Sean McFate is an author, novelist, and expert in foreign policy and national security strategy. His career began in the U.S. Army in the 82nd Airborne Division, and later became a private military contractor in Africa for Dyncorp, where he "dealt with warlords, raised small armies, worked with armed groups in the Sahara, transacted arms deals in Eastern Europe, and helped prevent an impending genocide in the Great Lakes region."

Sean is deeply critical of the ongoing privatization of military operations by the U.S. government, as well as Erik Prince, former president and founder of Blackwater, and his proposals to dramatically privatize military operations in Afghanistan. These types of grandiose plans Prince proposed to the Trump Administration have not been implemented, but there is still much to be concerned with regarding the rise of mercenary armies and how they fit into the ever-changing face of war in the 21st century. Sean McFate goes over this and much more in this episode.