When news emerged from Lebanon recently that several thousand pagers belonging to members of Hezbollah had exploded, observers quickly began piecing together an assessment of what happened. It looked to be an Israeli intelligence operation—and a wildly successful one, both operationally and psychologically. But why did Israel pick now to conduct it? Is it likely to become just another episode in an ongoing shadow war between Israel and Hezbollah or lead to a dramatic escalation? And how is Hezbollah likely to respond to this glaring failure in its operational security? Colin P. Clarke, director of research at the Soufan Group and a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, joins this episode to share his insights.

The MWI Podcast is produced with the generous support of the West Point Class of 1974.

Would Patton be an effective battlefield commander today? Do the characteristics of successful commanders generally remain constant over time? Or do they evolve alongside—and in response to—the changing character of warfare? And if they do change, what traits will commanders need on the battlefields of today and tomorrow? Dr. Anthony King, the author of the book Command: The Twenty-First-Century General, joins this episode to discuss these questions and more.

For weeks, after an Israeli strike that killed a senior Hezbollah commander and the killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran, tensions between Israel and Iran have spiked. So far, Iran has yet to follow through on its threats to retaliate against Israel. But these heightened tensions, like the period earlier this year when Israel killed senior officers from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps at a diplomatic facility in Syria and Iran responded by launching hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel, are inflection points in a broader regional rivalry between the two states. Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council, joins this episode to examine that rivalry.

The MWI Podcast is produced with the generous support of the West Point Class of 1974.