful nuclear power capability. We will help you with this." But you have to abandon the enrichment of uranium, and you've got to give it all up. You know, anything that's more than, you know, less than 4%, you've got to give it up. And you can't do this anymore. And we've got to keep pushing them. But I'll tell you this, if we find out that they get to the point where they're getting

• 48:55Speaker 05

  really, really close to actually having a functioning, you know, weapon, and we've got it, we've got it. I think this president or any other president would be in the right to take action again. We can't let the Iranians get a nuclear weapon. They're unlike other countries. I mean, they have said they, you know, they want to wipe Israel off the map. I mean, even the North Koreans don't say stuff like this. But the situation this has put a lot of other countries in, right now, would they rather be North Korea or would they rather be Iran? You know, some countries would rather be North Korea, right? You know, have a capability and, you know, have a nuclear weapons capability and a delivery system, right? They don't want to be the Iranians.

• 49:40Speaker 05

  So I just think overall, this has put the world in a really, really challenging time. Are we going to accelerate? And before we know it, we're going to wake up one morning and there's going to be 20 countries with nuclear weapons. That's going to be a really dangerous place, and it's going to be hard to, for us and others, to just navigate it.

• 50:02Speaker 06

  That's essentially what happened if Iran got a nuclear weapon, right? It would be, there'd be nuclear arms race. There's no way Saudi and any country that can actually afford it are just gonna let Iran have a nuclear weapon and they're gonna be defenseless. So this is, this is a big, broad consequences to-

• 50:17Speaker 05

  Yes, Saudis, Emiratis. You know, they, I was in, when I was in Romania, I was at a Aegis Ashore site in southern Romania. The only reason that thing exists is to protect Europe from a nuclear weapon launched by the Iranians. That's it. You know, um, not, it's not there for Russia. There's another one in Poland. It's there, it's there for the Iranian, you know, threat. The Iranians, you know, they, they, they think anybody who's not a, a Shia Muslim should be, you know, converted or dead, including Sunnis, including the Saudis. I mean, the biggest threat to Saudi

• 50:58Speaker 05

  Arabia. It's not, you know, some people might, I mean, if you went out on the street and randomly asked an American, they might say, well, it's Israel. It's not Israel, it's the Iranians.

• 51:09Speaker 07

  Senator-

• 51:09Speaker 06

  Jay, you had something, yeah.

• 51:10Speaker 07

  Yeah. Really quick, uh, staying in that, in the region and capabilities. What are your thoughts on the recent, I want to believe it was a bill that was introduced, uh, I don't know where it's gotten, to possibly give Israel their own B2s to, uh, uh, take on Iran? I, I think, I see by your-

• 51:31Speaker 05

  Jason, whose bill was this?

• 51:34Speaker 06

  It was two congressmen, two congressmen in the House, uh, both a Democrat and a Republican.

• 51:39Speaker 05

  I mean, who, you-

• 51:40Speaker 06

  Absolute bad-

• 51:41Speaker 05

  Do you know these knuckleheads' names? Who are these guys?

• 51:44Speaker 06

  I can find it.

• 51:45Speaker 05

  I mean, it, it, it is, it's ridiculous. I mean, we're, we're not gonna, we're not gonna do that. I mean, I'm gonna look into it next week and, you know, see, maybe I need to pick up the phone and call these guys and say, what are, what are you guys thinking?

• 52:01Speaker 06

  I think one of their congressmen from New York, aren't they?

• 52:05Speaker 04

  It's uh. Well, uh, one's from, excuse me, from New Jersey. Okay. So one is from New York. Not great. Uh, I'm from New York, Senator.

• 52:14Speaker 06

  Jersey.

• 52:15Speaker 04

  The bill.

• 52:15Speaker 06

  I think you can tell, man. I think you can tell.

• 52:17Speaker 05

  I grew up in New Jersey.

• 52:18Speaker 06

  It's what that's worth.

• 52:19Speaker 04

  Yeah. It's called the bunker buster act that was proposed to give the B two bombers and bunker buster bombs to Israel. Sponsors of the bill, according to New York Post and Washington Examiner includes Representative Josh Gothimer from Democrat from New Jersey and Mike Lawler, Republican from New York.

• 52:36Speaker 05

  Yeah. Well, I know, I know them both. I know Josh pretty well. I know Lawler too.

• 52:43Speaker 05

  Josh just ran for governor in New Jersey, lost in the primary to Mikey Sherrill.

