Oct 10, 2026 · 18 min
Asymmetric warfare challenges America’s defense assumptions
No Mercy / No Malice: Asymmetry
The episode asks whether technological shifts and unconventional tactics could make a smaller U.S. defense budget viable amid wars involving Ukraine and Iran.
- 1Asymmetric warfare lets weaker forces exploit technology, strategy, and vulnerabilities against stronger opponents.
- 2Examples spanning Afghanistan and Vietnam frame military advantage as contingent rather than permanent.
- 3The argument connects battlefield asymmetry to a broader question about America’s defense spending.
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The episode’s central turn is the question of whether repeated asymmetric victories should change how America thinks about defense spending.
The brief
Scott Galloway opens by asking whether America could reduce its defense budget while wars involving Ukraine and Iran expose changing military realities.
The episode traces a recurring pattern: weaker forces can challenge stronger opponents when unconventional tactics and new technologies undermine traditional advantages.
Afghan mujahideen, North Vietnamese forces, and the Viet Cong serve as historical examples of asymmetry reshaping conflicts against materially stronger opponents.
The opening argument turns from battlefield history to a present-day policy question: how much military spending is necessary when advantage is no longer assured?