Credit: Hudson Institute

Aaron MacLean is joining CBS News as a national security analyst, a columnist at The Free Press and the host of the podcast “School of War,” adding a new voice to the roster, it was announced today.

MacLean will debut with The Free Press on Thursday, March 5, with a livestream, featuring special guest Ret. Gen. Frank McKenzie, about the current conflict in Iran.

MacLean is a military veteran, former faculty member at the U.S. Naval Academy and a talented podcaster. He has dedicated his career to piercing through the fog of war and extracting its lessons for the rest of us. What drives a battlefield command? Who is responsible for navigating an international conflict? How do we develop new weapons?

Through his prior work and current experience as a podcaster interviewing many of the top voices behind key military decisions, MacLean is well-poised to answer and analyze the pressing wartime questions.

“Decisions made in war rooms and combat zones around the world affect all of us. There is no voice more authoritative, or more equipped to make sense of these policies and choices, than Aaron,” said Bari Weiss, editor in chief of CBS News and founder of The Free Press.

“I’m thrilled to be joining the amazing team at CBS News and The Free Press,” Aaron said. “The world is changing before our eyes, and there is no better team in news to help Americans make sense of it all.”

MacLean served in the U.S. Marines for seven years, deploying to Afghanistan as an infantry officer in 2009-2010. Following his time in the operating forces, he was assigned to the faculty of the U.S. Naval Academy, where he was the 2013 recipient of the Apgar Award for Excellence in Teaching. He is currently a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and previously served as senior foreign policy adviser and legislative director to Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas.

MacLean received a BA in philosophy and the history of math and science from St. John’s College, Annapolis, and an MPhil (Dist.) in medieval Arabic thought from the University of Oxford. He has been a Boren scholar and a Marshall scholar and lives in Virginia, where he was born.

Press Contacts:

CBS News:

Heather Riley

Heather.riley@havenstrategies.com

Richard Huff

Huffr@cbsnews.com

The Free Press:

Catherine Morrissette

catherine@thefp.com