• 52:48Speaker 05

  I'll have a talk with Josh. We're not, that's, that's not, that's, that's a ridiculous idea. We're not going to give anybody B two bombers, a strategic bomber that could fly halfway around the world and drop bombs. I mean, that's a capability we need to keep for ourselves. Chinese don't have it. Russians don't have it. You know, their bear and, you know, blackjack bombers cannot do what the B two can do. And by the way, we're building the replacement for the B two right now, the B twenty one. It's.

• 53:17Speaker 06

  B twenty one.

• 53:17Speaker 05

  Um, that is, um, you know, for a number of reasons, it's even more capable than the B two.

• 53:26Speaker 05

  You know, when, when needed to support an ally, the right moment, for the right reason,

• 53:35Speaker 05

  we've got trained pilots and we can put those planes into action.

• 53:41Speaker 06

  Exactly. So in a broader question, Senator, especially since you're on the Armed Services Committee, future of warfare, right? So I'm, I've been out of the business for a while, but I talked to my friends and they are absolutely blown away by the level and the speed of which technology is.

• 54:01Speaker 06

  Um, changing the face of the battlefield. Bottom line drones, cheap, um, innovative lethal as hell, blowing up, you know, 16 million dollar tanks with, you know, 20,000 or less, uh, uh, you know, worth of drones. Where do you see us going? Are we, are we in the right position that we're balancing? You know, our big ticket items, the, the legacy type stuff, the, you know, aircraft carriers, which obviously get a lot of flak nowadays, and you might have something to say about that. But with this, uh, also trying to keep up with what a friend called the, the post heroic era

• 54:43Speaker 06

  of military operation. And what he means by that is there aren't going to be people involved. Right? We're going to see first wave of drones. We're going to see house carrier clearings and compound clearings with nothing but drones, which is already getting close to that. Where do you think, one, this is going? And then has your role as a, as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, kind of looking at the future of American national security? Are we in the right place? Obviously, we're spending a lot of money with 1.1 trillion now with the supplemental and all that.

• 55:17Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 55:18Speaker 06

  But are we spending it on the right, in the right way? I guess is my.

• 55:22Speaker 05

  So let me, let me start by saying as a naval aviator, you know, guy flew up the aircraft carrier. I've got like 375 carrier landings and a lot of flight time. Um, I feel very fortunate to having lived between Orville and Wilbur and whoever that last pilot is. And that last guy, that last fighter pilot. It's possible that person's born already today? Probably not, but they're, they're coming. You know, eventually we will get to the point where we can do what we can now with man fighters, with unmanned systems. I don't think we're there yet. And I think it's, there's a lot of lessons we have.

• 56:06Speaker 05

  Learned from what has gone on between Russia and Ukraine and a lot of innovation on the battlefield that we've seen and it's helped us plan ahead for future warfare. But I think it's also important that we keep in mind if it was our fight against the Russians in Europe, it would not look the same as the Ukrainians against the Russians. We would have very early on worked really hard to suppress the enemy air defenses to get air superiority. I think you'd see something more like Israel around if it was our fight in the eastern part of Ukraine.

• 56:49Speaker 05

  So I don't think, you know, remember when Elon Musk say we should get rid of the F-35? Well, in hindsight, that looks pretty ridiculous. I said at the time, that's ridiculous. We shouldn't get rid of the F-35 and after closely looking at the problem in the Western Pacific against the Chinese, I think it's the right thing right now to continue and build NGAD, the F-47. We need an asymmetric capability to penetrate the A2AD bubble, the anti-axis aerial denial bubble that the Chinese have created in the Western Pacific. And unless you have complete control over the electromagnetic spectrum, complete control,

• 57:33Speaker 05

  and you have artificial intelligence that we don't have today, you're not going to do this with unmanned systems against that kind of threat. The nice thing about the guy in the box is when things go to shit and they really start to fall apart, you got a dude in there that can figure it out and still like maybe get the bombs on the target. And we need that and I think we're going to need that for maybe another decade or two. But eventually we'll see more unmanned systems. Now, the drone thing, are we doing what we need to do? I think we are. We have a, the Army has a program called Project Replicator. To get us to where we can get up to being able to build like 20,000 drones in a year.

