Things That Go Boom

The House and Senate were always supposed to check the president’s power in foreign affairs. But when partisan loyalties and an onslaught of domestic issues make legislation nearly impossible… what’s a congress to do? This week, we talk to Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) about how Congress can take back its power in foreign affairs – and finally get some things done. We discuss his efforts to stop the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, the animating power of a passionate public, and why he’s optimistic about the future of congressional power in American foreign policy. GUEST: Congressman Ro Khanna, represents California’s 17th Congressional District ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: War Powers Resolution of 1973, Nixon Library Trump Vetoes Measure to Force End to U.S. Involvement in Yemen War, Mark Landler and Peter Baker, The New York Times Saudi warplanes carpet-bomb Yemen with US help. This must end, Berine Sanders and Ro Khanna, The Guardian Dignity in a Digital Age, Ro Khanna, Simon & Schuster

Covert action has supported our nation’s security goals for decades — from fighting the Cold War to killing Osama Bin Laden. But it’s also part of a long American history of justifying the means to an end, one that’s led to unethical and illegal actions across the world. You could spend hours reading about past covert affairs without understanding how the executive branch manages missions or the classified intel around them — and, it’s not just you. Congress is tasked with overseeing those efforts, and even it has a hard time breaking through the layers of bureaucracy meant to keep our secrets safe. But when the war drum starts beating, where does it leave lawmakers tasked with checking and balancing? Two skeletons in the CIA’s closet might help give us some answers. GUESTS: Lana Ponting, MKULTRA Survivor; Julie Tanny, MKULTRA Survivor; Oona Hathaway, Yale University; Sam Worthington, InterAction ADDITIONAL READING: Secrecy’s End, Oona Hathaway, Minnesota Law Review Covert Action, Congressional Inaction, Stephen R. Weissman, Foreign Affairs Brainwashed: The echoes of MKULTRA, Canadian Broadcasting Association In Vaccines We Trust? The Effect of The CIA’s Vaccine Ruse on Immunization In Pakistan, Monica Martinez-​Bravo and Andreas Stegmann, Journal of the European Economic Association

When Congress created Space Force back in 2019, it looked to some like a wild idea from President Trump had just gone and become the sixth branch of the armed forces. But the US military has been using space for decades, and the importance of space to civilians and the military alike means that Space Force actually has a lot on its plate. As Congress considers the defense budget and the ways military activity in space can evolve, its decisions could have long-lasting consequences. GUESTS: Maj. Mike Lyons (USA, ret.), Fellow at the Truman National Security Project; Theresa Hitchens, Senior Space Reporter at Breaking Defense; Katherine Kuzminski, Senior Fellow and Director, Military, Veterans, and Society Program at the Center for a New American Security; Dr. Laura Grego, Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the MIT Laboratory for Nuclear Security and Policy Special thanks to Dr. Robert Farley. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: What's With All the U.S. Space-Related Agencies?, US Department of Defense. Space Threat Assessment: 2021, Center for Strategic and International Studies. The Politics of Space Security, James Clay Moltz, Stanford University Press. Biden’s 2023 defense budget adds billions for U.S. Space Force, Sandra Erwin, Space News.

It’s hard to overstate how much arms trade and aid factor into US foreign policy. Missiles, aircraft, guns, and more — we sell and give them to others as a way to exert global power without ever putting boots on the ground. It’s a trend Congress has passively greenlit for years. But every deal comes with risk. US weapons have a history of ending up in the wrong hands. Or disappearing entirely. Other times, the “right” hands use weapons to perpetuate devastating civilian harm. On this episode of Things That Go Boom, we dive into the complex world of arms transfers to ask, “Where does Congress fit into scrutinizing US deals?” The short answer is…it generally doesn’t. That is, unless it wants to. GUESTS: Lauren Woods, Center for International Policy; Jodi Vittori, Georgetown University ADDITIONAL READING: Human Rights, Civilian Harm, and Arms Sales: A Primer on US Law and Policy, Center for Civilians in Conflict. The Hidden Costs of US Security Cooperation, Lauren Woods, Responsible Statecraft. Sending Weapons To Ukraine Could Have Unintended Consequences, Jordan Cohen, Inkstick. Mitigating Patronage and Personal Enrichment in US Arms Sales, Jodi Vittori, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

At their core, sanctions are a way for countries to say, “We don’t like what you’re doing, and we’re going to make your life harder for it.” When they’re at their best, sanctions can isolate corrupt financiers, stigmatize human rights violators and even get entire countries to change their behavior. But they don’t always work that way. Economic sanctions are really hard to do right. They have to be precisely gamed out, or they can backfire in any number of ways. They're often hard to get rid of. And, more often than not, they hurt real people. But the US likes sanctions. Congress likes sanctions. On this episode of Things That Go Boom, what does all of this mean for some of our oldest sanctions? And some of our newest? GUESTS: Jason Bartlett, Center for a New American Security; Ricardo Herrero, Cuba Study Group; Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Artist and Cornelius Vanderbilt Endowed Chair of Fine Arts, Vanderbilt University; Inna Melnykovska, Central European University; Paul Carroll, Charity & Security Network; Konrad Körding, University of Pennsylvania; Elnaz Alikarami, McGill University; and Nosratullah Mohammadi, University of Geneva (formerly Zanjan, Iran) ADDITIONAL READING: Can Sanctions Stop Russia?, Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic. The Russian Sanctions Regime and the Risk of Catastrophic Success, Erik Sand and Suzanne Freeman, War on the Rocks. The Impact of Western Sanctions on Russia and How They Can Be Made Even More Effective, Anders Åslund and Maria Snegovaya, Atlantic Council. Boxing Cuba In Benefits No One, Christopher Sabatini and Lauren Cornwall, Foreign Policy. Special thanks to Maria Snegovaya.

