Biography

H. R. McMaster is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He was the 26th assistant to the president for National Security Affairs. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy and served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for thirty-four years before retiring as a Lieutenant General in June 2018.

He is the author of Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World and Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Lies that Led to Vietnam. 

Times

• 03:10 - Introduction
• 04:02 - Biography
• 06:35 - Leading Eagle Troop
• 08:16 - Post Cold War preparation for Desert Shield and Desert Storm
• 15:17 - The Battle of the 73 Easting
• 23:17 - Advantages of the American military
• 26:12 - Overconfidence in American military dominance
• 29:16 - China's reaction to the Gulf War and technological development
• 32:30 - China's tactics
• 35:04 - The Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan

Recorded August 31, 2021