Securing America with Frank Gaffney

Date: October 18, 2025
Host: Frank Gaffney
Guests:

• Major Elliot Chodoff (Israel Defense Forces Reserves, Strategic Analyst, Host of Conflict Uncovered)
• Captain James Fennell (US Navy, Ret., Senior Fellow, Geneva Center for Security Policy, Co-author of Embracing Communist China: America’s Greatest Strategic Failure)

Episode Overview

Today's episode of "Securing America" delves into two of the most pressing national security issues:

1. The implications of a recent ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, including broader Middle East dynamics and regional stability.
2. The escalation in US-China relations, focusing on economic warfare, Chinese ambitions for global governance, and what it means for American security and sovereignty.

Frank Gaffney brings on expert analysts Major Elliot Chodoff from Israel and Captain James Fennell, US Navy (Ret.), to offer insight, context, and warnings about these evolving national and international threats.

Segment 1: The Israel-Hamas Ceasefire and Regional Dynamics

Situation Report on the Ceasefire

(03:24–05:45)
Major Elliot Chodoff

• The recent hostage release—20 live hostages—was a critical Israeli priority.
• Chodoff pushes back against claims this deal could've been struck a year ago: “It’s simply not true. ... The world is a different world.” (03:41)
• Release of hostages was not only an ethical and moral imperative but also a burning social and political issue within Israel:

  “Getting people out of hostage situations is a value in and of itself...enhanced or exacerbated maybe by the fact that they were taken hostage on our watch. In other words, we failed.” (04:04)

• The deal imposed costs: Release of Palestinian prisoners—including terrorists and murderers—but Chodoff emphasizes the net gain for closing the hostage saga.
• Points to failures and hard lessons since October 7th.
• Addresses concern that “Sinwar was released in the Gilad Shalit deal, and therefore that is why October 7th happened,” and refutes it:

  “October 7th happened because the IDF failed in its mission... The Israeli withdrawal ... is not the same thing as an American withdrawal from Afghanistan.” (06:10)

Ceasefire Breaches by Hamas

(07:40–10:11)
Major Elliot Chodoff

• Hamas has immediately violated terms, particularly regarding return of the hostages’ bodies.
• Israel has tried to maintain the agreement, possibly to reciprocate US expectations or preserve future negotiations.
• Hamas is not disarming, is already moving to murder opposition in Gaza, and wants a foothold in any new Gaza administration:

  "Part of the deal was for them to disarm. They’ve stated openly they’re not disarming...they're already moving in and murdering their opposition. And these are all very, very important and concerning issues..." (09:50)

The Risks of Accommodating Breaches

(11:53-14:44)
Frank Gaffney & Major Elliot Chodoff

• If the US and others accommodate such breaches, opposition to Hamas in Gaza will be crushed, raising the ghost of past American letdowns (e.g., the Shiite uprising in Iraq, 1991).
• Chodoff:

  "If there's an interest in raising some sort of opposition...to Hamas, letting them massacre their opposition is not a good way to start. And that's really my concern." (13:49)

Proposals for Turkish/Egyptian or Multinational Security in Gaza

(15:42–18:53)
Frank Gaffney & Major Elliot Chodoff

• Chodoff is sharply critical:

  "Turkey is a country ruled by a man, Erdoğan, who has happily threatened to bomb Tel Aviv... The Egyptians have also referred to us as the enemy... Putting 10,000 Egyptian troops in Gaza puts us back to pre-1967..." (15:47)

• Concern is that international peacekeeping would end up protecting terrorists, not Israelis:

  "They’ll protect the terrorists from Israel and not the other way around... Meanwhile, these guys are organizing and training and arming... while we're sitting on our side watching Hamas rebuild..." (16:42)

• Gaffney: "Does this create basically a situation on the ground that could be perilous to Israel..?"
  Chodoff: "Absolutely perilous, yes, and I was certainly sarcastically understated." (18:04)

The Broader War: Iran and Regional Threats

(19:41–21:09)
Frank Gaffney & Major Elliot Chodoff

• Gaffney: “We have been told that that war is over as well. ... The war isn't over.”
• Chodoff:

  “Just as the war didn’t begin on October 7th, the war began for Iran when Khomeini came to power and dedicated Iran to the destruction of Israel. Hamas and Hezbollah exist to destroy Israel. ... their raison d'être is violence.” (20:13)

• Gaffney: "It seems to me they're jihadist organizations..."
• Chodoff: “Absolutely, absolutely Frank, 100% correct.” (20:50)

Segment 2: China’s Economic Warfare and Global Ambitions

China’s Use of Rare Earths as an Economic Weapon

(24:56–33:42)
Frank Gaffney & Captain James Fennell

• The show pivots to the threat from Communist China.
• Fennell asserts: “We are in a war with the People’s Republic of China and specifically the Chinese Communist Party. ... it’s an economic war...” (26:02)
• China’s moves to restrict rare earths and demand purchases in RMB are not just commercial policies, but strategic attacks aimed at US defense production and global economic dominance:

  "They're using these measures to essentially disarm America." (27:21)

• Fennell articulates the dependency:

  "It's incredible that we're dependent upon the People's Republic of China to be able to produce our own defense materials and weapons of war..." (26:43)

• The dollar’s status as world reserve currency is declining: from 80% of global transactions to 60% in roughly a decade; China’s active drive to de-dollarize world trade, including major moves with Australian iron ore.