Long lines at ATMs and gas stations. The constant blare of air raid sirens. Military jets scrambling across the sky. Eurasia expert (and for the first time, war reporter) Terrell Jermaine Starr is in Ukraine witnessing all this and more. On this special bonus episode of Things That Go Boom, he argues that we can’t understand Russia’s full-scale invasion — or the man behind it — without examining the country’s imperialist history. It’s a story President Vladimir Putin is leaning on today. Things That Go Boom will be back with our regularly-scheduled programming on March 21. GUESTS: Terrell Jermaine Starr, Journalist, and Nonresident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council DONATE TO: World Central Kitchen Kyiv Independent Voices of Children Direct Relief ADDITIONAL READING: Why Progressives Should Help Defend Ukraine, Terrell Jermaine Starr, Foreign Policy. Ambassador Michael McFaul on Ukraine-Russia Relations, Black Diplomats. The Putin Doctrine, Angela Stent, Foreign Affairs.

Congress hasn’t passed a significant immigration bill in decades, but the demands on the immigration system today are very different than they were in the ’90s. So, what’s a president to do? With asylum seekers facing a militarized border and millions of undocumented immigrants already inside the country, recent presidents have used their executive authority to try and shape the system to meet the needs of the day. But, more and more, the courts are stepping in. Today, lawsuits drag on, Congress remains deadlocked, and millions of people are caught in the middle. GUESTS: Dr. Jorge Castañeda, former Foreign Minister of Mexico and Global Distinguished Professor of Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University; Cristina Rodríguez, Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law at Yale Law School; Theresa Cardinal Brown, Managing Director, Immigration and Cross-Border Policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center; Juan Pablo Barrios, asylum seeker from Venezuela (interpretation by Gustavo Martínez). RESOURCES FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS: American Immigration Council: Asylum Resources Asylee Eligibility for Resettlement Assistance Guide, CLINIC Getting Asylum, Protection in The United States, Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Stanford Law School, 2017 Para Obtener Asilo, Protección en los Estados Unidos, Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Stanford Law School, 2017 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: The President and Immigration Law, Adam B. Cox and Cristina M. Rodríguez Ex Mex: From Migrants to Immigrants, Jorge G. Castañeda This Week in Immigration, The Bipartisan Policy Center, Theresa Cardinal Brown Lake Maracaibo: an oil development sacrifice zone dying from neglect, Mongabay Special thanks to Professor Jennifer M. Chacón.

Since the beginning of the American experiment, presidents have tussled with Congress over how to handle foreign threats. That creative conflict is supposed to be the democratic ideal. But there were also moments when lawmakers realized it was easier to just… not do the job. In the best of times, Congress oversaw the president and pushed back on missteps — or prevented those missteps in the first place. In the worst of times, it checked out. Then, the dawn of the nuclear age blew up that precarious balance. GUESTS: Kevin Butterfield, Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon; Kori Schake, American Enterprise Institute; Laura Ellyn Smith, University of Oxford; Jeremi Suri, University of Texas at Austin ADDITIONAL READING: The Presidency Is Too Big to Succeed, Jeremi Suri, The Atlantic. The Runaway Presidency, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., The Atlantic. Adults in a Room IV, Inkstick Media.

The Framers of the Constitution made sure Congress had a voice guiding our role in the world. Congress decides how much money we spend on everything from immigration to foreign aid. It has the power to declare war, approve treaties, and oversee how the Department of Defense handles troops in conflict zones. But over the past few decades, our lawmakers’ hold on that responsibility seems to have slipped… into the hands of the president. It’s an outcome the Framers worried might come to pass. And its story goes all the way back to George Washington. From Afghanistan to arms sales, Congress is losing its grip on our foreign policy. Why is that? And, as we make our way toward the midterms, what can be done to reassert Congress’ authority as a coequal branch of the government?

The Republic of the Marshall Islands is a speck of a country in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Population 60,000. But it has an outsized legacy as the place where the US military exploded dozens of nuclear weapons in the 40s and 50s, and brushed over the danger to local populations. For decades the Marshall Islands has been fighting for the US to fully recognize the devastating health and environmental impacts from all those nuclear tests, without much success. But skip forward to a recent congressional hearing and something seemed to shift — something that starts with C and ends with A, and rhymes with ‘pivot to Asia.’ GUESTS: Rhea Moss-Christian, chairwoman of the Marshall Islands National Nuclear Commission ADDITIONAL READING: How the US Betrayed the Marshall Islands, Kindling the Next Nuclear Disaster, Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times. ‘They Did Not Realize We Are Human Beings.’ Dan Diamond, Politico. (With reporting from Calvin Ryerse.)