Chatter

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Reporting from the Front Lines with Nancy Youssef Apr 13, 2023

Show notes

Nancy Youssef has reported on war and conflict around the world and from Washington. As a young journalist, she went to Iraq and sensed early on that a war most presumed would be over quickly was only just beginning. Her career has taken her to Afghanistan, Egypt, and into the center of power at the Pentagon. Nancy is now a national security correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.

In her conversation with Shane, Nancy talks about her Journal colleague, Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested last month in Russia and accused of spying, charges that his family, his employer, and the U.S. government vociferously deny. Like Nancy, Evan is the child of immigrants. She says she admired his reporting for giving voice to the Russian people at a time of war. Nancy has seen other colleagues taken prisoner amid conflict and shared her thoughts about the risks that journalists face both in war zones and from states that see information as a weapon.

Shane and Nancy are old friends and worked together at The Daily Beast, where they covered U.S. national security and foreign policy.

Nancy’s work at The Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/news/author/nancy-a-youssef

Nancy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nancyayoussef

A recent profile on Evan Gershkovich from The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/04/08/evan-gershkovich-russia-wsj-journalist-arrested-profile/

More on Austin Tice, a friend of Nancy’s who went missing in Syria: https://www.austinticefamily.com/

Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by Cara Shillenn of Goat Rodeo. Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Environmentalism in Russia after the Invasion of Ukraine with Laura Henry Apr 06, 2023

Show notes

Since the days of the USSR, the Russian people have expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of the country's environment. The post-Soviet years witnessed an explosion of grassroots, professional, and government-affiliated groups to advocate in this space, but widespread public support and lasting impact on government policy haven't developed. And now, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, prospects for progress on environmental concerns seem especially dim.

David Priess hosted this conversation with author and Bowdoin College Professor of Government Laura Henry about this topic and its implications. They discussed what it was like for her to conduct research across the Russian Federation starting in 1991 and in the decades since, the roots of environmentalism in the Soviet Union, what changed under Boris Yeltsin, how environmental organizations in Russia vary, the benefits and risks to these groups of taking funding from outside Russia, Russia's Foreign Agent Law, Russian environmentalists' attention to the oil and gas industry, how to think about measuring "success" of the environmental movement in Russia, how the Russian invasion of Ukraine disrupted environmental cooperation and impacted climate policy, sources of cautious optimism for the future of the Russian environment, and more.

Works mentioned in this episode:

The book Red to Green: Environmental Activism in Post-Soviet Russia by Laura Henry

The book Red Plenty by Francis Spufford

The book Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by Noam Osband and Cara Shillenn of Goat Rodeo. Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Debunking Nuclear Proliferation Myths with Målfrid Braut-Hegghammer Mar 30, 2023

Show notes

Misperceptions about nuclear proliferation attempts abound, particularly when we find authoritarian leaders involved. It is easy to picture these determined owners of nuclear weapons as omnipotent, unconstrained micromanagers--willing and able to do whatever is necessary to take their country over the threshold.

Political scientist Målfrid Braut-Hegghammer disagrees. She conducted extensive research in IAEA and other archives as well as in-depth interviews with senior scientists and regime officials from Iraq and Libya, including Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi. What she discovered led her to question much conventional wisdom about the Iraqi and Libyan nuclear programs, and about proliferation writ large. Her book Unclear Physics--which borrows its title from a typo in an Iraqi report from the late 1960s that characterized well the vague objectives of the early Iraqi nuclear program--presents intriguing information and insight on all of this.

David Priess speaks with Braut-Hegghammer about her interest in WMD proliferation, how she researched secretive nuclear programs, the value of archives, Iraq's quest for the bomb, the impact of Israel's strike on the Osirak reactor in 1981, how close Iraq was to breaking out when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, the origins of Libya's nuclear program, Gaddafi's turn to the A.Q. Khan network for the equipment and blueprints needed, implications for the potential proliferation paths of countries from North Korea and Iran to Saudi Arabia and South Korea, the rising salience of nuclear weapons in Arctic security debates, and Norwegian views on nuclear deterrence in today's evolving strategic environment.

Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by Cara Shillenn of Goat Rodeo. Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Treason, Secession, and Accountability with Cynthia Nicoletti Mar 23, 2023

Show notes

A former president accused of treason. Talk of secession. Concerns about the lack of accountability for insurrection. These issues appear in headlines today, but we've been here before--in the 1860s.