Urgency for American Decoupling

• Fennell forcefully calls for decoupling all economic arrangements with China, both for consumers and at the investment level:

  “We just need to stop it altogether because everything that we give to them turns around and is used against us.” (29:24)

• Warns: “China feels confident enough that they can beat America and drive our economy into the ground, destabilize it and also to destabilize the dollar...” (30:04)
• Calls for Americans to ask where their money is invested:

  "People that are watching this video, stop buying things from China. ... Tell your stockbroker to get it out." (31:10)

Wall Street’s Enabling of China

(35:03–41:43)
Frank Gaffney & Captain James Fennell

• Gaffney highlights that Chinese companies have privileged, unregulated access to US capital markets since 2013, a policy unlike any for American or other foreign companies:

  “No American company has that latitude. No company from any other country ... Only companies associated with our mortal enemy, the Chinese Communist Party...” (35:47)

• Fennell decries the lack of scrutiny and warns of the consequences:

  "We, the United States of America, are in a fight inside the Pentagon over the future of our Navy... We're penny pinching on our national security while China is awash in money like we used to be in the '80s..." (38:47)

• China is rapidly expanding and modernizing its own military, building carriers, and advanced aircraft largely funded by US capital and consumer spending:

  "They’re just pumping out as... China makes dumplings. They just make them by the hundreds. And so China's been doing that and it's high quality stuff." (39:41) "In the end it's death because China will use that money to destroy us." (41:30)

China’s Global Governance Agenda

(44:26–49:08)
Frank Gaffney & Captain James Fennell

• Xi Jinping’s “Four Global Initiatives”:

  • Global Development Initiative (economic leadership)
  • Global Security Initiative (security system led by China)
  • Global Civilization Initiative (promotion of Chinese/Communist values)
  • Global Governance Initiative

• Emphasizes move to rewrite or co-opt United Nations ideals as Chinese Communist goals:

  "They're in a...alignment is what they're telling us, because they all want to have global governance, except the Chinese are very clear that their global governance is based on socialism...and communist ideology." (44:53)

• Warns of the threat of a China-style "social credit system" being globalized, undermining liberty and individual rights.

• China’s aggression is also manifest—rams Filipino vessels in the South China Sea as part of a pattern of coercion and bullying of neighbors and the US.

The Ultimate Question: CCP Survival

(49:08–51:04)
Frank Gaffney & Captain James Fennell

• Gaffney floats disempowering the Chinese Communist Party outright:

  “Given the agenda of the Chinese Communist Party... Do we really have any alternative... of trying to help bring about the end of the Chinese Communist Party, the liberation of the people of China...?”

• Fennell, cautious on regime change:

  “I will just say we should be doing everything in our power to defeat the Chinese Communist Party because they’re a party that has said, we want to destroy you.” (50:22)

• The episode closes with a commitment to vigilance and to keeping the threat front of mind for Americans.

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “The overall situation of Israel's enemies is much worse today than it was a year or a year and a half ago.”
  — Elliot Chodoff (03:41)

• “Getting people out of hostage situations is a value in and of itself...enhanced or exacerbated maybe by the fact that they were taken hostage on our watch. In other words, we failed.”
  — Elliot Chodoff (04:04)

• “October 7th happened because the IDF failed in its mission.”
  — Elliot Chodoff (06:10)

• “Letting them massacre their opposition is not a good way to start. And that's really my concern.”
  — Elliot Chodoff (13:49)

• “Turkey is a country ruled by a man, Erdoğan, who has happily threatened to bomb Tel Aviv... Putting 10,000 Egyptian troops in Gaza puts us back to pre-1967.”
  — Elliot Chodoff (15:47)

• “We are in a war with the People’s Republic of China and specifically the Chinese Communist Party. ... it’s an economic war...”
  — Captain James Fennell (26:02)

• “It's incredible that we're dependent upon the People's Republic of China to be able to produce our own defense materials and weapons of war...”
  — Captain James Fennell (26:43)

• “Everything that we give to them turns around and is used against us.”
  — Captain James Fennell (29:24)

• “They’re using these measures to essentially disarm America.”
  — Captain James Fennell (27:21)

• “We're penny pinching on our national security while China is awash in money like we used to be in the '80s when President Reagan rebuilt our military.”
  — Captain James Fennell (38:47)

• “Their global governance is based on socialism...and communist ideology.”
  — Captain James Fennell (44:53)

• “We should be doing everything in our power to defeat the Chinese Communist Party because they’re a party that has said, we want to destroy you.”
  — Captain James Fennell (50:22)

Key Takeaways

• The Israel-Hamas ceasefire is complex, fraught with immediate and future risks, and poses both tactical and strategic challenges for Israel and its allies.
• The rise of Turkish and Egyptian influence in Gaza is deeply concerning to Israeli analysts.
• The Middle Eastern situation remains highly volatile, impacted by Iran’s continued ambitions and regional proxies.
• China’s economic talent, global ambitions, and campaign to dominate international organizations represent a multi-front threat to U.S. national security.
• The United States’ economic entanglements with China—especially Wall Street's ongoing facilitation—must be confronted and rolled back if America is to maintain its strategic footing.
• The Chinese Communist Party’s global governance initiative is, at root, an anti-freedom, anti-individual liberty project, and resisting it is an existential necessity for the US and Western democracies.