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Larry Johnson on Houthis, hypersonics, and the fatal error

Larry Johnson, the ex-CIA analyst, made his case in a laid-back chat with Brandon J. Weichert, straw hat, floral shirt and all. His take on the Red Sea standoff was blunt: the Houthis battled two carrier strike groups and, as he put it, 'won.' Washington spun it as victory and Houthi surrender, which Johnson called so ridiculous he wished Monty Python could still lampoon it. Shifting to the Strait of Hormuz, he said pulling back like the U.S. did from the Red Sea wouldn't be catastrophic, just humiliating, a naked walk of shame with the world already laughing. Then he dug into the supply-side mess: 78% of all DoD advanced munitions need rare earth minerals or tungsten, and China owns that chain. On top of that, America might have one operational hypersonic missile crawling to Mach 6, while China and Russia are firing maneuverable Mach 15 weapons. The real gap, he argued, isn't kit but mindset, U.S. analysts keep getting outflanked because they don't grasp how the other side sees the world, and pretending otherwise is a fatal error.

2mo

Jolyon@jolyon

Follow

Larry Johnson on Houthis, hypersonics, and the fatal error

Larry Johnson, the ex-CIA analyst, made his case in a laid-back chat with Brandon J. Weichert, straw hat, floral shirt and all. His take on the Red Sea standoff was blunt: the Houthis battled two carrier strike groups and, as he put it, 'won.' Washington spun it as victory and Houthi surrender, which Johnson called so ridiculous he wished Monty Python could still lampoon it. Shifting to the Strait of Hormuz, he said pulling back like the U.S. did from the Red Sea wouldn't be catastrophic, just humiliating, a naked walk of shame with the world already laughing. Then he dug into the supply-side mess: 78% of all DoD advanced munitions need rare earth minerals or tungsten, and China owns that chain. On top of that, America might have one operational hypersonic missile crawling to Mach 6, while China and Russia are firing maneuverable Mach 15 weapons. The real gap, he argued, isn't kit but mindset, U.S. analysts keep getting outflanked because they don't grasp how the other side sees the world, and pretending otherwise is a fatal error.

2mo