For this episode, David Priess talked with legal historian Cynthia Nicoletti about her passion for the intersection of history and law, what the U.S. Constitution says and does not say about secession, differing legal arguments on the topic during and after the Civil War, the government's indecision surrounding the prosecution of former Confederate States of America President Jefferson Davis, the strengths of Davis's primary lawyer Charles O'Conor, O'Conor's strategy for preventing a treason prosecution, how the Supreme Court decision in Texas v. White (1869) declared secession invalid, how and why public anger about acts against the U.S government fades, and lessons from the 1860s for secession calls today.

Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by Cara Shillenn of Goat Rodeo. Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad.

Mentioned during this episode:

The book Secession on Trial by Cynthia Nicoletti

The book Rehearsal for Reconstruction by Willie Lee Rose

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spy Movies and the Oscars with Alyssa Rosenberg Mar 16, 2023

Show notes

The Academy loves a good spy flick, and so do we! This week, Shane Harris talks with Washington Post culture critic Alyssa Rosenberg about the enduring power of espionage on the big screen.

Movies like Zero Dark Thirty, the Mission: Impossible franchise, and this year’s Top Gun: Maverick and All Quiet on the Western Front, which both took home Oscars, help us understand global conflict as they wrestle with questions of personal morality. How do the stories of James Bond and George Smiley help us make sense of the fate of nations? And why is Hollywood finding it nearly impossible to tell stories about great power competition between the U.S. and China?

Shane and Alyssa go way back, and this is a fun, lively conversation about spy stories that have resonated through the decades. Alyssa has written for years about popular culture, books, and more recently parenting.

Alyssa’s work at The Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/alyssa-rosenberg/

Alyssa on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlyssaRosenberg?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Alyssa’s podcast on movies, Across the Movie Aisle: https://www.thebulwark.com/podcast/across-the-movie-aisle/

Movies discussed in this episode:

Zero Dark Thirty

Top Gun: Maverick

Mission: Impossible

All Quiet on the Western Front

Casino Royale

Skyfall

The Hunt for Red October

Breach

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by Cara Shillenn of Goat Rodeo. Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The American Battle Monuments Commission with Mark Hertling Mar 09, 2023

Show notes

Mark Hertling retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant general a decade ago, but he's kept busy since then as a CNN military analyst, hospital organization executive, book author, speaker on leadership, and adjunct professor. Most recently, he accepted President Biden's appointment as Chairman of the American Battle Monuments Commission. Celebrating its 100th anniversary this month, the commission is a unique institution that commemorates the service and sacrifices of members of the U.S. military, with a special focus on the battle monuments and military cemeteries outside of the United States.

David Priess asked Hertling about his road to West Point, his experiences there and throughout his military career, leadership and training in the military and beyond, the origins and mission of the American Battle Monuments Commission, some of the worldwide cemeteries and memorials to fallen U.S. service members, and more.

Mentioned during this episode:

The book Growing Physician Leaders by Mark Hertling

The book Generalship: Its Diseases and Their Cure by J.F.C. Fuller

The American Battle Monuments Commission

The Chatter podcast episode 9/11 Memorialization with Marita Sturken

Mark Hertling on Twitter

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fixing America To Bolster National Security with Richard Haass Mar 02, 2023

Show notes

For the past 20 years, Richard Haass has led the Council on Foreign Relations, building on his national security experience in government and his related work in academia and think tanks. Although his efforts have focused overwhelmingly on foreign policy, his central concern has turned to something closer to home: the decline of democratic norms in the United States. He's even written a new book about this problem and something we all can do about it, The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens.

David Priess and Haass discussed the State Department's Policy Planning Staff and Haass' experiences leading it, reflections on his service in the Bush 41 and Bush 43 administrations, the mission of the Council on Foreign Relations and Haass's longest-ever tenure of leading it, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its many implications, the roles of China and India in this shifting strategic landscape, democratic decline in the United States, the ten habits that American citizens can adopt to heal our divisions and safeguard representative democracy in the U.S., and more.

Works mentioned during this episode:

The book The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens by Richard Haass

The book Foreign Policy Begins at Home by Richard Haass

The movie History of the World: Part I

The book Thinking in Time by Richard E. Neustadt and Ernest R. May

The TV show Full Swing

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aviation Oddities and Near Misses with James Fallows Feb 23, 2023

Show notes

James Fallows on What is Happening in the Sky

It’s been an eventful few months for flying objects. A Chinese spy balloon captured national attention and sparked an international incident--and a lot of hot air. But closer to the ground, there have been two near collisions of commercial jets at U.S. airports.

