The Burn Bag Podcast

In this week's episode, A'ndre and Ryan are joined by Javed Ali  to discuss the Biden-Putin Summit, the White House's National Domestic Terrorism Strategy, and the House vote to repeal the 2002 Iraq War AUMF. An'dre and Ryan also discuss the state of Israel's new coalition and the resumption of hostilities between Israeli forces and Hamas. The episode concludes with an overview of Iran's Presidential election set for Friday. Check out Javed's recent op-ed in Defense One on the National Domestic Terrorism Strategy!

In this week's episode, A'ndre and Ryan talk with Ash Jain and Ambassador (ret.) Daniel Fried about the importance of democratic multilateralism. Ash and Amb. Fried advocate for expanding the G-7 into a D-10, which would be a broader forum for the world's leading democratic countries. They also discuss whether the world is currently defined by the divide between democracy versus autocracy, and how the United States can spearhead the advancement of liberal values on the world stage. The conversation concludes by emphasizing the importance of democracy both in the United States and around the world. To learn more about the proposed D-10, check out Ash's recent report with Matthew Kroenig, as well as our 100 Days episode featuring Ash's idea of creating a D-10 Steering Committee. 

In this week's episode, A'ndre and Ryan discuss President Biden's trip to Europe where he will participate in the G7 before heading off to Geneva to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. They also breakdown President Biden's democracy-centric foreign policy and how the "Macron Slap" is a symptom of populism and the growth of the far-right. The conversation touches on Myanmar before concluding with an update on Israel's domestic politics and the effort to oust PM Netanyahu. 

In this special episode of The Burn Bag Podcast, we speak to former U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta (2011-2013) about a range of national security 'flashpoints' that stand to affect the United States and the Biden Administration in the coming years. Secretary Panetta, who oversaw the Bin Laden Raid as CIA Director, reacts to President Biden's decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, while also discussing a potentially new Iran Nuclear Deal. The Secretary also discusses his view on the threats facing NATO and why President Biden needs to draw 'clear lines' when dealing with Putin's Russia. We revisit Secretary Panetta's service in the Obama Administration in contextualizing the current state of Chinese assertion in the Indo-Pacific, and Secretary Panetta recounts his meeting with Xi Jinping almost a decade ago. Secretary Panetta uses that story to outline how the United States needs to engage multilaterally while also bolstering its military capabilities to meet the challenge of China. Secretary Panetta also discusses the emergent, if not current, threat posed by cyber-warfare, and how the U.S. military needs to adapt to meet the dangers posed by the newest domain of warfare. We close out the conversation with a brief discussion on the defense budget -- a topic Secretary Panetta is intimately familiar with, not only because of his time as Secretary of Defense, but also due to his former position as Director of the OMB and as Chairman of the House Budget Committee.Secretary Panetta co-founded the Panetta Institute for Public Policy, and is the author of Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace, his New York Times best-selling auto-biography.

In this week's episode, A'ndre and Ryan are joined by Javed Ali to discuss the recent ransomware attack against JBS, the largest meat processing company in the world. They also discuss the broader implications of cyber crimes and how the Biden Administration is responding. A'ndre and Ryan then discuss the Israeli opposition coalition that is set to oust PM Netanyahu. The episode concludes by highlighting developments in Sri Lanka, Iran, Belarus, and Ethiopia. 

In this special episode, A'ndre and Ryan speak with Nabil Fahmy,  Founding Dean of the American University in Cairo's School of Global Affairs and Public Policy and former Egyptian Foreign Minister. Dean Fahmy shares his perspective on the recent Gaza War and Egypt's historical role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Dean Fahmy digs into Egypt's relationship with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas, while giving his prognosis on the path ahead in the more than seventy year conflict. He also discusses Egypt's unique geopolitical position as an African and Asian power, and how this informs its foreign policy and relationship with regional and international actors, such as the United States. The conversation concludes with a discussion on Egypt's future and how the younger generation can bring positive change.

In this week's episode, A'ndre and Ryan speak with leading North Korea expert Dr. Sue Mi Terry about the "Hermit Kingdom". Dr. Terry, who served as a CIA analyst, Deputy National Intelligence Officer, and NSC Director, provides her assessment of the Trump-Kim Summits and how the Biden Administration will approach the Kim regime. She also breaks-down the vertical of power in North Korea and outlines why Kim Jong Un and his family have maintained power since the country's inception. Dr. Terry also recounts her conversations with defectors to illustrate the extent of North Korea's repressive system and how this prevents the North Korean people from altering their political situation. The conversation concludes with an analysis of the North Korean nuclear threat and the potential for meaningful denuclearization. 

In this special release, A'ndre and Ryan speak with Dr. Jess Ghannam, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Global Health Sciences at the UCSF School of Medicine, about post-conflict trauma and the importance of incorporating this trauma into larger conversations about national security. Dr. Ghannam, who is Palestinian-American and hails from Detroit, speaks on how "the juxtaposition of pain and curiosity" motivated him to learn about and work on the impact of trauma, in order to address health inequalities at home and abroad.  Dr. Ghannam recounts his on-the-ground experience in working in creating medical clinics in Gaza and the public health crises he observed there as a starting point to contextualize the broader conversation from a global standpoint. We have a conversation on the different types of trauma that children and adolescents experience, how mental health gives way to physical and other symptoms, and why Western ways of thinking about PTSD may not be adequate in describing the heavy trauma that civilians in conflict zones face. We discuss how a focus on chronic illnesses (non-communicable) and mental illnesses, such as depression, do present a security risk for the United States and the global community, and the interventions that the public health sector is engaging in to address these huge health issues.

In this week’s episode, A’ndre and Ryan discuss President Biden’s investigation into the origins of COVID-19, the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and the shocking air piracy by Belarus. They also discuss the crisis in Ethiopia and recent US ambassador nominations. .

This week, A’ndre and Ryan speak with Ambassador Nathan A. Sales, former State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism (2017-2021) and former Special Presidential Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. Ambassador Sales also served as Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights (acting).  Ambassador Sales opens the episode by providing a general overview of the state of U.S. Counterterrorism efforts, which is especially insightful given he left office just this past January.  Ambassador Sales then spends the majority of the episode discussing the fight against ISIS, outlining how the U.S. and Coalition forces have been successful in recent years against the terror group.  Digging deep into how ISIS managed to become so formidable, filling a power vacuum in Iraq and Syria in the early 2010s, Ambassador Sales details the power structure and leadership of ISIS, and how they operated on the ground, before going into how U.S. military strategies were adapted and why they worked to significantly reduce the ground held by ISIS in recent years.