Axis of Aggressors: Confronting America’s Authoritarian Adversaries

A livestream of the conversation will begin here at 2:30pm ET on Thursday, September 17. For questions about FDD events, please contact [email protected]. For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]. The United States is confronting one of the most dangerous geostrategic environments since 1945. China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are deepening cooperation across economic, cyber, technology, and military domains. That cooperation is making each adversary more formidable and increasing the odds the United States will confront simultaneous major wars. Many longstanding U.S. policies and assumptions are now dangerously outdated. How have China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea been cooperating? What are the consequences of that cooperation? And what grand strategy must Washington adopt to strengthen American security, bolster allies and partners, and weaken the Axis? The newly released book, Axis of Aggressors: Countering the Cooperation of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, answers these questions. Axis of Aggressors has been widely praised by foreign policy experts. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the book provides “a clear understanding of this Axis of Aggressors, as well as the urgent steps our nation must take to deter our adversaries.” Matt Pottinger, former deputy national security advisor, calls the book “a gift to concerned citizens, strategists, and lawmakers,” noting that “[i]f Washington had heeded a book like this in the 1930s, we might have forestalled much of the bloodshed of the 1940s.” To discuss Axis of Aggressors and the growing threat posed by America’s authoritarian adversaries, FDD hosts a fireside chat with Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the Senate Committee on Finance, and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The fireside chat will be followed by a panel featuring Bradley L. Bowman, Elaine K. Dezenski, and RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, all senior leaders at FDD’s Centers on American Power and authors of Axis of Aggressors. The panel will be moderated by NBC News’ Dan De Luce with introductory remarks delivered by Ryan Brobst, deputy director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power. Related Analysis Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) serves on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Committees on Finance and Commerce, Science, and Transportation. He served three terms representing Indiana’s ninth district before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016. Prior to Congress, he worked at the Heritage Foundation and as a legislative assistant for former Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN). In 1995, he accepted a commission in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he trained as a rifle commander and served as an intelligence officer. He was honorably discharged as a Captain in 2000. Ryan Brobst Ryan Brobst serves as deputy director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power. His research focuses on U.S. defense strategy and policy, including U.S. military posture, the defense industrial base, arms transfers, military exercises, and security cooperation with allies and partners. Prior to joining FDD, he served as a graduate research assistant at the Hoover Institution and Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation. He has published in Defense News and Breaking Defense, Defense One, and has been featured in The New York Times and NBC News. Dan De Luce Dan De Luce is a national security and global affairs reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit. Prior to NBC, he was Foreign Policy’s chief national security correspondent. He joined FP in June 2015 after working as Pentagon correspondent for Agence France-Presse. Prior to that, he reported for the Guardian from Iran until he was expelled by the regime in 2004. After the end of communist rule in Eastern Europe, he worked as a freelance journalist in Prague. He covered the war in former Yugoslavia for Reuters from 1993 to 1995 before serving as Sarajevo bureau chief after the conflict. Bradley Bowman Bradley Bowman serves as senior director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power. He spent nearly nine years in the U.S. Senate, including six years as the top defense advisor to Senator Kelly Ayotte, then-senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Readiness and Management Support Subcommittee. He served as national security advisor to Senator Todd Young and worked as a Council on Foreign Relations international affairs fellow on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He also served more than 15 years on active-duty as a U.S. Army officer, including time as a Black Hawk pilot and as an assistant professor at West Point, where he taught courses in U.S. foreign policy, grand strategy, and American politics. He is co-author of the book Axis of Aggressors: Countering the Cooperation of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Elaine Dezenski Elaine Dezenski serves as senior director and head of FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power. She is an expert on geopolitical risk, economic statecraft, supply chain resilience, illicit finance, and anti-corruption. She served in senior roles at the World Economic Forum, Interpol, and Cross Match Technologies. She served as deputy and acting assistant secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security and head of its office of Cargo and Trade Policy. She is co-author of the book Axis of Aggressors: Countering the Cooperation of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery serves as senior director and is a senior fellow at FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation and directs CSC 2.0, which implements the recommendations of the congressionally mandated Cyberspace Solarium Commission, where he served as executive director. He served as policy director for the Senate Armed Services Committee and served for 32 years in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear-trained surface warfare officer, retiring in 2017. He is co-author of the book Axis of Aggressors: Countering the Cooperation of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.