This week, Shane talks to journalist (and pilot) James Fallows about “What the hell is happening in the sky?” to borrow from one of his recent posts. Fallows has been chronicling American life for decades, most notably as a longtime correspondent for The Atlantic. Now he’s writing about aviation, spy balloons, politics, and whatever else catches his observant eye on his new site, “Breaking the News,” hosted on Substack.

Fallows talked about the two near misses at Austin airport and JFK, which could have led to a catastrophic loss of human life, and how an overburdened commercial aviation system may be poised for a disaster. He shared his insights about the Chinese spy balloon kerfuffle, informed in part from his time living in China as a correspondent. And Fallows reflected on the life and legacy of President Jimmy Carter, for whom he wrote speeches at the White House.

“What the Hell is Happening in the Sky?” Fallows recent post on his new Substack page https://fallows.substack.com/p/what-the-hell-is-happening-in-the

Fallows on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamesFallows?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Fallows’ archive at The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/author/james-fallows/

And his recent reflections on Jimmy Carter’s lucky life https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/jimmy-carter-accomplishments-james-fallows/673146/

Books about flying discussed on this episode include:

West with the Night: A Memoir by Beryl Markham https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780865477636/westwiththenight

Fate is the Hunter by Ernest K. Gann https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Fate-is-the-Hunter/Ernest-K-Gann/9780671636036

Inside the Sky, among others, by William Langewiesche https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/16660/william-langewiesche/

Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by Ian Enright of Goat Rodeo.

Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former National Security Advisor Steve Hadley's Reflections on Presidential Transitions Feb 16, 2023

Show notes

Along with co-editors Peter Feaver, William Inboden, and Meghan O'Sullivan, former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley is editor of the new Hand-Off: The Foreign Policy George W. Bush Passed to Barack Obama. This unique and massive book contains 30 Transition Memos prepared in 2008-2009 under Hadley's direction by the outgoing George W. Bush administration’s National Security Council staff for the incoming Obama Administration—each with a postscript by these same experts critically assessing the Bush foreign policy legacy.

Historians and national security junkies usually have to wait a long time for such materials to see the light of day; this consolidated content reveals much, and relatively quickly, about the various policies of the time and the extensive effort that was put into the gold-standard 2008-2009 transition.

David Priess asked Hadley about his experiences with presidential transitions dating back to the 1970s; how it felt to be on the receiving end of the transition process in 2000-2001; President George W. Bush's transition mandate to him and to Chief of Staff Josh Bolten in 2008; the substantive NSC transition memos on the Freedom Agenda, the War on Terror, Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia, and PEPFAR; public perceptions of the national security advisor's role; how much national security advisors should interact with the media; and more.

Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by Cara Shillenn of Goat Rodeo. Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad.

Works mentioned during this episode:

The book Hand-Off: The Foreign Policy George W. Bush Passed to Barack Obama, edited by Stephen J. Hadley

The TV show The West Wing

The book Diplomacy by Henry Kissinger

The book The Icon and the Axe by James Billington

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Flat Earth Beliefs and Conspiracism with Kelly Weill Feb 09, 2023

Show notes

Flat earth beliefs have been spreading alarmingly in recent years. They offer plenty of fodder for punchlines, yes--but they also have ties to more nefarious conspiracy theories like QAnon and to other manifestations of political extremism.

As a reporter at the Daily Beast, Kelly Weill has been covering it all. And she has written Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything, a book that tells the history of flat earthism, relates many stories from and about its current adherents, and traces its connections to other forms of radical belief.

David Priess and Weill discussed the genesis of her interest in conspiracies; what drives people toward conspiracy theories; 9/11 trutherism as a "gateway drug" to other conspiracies; the origins of modern flat earth thinking in the 1800s and its links to religious fundamentalism; how flat earth believers took over and ran Zion, Illinois in the early 20th century; different flat earthers' conceptions of what's above, below, and around the ground; how online videos and social media helped drive a rise in flat earthism; what a flat earth conference is like; the negative impact that flat earth beliefs can have on individuals; how flat earth thinking intersects with other manifestations of conspiracism and with political extremism; how to help people who fall prey to conspiracy theories; and more.

Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by David Priess and Cara Shillenn of Goat Rodeo. Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad.

Works mentioned during this episode:

The book Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything by Kathy Weill

The book The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The documentary Behind the Curve

Kelly Weill's articles at tyhe Daily Beast

The podcast Fever Dreams

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.