“When it came time to take on the Iranians, we weren’t ready.”
America spent decades preparing for wars expected to be short, fast and technologically decisive. Instead, years of smaller conflicts depleted critical munitions faster than the United States and its allies could replace them.
Jim Townsend, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy in the Obama administration, calls it “death by a thousand cuts.” He explains why Patriot interceptors are now so difficult to spare, why European governments are reluctant to surrender their remaining stocks to Ukraine and why rebuilding those arsenals will take years.
The conversation also examines whether President Donald Donald Trump can avoid strategic defeat in Iran, how the midterm elections are shaping his options, whether political priorities could drive U.S. troop reductions in Europe and what Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner may encounter in a stronger, less malleable Ukraine.
Townsend also reflects on Washington’s response to Russia’s invasion of Georgia, the Obama administration’s Russia reset and why his warnings about Moscow were sometimes dismissed as those of a “Cold Warrior.”
