At the Water's Edge

At the Water's Edge

Exploring American Security Policy

The At the Water’s Edge Podcast explores national security and geopolitics from an insider’s perspective, looking at how national power, industrial policy, diplomacy, and military might shape our world and America’s place in it.

The Neuroscience of Suicidal Ideation: Why the Brain Can't See a Way Out
At the Water's EdgeSeptember 17, 202600:29:59

The Neuroscience of Suicidal Ideation: Why the Brain Can't See a Way Out

What's actually happening in someone's brain in the moments before they decide to end their life? Lindsey Gray, Suicide Prevention Manager at Wounded Warrior Project, breaks down the neuroscience — why the prefrontal cortex goes offline, why the amygdala floods the system with threat signals, and wh...

October 7 Was “A Reenactment,” Not a Rupture | Robert Malley
At the Water's EdgeSeptember 14, 202600:58:58

October 7 Was “A Reenactment,” Not a Rupture | Robert Malley

Rob Malley has spent three decades inside the peace process he now argues was never built to succeed. He negotiated at Camp David under President Clinton, led Obama's Iran nuclear negotiations that produced the JCPOA, served as Biden's Special Envoy for Iran, and ran the International Crisis Group. ...

Iran Now Controls the Red Sea's Only Oil Bypass | Robert Pape
At the Water's EdgeSeptember 13, 202600:54:03

Iran Now Controls the Red Sea's Only Oil Bypass | Robert Pape

The Houthis have seized control of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — and with the US Navy already stretched thin in the Strait of Hormuz, there's no clear path to reopening it. Professor Robert Pape returns to break down how we got here: Iran's methodical, multi-pronged campaign to choke of...

Bin Laden Lost the War. America is Still Paying the Price
At the Water's EdgeSeptember 11, 202600:26:38

Bin Laden Lost the War. America is Still Paying the Price

Twenty-five years after 9/11, one question still doesn't have a clean answer: did Osama bin Laden actually win? In this solo episode, Scott Kelly goes goal-by-goal through what bin Laden said he wanted — U.S. troops out of Saudi Arabia, an end to support for Israel, toppled Arab regimes, a global ca...

He Wanted to Die. Surviving Changed Everything
At the Water's EdgeSeptember 10, 202600:58:50

He Wanted to Die. Surviving Changed Everything

Zach Tidwell enlisted in the Marine Corps wanting to go to war — and missed it. What followed was an affair, a traumatic brain injury, and a depression he refused to talk about, convinced he could just decide his way through it the same way he'd decided his way through infantry training. In March 20...

The Iran War Exposed America’s Real Weakness | Sean O’Keefe
At the Water's EdgeSeptember 08, 202600:58:02

The Iran War Exposed America’s Real Weakness | Sean O’Keefe

Sean O'Keefe returns for his third appearance on the show — and this time, he's not pulling punches. Three months into the war with Iran, the former Secretary of the Navy and NASA Administrator makes the case that nobody in Washington can articulate what winning actually looks like. Not the White Ho...

A Culture of Silence: The Real Crisis Behind the Army Secretary’s Exit
At the Water's EdgeSeptember 04, 202600:20:37

A Culture of Silence: The Real Crisis Behind the Army Secretary’s Exit

Dan Driscoll just resigned as Army Secretary after eighteen months — the shortest tenure in the role's modern history. That alone is a story. But he's the latest name on a list of more than 80 senior military leaders forced out or sidelined since January 2025, a purge with no precedent in the post-W...

Iran Has Put America in a No-Win Scenario | Robert Pape
At the Water's EdgeSeptember 01, 202600:44:15

Iran Has Put America in a No-Win Scenario | Robert Pape

Six months into the Iran war, the exchange of fire over the Strait of Hormuz just restarted. Professor Robert Pape returns to break down why the U.S. strike on Larak Island and Iran's retaliation against Jordan (and reportedly the UAE) aren't tit-for-tat — they're a denial strategy straight out of h...

The 82nd Airborne Just Revealed How Long This War Could Last
At the Water's EdgeAugust 31, 202600:14:43

The 82nd Airborne Just Revealed How Long This War Could Last

We're Not Leaving: What the 82nd Airborne's Year-Long Extension Tells Us About the Iran War The 82nd Airborne Division exists to deploy anywhere in the world within 18 hours. This week, its command team told paratrooper families their CENTCOM deployment is extending to a full year — and buried in th...

Trump's Trade War Could Starve His Own War Machine
At the Water's EdgeAugust 28, 202600:18:14

Trump's Trade War Could Starve His Own War Machine

Trump just invoked a Depression-era tariff statute that's never been used at this scale — against the one G7 ally that's a sole-source supplier for the U.S. Army's artillery propellant and a critical link in the F-35 supply chain. Scott breaks down the actual USMCA timeline, which of the administrat...