• 58:18Speaker 05

  I think that might be the number. Do we need to build 20,000 drones in a month? No. Because in a conflict where we might need those drones five years from now, the technology five years from now is going to be so much better, we're not going to want five-year-old drones. Right? We're going to want the newest thing with the latest stuff and the latest munitions and the latest artificial intelligence and electronic warfare capabilities. That's what we're going to want. Now, talking about our budget, it's challenging to figure out where to spend the money. Depends on the threat. Right? And we have pivoted to,

• 58:59Speaker 05

  well, let's be prepared if we ever had to go to war with China. And that's a little bit different than Russia. You know, you've got to figure out what's the, you know, Marine Corps and Army and how do their roles change? The Marine Corps, you guys are Marines, designed to be amphibious force, but for the last 20 years, the Marine Corps has basically been a ground army. So how do we get back to the amphibious capability that the Marine Corps, you know, once had? So we have to build amphibes. There's a big thing by Dan Sullivan, Senator from Alaska, often talking about the amphibes and we need to build more amphibes.

• 59:38Speaker 05

  But we also need longer-range missiles and some hypersonic missile capability. I often have to remind my colleagues in the Senate that, because they get sometimes wrapped around this idea of these hypersonic missiles that they have and we don't have and their missiles go faster than ours. There's a little bit to be said for that. But the bottom line is the thing that matters the most is the probability of killing the target, the P sub K of the weapon system. So we've got to make some hard decisions. Sometimes I think we're doing things that we shouldn't be doing. You know, one of my big pet peeves is we're marching along with this administration, it started in Trump I,

• 1:00:24Speaker 05

  to build a tactical nuclear

• 1:00:27Speaker 05

  Weapon, the slickum, sea-launched cruise missile, a nuclear version for Virginia-class submarines. The Virginia-class submarine is the best submarine in the world, and if we wind up in a conflict with China in the Western Pacific, we're gonna need every torpedo that we can possibly cram into that submarine, with a high probability that we're gonna use the entire magazine. And if you load it up with a few nukes, and you gotta put the Marines onboard to guard them, maybe, like we normally do, and you're still probably not gonna use the tactical nuclear weapon. So it's gonna reduce the capability of the submarine. So there's an example of a program I would like to see go away.

• 1:01:08Speaker 05

  So, when we do the, like, we just had the markup of the Defense Bill, and we're in there trying to figure out some of these, like, you know, where should our priorities be? It's all about priorities. And, um, you know, there's often hard decisions to make, and we don't have an unlimited defense budget. We got a big defense budget. Um, part of the time, I think, I mean, when you consider the debt load we're operating under, we should figure out how to constrain the spending some, and get rid of programs that we clearly don't need. I could probably come up with a list of stuff we could just, you know, toss out. The four of us, and maybe a couple of your buddies and a couple of my buddies,

• 1:01:51Speaker 05

  we could go through on, like, an afternoon and talk about some things, and say, "Well, we probably don't need that, we don't need that, why don't we toss these out, why don't we..." But that's not how Congress works. And then you have all the defense lobbyists out there, so we've got challenges ahead. Confident we can get through this. Um, and then, you know, ultimately, what I would like to see is somebody who's, you know, fought in combat, you guys have been involved in these kind of things, is we gotta, we gotta make choices, you know, that are in the best interest of our country and our allies, to some extent, and also try to stay out of conflicts. I don't wanna see us going to war against China. If we go to war against China, there's no winner.

• 1:02:34Speaker 06

  It's like a knife fight. Everybody's a loser.

• 1:02:38Speaker 05

  Everybody's a loser. Yeah.

• 1:02:39Speaker 06

  Yeah, everybody's a loser.

• 1:02:40Speaker 04

  Senator, I have a question about the defense budget that was just passed. Was there anything in there allocated towards like base security and stuff like that? Because we saw what happened with Operation Spider Web and stuff like that where, you know, an enemy with a lot less means and resources was able to cause up, you know, tens of billions of dollars worth of damage, irreplaceable damage too, right? Like, how are they going to replace those bombers and those, oh my God, the ones with the satellite dish on the top?

• 1:03:11Speaker 05

  Yeah, their version of AWACS. Yeah.

• 1:03:13Speaker 04

  Yeah, the AWACS. Yes, yeah.

• 1:03:15Speaker 05

  Yeah. Um, yeah, I mean, we're especially with regards to drone technology, which is, you know, just all over the place. So we're trying to invest more money in counter UAS systems.

• 1:03:33Speaker 05

  And we are, we have these systems already. It's just, you know, a matter of making them more capable. And to be able to deal with swarms of drones, that's when it gets really challenging. You might need to do it with a big like microwave system that can, you know, point a big direction, you flip a switch and electronics are fried. So we're working on things like this.

