The Truth of the Matter

President and CEO of CARE USA Michelle Nunn joins the podcast to discuss the organization’s new report on the current global hunger crisis, its many causes, and how to provide effective relief.

CSIS’s Mvemba Dizolele joins the podcast to discuss Russia’s second Africa summit and its objectives with the 54 countries on the continent.

CSIS’s Caitlin Welsh and New York Times climate reporter Christopher Flavelle join the podcast to discuss water stress playing out across the United States, and potential solutions.

Former New York Times national security and foreign policy editor Thom Shanker joins the podcast to discuss his new book, “Age of Danger: Keeping America Safe in an Era of New Superpowers, New Weapons, and New Threats,” as well as the importance of expanding our definition of national security to protect against a wide range of longstanding and emerging threats.

CSIS’s Caitlin Welsh joins the podcast to discuss Moscow’s pullout of the Black Sea Grain Initiative and its implications for the war in Ukraine and for the world.

New York Times technology reporter Tiffany Hsu joins the podcast to discuss the impact and potential impact that AI has on misinformation, national security, and could have on U.S. elections.

CSIS’ Max Bergmann joins the podcast to discuss European nations’ decision-making processes on strengthening their individual and collective defense in response to Russian aggression and the lurking shadow of China.

CSIS’ Eliot Cohen joins the podcast upon his return from Kyiv to offer analysis on the Prigozhin putsch and how the US should evaluate Putin’s hold on Russia.

Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Homeland Security Advisor NSC, Joshua Geltzer, joins the podcast to discuss the re-authorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) 702 provision. Section 702 is a key provision of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 that permits the government to conduct targeted surveillance of foreign persons outside the United States, with the compelled assistance of electronic communication service providers, to acquire foreign intelligence information. The government uses the information collected under Section 702 to protect the United States and its allies from hostile foreign adversaries, including terrorists, proliferators, and spies, and to inform cybersecurity efforts.

CSIS’s Catrina Doxsee joins the podcast to discuss the uprising by the paramilitary Wagner group and what is next for its leadership, for Russia and for the void Wagner leaves in Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa.

CSIS’s Gregory C. Allen joins the podcast to discuss Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer’s speech at CSIS this week announcing a new framework for Congress to address Artificial Intelligence.

CSIS’s Gerard DiPippo and Jude Blanchette discuss their new report on the difficulty of using sanctions to deter China in a Taiwan crisis.

CSIS’s Gregory C. Allen joins the podcast to discuss what has changed in discussions about AI since May 30th, when the Center for AI Safety released the statement: “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.”

CSIS’ Seth Jones joins the podcast to discuss the launch of Ukraine’s southern and eastern offensive, the potential Ukrainian lives to be lost in the bloody battles to come, Russia’s increasing battlefield deaths and what Russia will do to fortify their forces against Ukrainian troops. Plus, a discussion of the dam break in Ukraine and what the Finns, Poles and other Baltic states are saying about this war going forward.

CSIS’s Bulent Aliriza joins the podcast to discuss what Turkish President Erdogan’s win means for the United States who has called Turkey a “difficult ally.”

CSIS’s Ian Williams joins the podcast to discuss Russia’s use of advanced, and not-so-advanced missiles in its war against Ukraine and how deterrence of the Russian Air Force by Ukrainian air defenses has shaped the course of the war.

CSIS’s Gregory C. Allen joins the podcast to discuss why the Group of Seven Nations (G7) are headed into new territory discussing AI, how they should attempt to regulate it, and creating a framework for addressing the challenges going forward. Allen is the director of CSIS’ Wadhwani Center for AI and Technology. Allen is also director of the CSIS AI Council co-chaired by Accenture CEO Julie Sweet and Microsoft President Brad Smith. In April, the Council released its report, “Advancing Cooperative AI Governance at the 2023 G7 Summit” https://www.csis.org/analysis/advancing-cooperative-ai-governance-2023-g7-summit

CSIS’s Stephanie Segal joins the podcast to preview the upcoming G7 Summit where leaders will focus on China and Ukraine as well as the new threats posed by generative artificial intelligence.

CSIS’s Gregory C. Allen joins the podcast to discuss his new report on “China’s New Strategy for Waging the Microchip Tech War,” and what it means for the United States and the world.

CSIS’s Bulent Aliriza joins the program to discuss Turkey’s upcoming elections and whether President Erdogan will leave office if defeated.

CSIS’ Jen Sciubba joins the podcast to discuss the announcement that India has overtaken China as the largest country and what it means for the world.

In this episode, former United States National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley joins the podcast to discuss his new book, “Hand-Off: The Foreign Policy George W. Bush Passed to Barack Obama.” Hand-Off details the Bush administration’s national security and foreign policy as described at the time in then-classified Transition Memoranda prepared by the National Security Council experts who advised President Bush. Thirty of these Transition Memoranda, newly declassified and here made public for the first time, provide a detailed, comprehensive, and first-hand look at the foreign policy the Bush administration turned over to President Obama. In a postscript to each memorandum, these same experts now in hindsight take a remarkably self-critical look at that Bush foreign policy legacy after more than a dozen years of watching subsequent administrations attempt to deal with the same vexing agenda of threats and opportunities— China, Russia, Iran, the Middle East, terrorism, proliferation, cyber, pandemics, and climate change—an agenda that still dominates America’s national security and foreign policy. The book makes public for the first time a set of 30 newly declassified Transition Memoranda that were prepared by President Bush’s National Security Council staff for the incoming Obama administration to outline the key foreign policy challenges it would face.

CSIS’s Cameron Hudson joins the podcast to discuss the outbreak of civil violence in Sudan, its causes, and the humanitarian crisis because it.