• 1:03:59Speaker 04

  Senator, sorry. Okay, Jay, go ahead. Go ahead.

• 1:04:02Speaker 07

  Oh, sorry. Senator, I know, well, these guys know I'm a huge aviation, military aviation geek, so all this is really, really awesome. So you just mentioned AWACS, airborne early warning and control. I'm sure you're familiar with the E7 platform that the Pentagon was, is now looking to cancel. Do you think that that's a mistake?

• 1:04:30Speaker 05

  It's not something I'm tracking closely with regards to the capability. You know, the fact that you bring it up, I'm gonna look into it. And we need an early, you know, warning, you know, system. We need a big picture of the, you know, the air picture is incredibly important in any conflict. You know, some of that stuff, we're trying to, we're figuring out how to do it different ways. So that factors into their decision.

• 1:05:02Speaker 05

  We're also looking at the, you know, the wedge tail from the Australians.

• 1:05:09Speaker 05

  But yeah, that's something I haven't been tracking closely enough, but I should.

• 1:05:14Speaker 07

  From what I, well, from what I've read, Air Force is looking as an option to the E7 was using five E2 Hawkers, which I know you're familiar with.

• 1:05:25Speaker 05

  Depends on which version you're gonna use.

• 1:05:27Speaker 07

  Yeah, I think the D is the latest. Am I right on that?

• 1:05:30Speaker 05

  Yeah, the D is much more capable than the E2C, which is the one that was, you know, flying out the aircraft carrier when I was doing that stuff.

• 1:05:39Speaker 07

  Yeah.

• 1:05:40Speaker 05

  Yeah, it's, it's, it's pretty capable. The radar appears to work well, which didn't always on the E2C.

• 1:05:50Speaker 06

  So you did bring up China, which we were remiss for not bringing up one of our most significant adversaries. But what I would say to my friends who focus almost exclusively on the threat to China, and I'm not saying that they're wrong in that, but that it's all connected. So I'd like to hear your thoughts on this because we're constantly hearing, shift everything to the Indo-Pacific. It's, you know, the Europeans could deal with Russia. My argument is, look, if we let Russia beat Ukraine, the chances of something bad happening in the Indo-Pacific, the potential blockade or invasion of Taiwan goes up significantly because it shows that we're a really shitty. Partner.

• 1:06:31Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:06:32Speaker 06

  Uh, and then we want to come when the, you know, when it, when it actually comes down to it, you can't rely on us. So every time you say that, you're basically enhancing the very threat that you claim to be the most, I'm going to get a lot of crap with this, but I'm, this is what I hear almost every day. So I'd like to hear your thoughts from, again, the committees are on and the positions are in, in Washington, when it comes to the interconnectedness, because I do think China and Russia, all things is connected, but from us to all the threats that we face, uh, you know, to not just us, but our allies around the world, in this case, Japan and South Korea, for example.

• 1:07:08Speaker 05

  Yeah. Well, after Russia, Ukraine and us, the country that's looking at this more closely than any other country than whoever the fifth country might be, and it might be North Korea, because they've got troops fighting there now, uh, and are benefiting from this, but it's China. I mean, China is watching everything that goes on, as much information as they can get. They've got think tanks throughout, you know, China that's, you know, evaluating, you know, options and what does this mean? What does it mean for the United States commitment to sovereignty in Taiwan, or at least a commitment to abide by our agreement, um, that we, you know, made decades

• 1:07:50Speaker 05

  ago, um, which means we don't recognize them as a, you know, country. There's one China. We don't say what's China that is, uh, and we provide some security assistance. That's been the plan and it's been rather ambiguous and I think it should stay that way. Um, but if we abandon the Ukrainians and let the alliance that we built fall apart, they're going to think, well, they're not going to be able to hold an alliance together in the Western Pacific between, you know, us, the Australians, the, you know, the South Koreans, um, the Japanese, that, that, that would in time would come apart too. So I think it would then make it maybe more likely

• 1:08:34Speaker 05

  for them to take a run at Taiwan. I don't think it's inevitable that in 2027 that the Chinese attack Taiwan and try to, you know, repatriate the whole country. I don't think that's necessarily going to happen. I think the best way to keep it from happening is for us to show resolve in other places, including in Ukraine, that we're not going to give up on an ally of ours. And we can build a incredibly strong coalition that the Russians can't break. I think that sends a really strong message. So I think, I think Mick, you're right that this stuff

• 1:09:18Speaker 05

  is interconnected. And I think a lot of ways that, you know, people going about their daily lives don't even pay attention to or understand, and they shouldn't really have to. You know, we should be able to, you know, run an effective enough operation. It's been challenging over the last several months, but, you know, as a US government that we can hold these things together, hold our alliances together, support our friends, counter our foes, and do it in a way that is, you know, somewhat affordable to the American taxpayer.