CSIS’s Max Bergmann joins the podcast to discuss the horrific imprisonment of Wall Street Journal Russia correspondent Evan Gershkovich and his prospects for release.

CSIS’s Marti Flacks joins the podcast to discuss President Biden’s upcoming 2nd Summit for Democracy. On Tuesday, March 28th, CSIS will host a half-day Forum as part of the 2023 Summit for Democracy spotlighting the critical impact of the private sector on democracy around the world and spotlighting commitments that companies are making to advance democracy. This official Summit side event will feature senior government officials, corporate executives, and civil society leaders.

CSIS’s Lily McElwee and Maria Snegovaya join the podcast to discuss the Xi-Putin summit in Russia, and what it means for the United States.

CSIS’s Charles Edel joins the podcast to discuss AUKUS, the strategic agreement between Australia, the U.K., and the U.S. on nuclear-powered submarines, technology, and more.

CSIS’s James Andrew Lewis joins the podcast to discuss the bipartisan discussions surrounding U.S. policy on TikTok, whether the Chinese are using it as a vehicle to spy on Americans and our government, and what we should do about it.

Dr. Stephen J. Morrison joins the podcast to discuss the ongoing confusion over Covid’s origins and what it means for U.S. and global pandemic preparedness going forward.

CSIS’s Seth Jones joins the podcast to discuss his new report which shows that Russia has suffered more deaths in the Ukraine war than all other wars combined that Russia has waged since WWII.

CSIS’s James Andrew “Jim” Lewis joins the podcast to discuss the fallout from the spy balloon and how China’s spying efforts toward the U.S. are waged—plus, a discussion of U.S. countermeasures.

CSIS’s Max Bergmann joins the podcast to discuss the one-year anniversary of the Ukraine war, the shape the conflict has taken and the security and economic outcomes in Europe and in Russia because of it.

CSIS’s Dr. Eliot Cohen joins the podcast to discuss the latest developments in Ukraine and how Israel and the United States have increasing concerns about Iran’s military and nuclear weapons program.

Wall Street Journal Middle East Correspondent Dion Nissenbaum joins the podcast to discuss his reporting from aboard the U.S. George H.W. Bush in the Mediterranean Sea while the United States and Israel conducted their largest-ever military exercises, and Israel’s drone strike inside Iran just days later.

In this special episode, award-winning best-selling author Steve Silberman (“Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity”) joins the podcast to talk about the passing of his close friend, singer-songwriter David Crosby last week at 81. Over the past several years, Silberman hosted a podcast with Crosby called “Freak Flag Flying” which explored the musician’s life and career. In this episode, Silberman describes how Crosby was singular as a musician, a unique American, and discusses the incredible life Crosby led.

CSIS’s Joseph Majkut and Leslie Palti-Guzman join the podcast to discuss U.S. Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) production and exports, and what it all means for the world.

CSIS’s Seth Jones joins the podcast to discuss his new report, “Empty Bins in a Wartime Environment: The Challenge to the U.S. Defense Industrial Base” which underscores that the U.S. defense industrial base is not adequately prepared for the international security environment that now exists. In a major regional conflict—such as a war with China in the Taiwan Strait—the U.S. use of munitions would likely exceed the current stockpiles of the U.S. Department of Defense.

CSIS’s J. Stephen Morrison joins the podcast to talk about the Center for Disease Control’s decline in public trust and confidence, and how the organization can return to the prestige it once had. Dr. Morrison describes this moment in CDC history as comparable to FEMA after Hurricane Katrina or NASA post-Challenger.

CSIS’s Mark Cancian joins the podcast to discuss the wargame exercise he created for a Chinese amphibious invasion of Taiwan. Cancian ran the game 24 times and in most scenarios, the United States/Taiwan/Japan defeated a conventional amphibious invasion by China and maintained an autonomous Taiwan. However, this defense came at a high cost. The United States and its allies lost dozens of ships, hundreds of aircraft, and tens of thousands of service members. Taiwan saw its economy devastated. Further, the high losses damaged the U.S. global position for many years. China also lost heavily, and failure to occupy Taiwan might destabilize Chinese Communist Party rule.

CSIS’s Ryan Berg joins the podcast to discuss the events of January 8th in Brazil when supporters of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro stormed Brasilia and the aftermath.

Tatiana Serafin and Nikolas Gvosdev from The Doorstep podcast join the show to discuss the latest in the Russia-Ukraine war.

CSIS’s Victor Cha joins the podcast to discuss his new Foreign Affairs essay on what the U.S. and allies should do to counter Chinese economic coercion, plus a discussion of North Korea’s latest ICBM engine test.

CSIS’s Chris Johnstone joins the podcast to discuss Japan’s unprecedented policy changes on defense spending and strategy, and what it means for the United States and the Pacific.

CSIS’s Mvemba Dizolele joins the podcast to discuss this week’s summit in which the leaders of African countries joined President Biden in Washington for discussions on the future of U.S.-Africa relations.

CSIS’ Charles Edel joins the podcast to discuss the US-AUS Defense Ministerial and what it means for national security in the Pacific.

CSIS's Jon Alterman joins the podcast to discuss the geopolitics associated with the World Cup and the broader ramifications for the United States and the Middle East.

Victor Shi of Voters of Tomorrow joins the podcast to discuss Gen-Z and Millennial voters, what they want in candidates, policy, and how they absorb information in the modern news cycle.

CSIS’s Scott Kennedy, who recently returned to Washington from 2 months in China, joins the podcast to discuss the widespread protests in China and the conditions which precipitated them.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor and CSIS’s Daniel Runde join the podcast to talk about what Ukraine is facing this winter and what economic reconstruction in Ukraine will need to look like.

Iran’s former minister of women’s affairs Mahnaz Afkhami joins the podcast to discuss the protests in Iran and what they might mean for the future of Iran.