• 1:09:54Speaker 04

  Yeah. Hey, you guys got anything else?

• 1:09:57Speaker 06

  Oh, if we're about done, I got one more thing.

• 1:10:00Speaker 04

  Please.

• 1:10:01Speaker 06

  So every once in a while, Senator, I try to impose some Irish-American propaganda in here. So I figured I had to do it today with the Kelly. So I, and I just checked these numbers. The Irish-American population is about 9% of the US, according to.

• 1:10:18Speaker 05

  More Irish in the United States than in Ireland.

• 1:10:21Speaker 06

  That's right. A lot. 32 million, I believe, Irish. What percentage of the Medal of Honors?

• 1:10:31Speaker 08

  Instagram teen accounts have automatic protections for what teens see and who can contact them. Plus, time management tools. And Instagram will continue adding built-in safety features to help create age-appropriate experiences. Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to protect teens online at instagram.com/teenaccounts.

• 1:11:02Speaker 09

  Migraine makes me miss out on the moments that matter. So I asked my doctor about saying yep to VYAPT, eptinezumab, JJMR, an IV infusion given every three months that helps prevent migraine attacks in adults.

• 1:11:14Speaker 10

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• 1:11:36Speaker 09

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• 1:11:44Speaker 12

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• 1:12:17Speaker 06

  From the United States, from the beginning to now, has gone to an Irish American.

• 1:12:23Speaker 05

  But because you're asking...

• 1:12:26Speaker 06

  It's gonna be high, right?

• 1:12:27Speaker 05

  Because you're asking the question, it's high. I'm gonna say 30%.

• 1:12:35Speaker 06

  Jay, what's your card?

• 1:12:37Speaker 07

  Yeah, I was gonna say about 25%.

• 1:12:40Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 1:12:41Speaker 04

  I'm gonna say 45, 45%.

• 1:12:44Speaker 06

  58%.

• 1:12:45Speaker 04

  Jesus.

• 1:12:46Speaker 06

  58%. So sorry, use that next St. Patty's Day speech your ass to give. It's a fact, you can look it up.

• 1:12:52Speaker 05

  Those Irish, they're badasses.

• 1:12:55Speaker 04

  He always has to drop in some proper Irish propaganda.

• 1:12:58Speaker 06

  It's genetic, I can't help it.

• 1:13:00Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 1:13:01Speaker 06

  And as was told to me about Valor Awards, great initiative, questionable judgment.

• 1:13:09Speaker 05

  That's funny. Well, well, guys, I enjoyed being on. Look forward to coming back. Keep doing what you're doing. I hear good things. I'll start. I'll start listening. I haven't listened before, but I, I think I'll tune in now.

• 1:13:20Speaker 04

  All right. Good. Very much for the pre. Well, we got an extra subscriber right there.

• 1:13:25Speaker 05

  There you go.

• 1:13:27Speaker 04

  Which is great. Senator, thanks a lot, Senator Mark Kelly, of course. I don't think you need a plug for anything. You can go check him out at Capitol Hill. He's out there fighting the good fight.

• 1:13:37Speaker 05

  Thank you. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

• 1:13:39Speaker 04

  Thanks. Thank you. Thank you.

• 1:13:42Jack Murphy?

  Hey, guys, it's Jack. I just want to talk to you for a moment about how you can support the show. If you've been watching it, enjoying it, but you'd like to get a little bit more involved and help us continue to do this, you can check out our Patreon. It is patreon.com/the Team House. And for $5 a month, you can get access to all of these episodes of The Team House ad free. The same goes with our affiliated podcast Eyes On with Andy Milburn, Jason Lyons, McMulroy. That one, you will also get all of those episodes ad free. And you support the channel and the show, and we really appreciate it. The Patreon members are literally what has helped this company, this small business survive, especially during our early years.

• 1:14:27Jack Murphy?

  And you are what continues to help this thing going, even as we navigate the turbulent world of YouTube advertising. So we really appreciate all of you guys. There's going to be a link down in the description to that Patreon page. And there is also going to be a link to our new merch shop. So if you guys want to go and get some Team House merchandise, we got stickers, and we also have patches. And I should mention, if you sign up for Patreon at $10 a month, we will mail you this patch as well. So we really appreciate that. But they're also for sale on the merch shop. And additionally, they got t-shirts up there,

• 1:15:06Jack Murphy?

  water bottles, a tote bag, coffee mugs, all that good stuff. So please go and check them out and support the show. We really appreciate it, guys. Thank you.

• 1:15:17Speaker 08

  Instagram teen accounts have automatic protections for what teens see and who can contact them, plus time management tools. And Instagram will continue adding built-in safety features to help create age-appropriate experiences.

• 1:15:34Speaker 08

  Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to protect teens online at instagram.com/teenaccounts.

• 1:15:47Speaker 09

  Migraine makes me miss out on the moments that matter. So I asked my doctor about saying yep to VYAPT, eptinezumab, JJMR, an IV infusion given every three months that helps prevent migraine attacks in adults.

• 1:15:59Speaker 10

  Don't receive if allergic to VYAPT. Get help right away for allergic reactions like rash, swelling of face, lips, tongue, or throat, trouble breathing, hives, or facial redness. Tell your doctor if you have constipation that is severe or associated with severe or constant belly pain or swelling, vomiting, or bloating. If you have increased blood pressure, or color changes, pain, or numbness in fingers or toes. Common side effects are stuffy nose, scratchy throat, and allergic reactions.

• 1:16:21Speaker 09

  Tap the ad to see how many migraine-free days you might reclaim and see the full prescribing information at vyapt.com.

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• 1:17:19Speaker 08

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• 1:17:27Speaker 08

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• 1:17:40Speaker 09

  Migraine makes me miss out on the moments that matter. So I asked my doctor about saying yep to VYAPT. Eptinezumab, JJMR, an IV infusion given every three months that helps prevent migraine attacks in adults.

• 1:17:52Speaker 10

  Don't receive if allergic to VYAPT. Get help right away for allergic reactions like rash, swelling of face, lips, tongue, or throat, trouble breathing, hives, or facial redness. Tell your doctor if you have constipation that is severe or associated with severe or constant belly pain or swelling, vomiting, or bloating. If you have increased blood pressure or color changes, pain, or numbness in fingers or toes. Common side effects are stuffy nose, scratchy throat, and allergic reactions.

• 1:18:14Speaker 09

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• 1:18:49Speaker 03

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• 1:19:02Speaker 08

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• 1:19:11Speaker 08

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• 1:19:19Speaker 08

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• 1:19:33Speaker 09

  Migraine makes me miss out on the moments that matter. So I asked my doctor about saying yep to VYAPT. Eptinezumab, JJMR, an IV infusion given every three months that helps prevent migraine attacks in adults.

• 1:19:44Speaker 10

  Don't receive if allergic to VYAPT. Get help right away for allergic reactions like rash, swelling of face, lips, tongue, or throat, trouble breathing, hives, or facial redness. Tell your doctor if you have constipation that is severe or associated with severe or constant belly pain or swelling, vomiting, or bloating. If you have increased blood pressure or color changes, pain, or numbness in fingers or toes. Common side effects are stuffy nose, scratchy throat, and allergic reactions.

• 1:20:07Speaker 09

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• 1:20:39Speaker 03

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• 1:21:02Speaker 08

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• 1:21:10Speaker 08

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• 1:21:23Speaker 09

  Migraine makes me miss out on the moments that matter. So I asked my doctor about saying yep to VYAPT. Eptinezumab, JJMR, an IV infusion given every three months that helps prevent migraine attacks in adults.

• 1:21:35Speaker 10

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• 1:21:57Speaker 09

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  ZOLAR 150mg is a prescription medication used to treat food allergy in people one year of age and older to reduce allergic reactions due to accidental exposure to one or more foods. While taking ZOLAR, you should continue to avoid all foods to which you are allergic. Don't use if you are allergic to ZOLAR. ZOLAR may cause a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Tell your doctor if you ever had anaphylaxis. Get help right away if you have trouble breathing or if you have swelling of your throat or tongue. ZOLAR should not be used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. ZOLAR is for maintenance use to reduce allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, while avoiding food allergens. Serious side effects such as cancer, fever, muscle aches and rash, parasitic infection, or hardened circulation problems have been reported. Please see zolar.com for full prescribing information. Ask an allergist about ZOLAR. This is an advertisement for ZOLAR

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• 1:23:37Speaker 02

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• 1:24:02Speaker 03

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