Sirens: A Bombshell production

Loren, Erin, and Radha meet up in a special short episode to talk about the election aftermath. What will happen with the change in the house, who is on the Senate armed services committee, and what is oversight anyway?! Plus, a quick discussion on the defense budget and why data and statistics should be a year-round pastime!

This week Tamara Cofman Wittes joins the Bombshell ladies to discuss the fallout of the Khashoggi assassination and the future of US-Saudi relations. We get further bogged down in Afghanistan and try to understand the migrant caravan moving north from Central America. Then Radha tries to cheer us up by explaining the intricacies of the Universal Postal Union. For icing on the cake, we dive deep into the INF treaty and wonder if the Defense Department really being asked to cut its budget.   Saudi Emma Ashford, "," War on the Rocks Keeping up Foreign Relations Caravan Delphine Schrank, "," Reuters Afghanistan Dan Lamothe, "," Washington Post Thomas Ruttig, "," Afghanistan Analysts Network Ashley Jackson, "," Foreign Policy Matthieu Aikins, "," Harper's Maija Liuhto, "," LA Times It's Aghast  Jen Kirby, "," Vox Daniel W. Drezner, "," Washington Post White House Mayhem INF Treaty Amy F. Woolf, "," Congressional Research Service Jacob Heim, "," RAND Julian Borger and Martin Pengelly, "," Guardian Steven Pifer, "," Brookings Budget Aaron Mehta, "," Defense News Pop-Culture Caroline Hallemann, "," Town & Country "," PBS

This week, Loren, Radha, and Erin are reunited to discuss such cheery topics as political assassinations and sexual violence (albeit in the form of Nobel Prizes awarded to combat it). Radha dives deep on NAFTA 2.0, and we work our way through the crazy Chinese hacked hardware story. Rounding out White House Mayhem, John Bolton is back and joins the president and vice president in making blustery foreign policy speeches. And Erin demands answers on Banksy's newest prank.   New WOTR podcast: Melanie Marlowe, Bryan McGrath, and Christopher Preble, "," War on the Rocks   KUFR Nobel prize Emily Sullivan, "," NPR Saudi-Turkey "," BBC Karim Fahim, "," Washington Post Trade Heather Long, "." Washington Post Jacob M. Schlesinger and Josh Zumbrun, "," Wall Street Journal Phil Levy, "," Forbes Jeff Daniels, "," CNBC  Jordan Robertson and Michael Riley, "," Bloomberg James Cook, "," Telegraph Ian Bogost, "," Atlantic WH Mayhem Jane Perlez, ",'" New York Times Van Jackson, "" War on the Rocks  David M. Herszenhorn, "," Politico Lara Seligman, "," Foreign Policy Jarrett Blanc, "," Politico Pop-Culture Allison Quinn, "," Daily Beast

This week on bombshell Erin and Radha drink at Kori Schake's favorite bar in the world. Joined by Amelia Egghart, they discuss why climate change is still a thing and the (lack of) process in national security issues from Syria to Korea. They also remind us why you shouldn't start a land or trade war in Asia. And of course all the White House mayhem that's fit to print. Did we mention the guest was a chicken?   Venezuela China    Israel/Russia Climate

The Army and Navy Club in Washington, DC, hosted Loren and Radha this week for a live show. Lara Seligman of Foreign Policy and Valerie Insinna of Defense News joined the Bombshell crew to discuss defense journalism in the Trump administration, what it's like to cover a 17 year old war, and the most mayhem of mayhem weeks the White House has had in the last year. To listen to the audience Q&A for this episode, sign up for the War Hall at

Erin, Radha, and Loren head back to school from summer break, with smiling and shining faces. This week they catch up on some extensive Kabul mayhem, covering recent Taliban forays into Afghan-government controlled cities, the state of possible negotiations among both parties, and how this fits into new changes on command at ISAF and CENTCOM.  Revisiting a topic that's come up since the first episode of Bombshell, the ladies check in on U.S. support to the coalition campaign in Yemen and recent USG and Congressional frustrations with civilian casualties in the region - are we any closer to the end of our rope in enabling Saudi operations there or business as usual? And the enormous growth Chinese harassment of Uighurs in Xinjiang combined with the technological prowess of the Chinese surveillance state has a terrible alchemy that other autocratic states may find attractive. Radha continues her trade segment "It's Aghast" and talks through the current shenanigans with Mexico and Canada as well as a rapid rundown of our many trade tax tools! After some White House mayhem where it's clear that process is still our valentine we delight and quibble over the new Jack Ryan series.   Keeping up Foreign Relations Afghanistan  Yemen       China It's Aghast China tariffs NAFTA White House Mayhem Pop Culture

While the ladies of Bombshell will talk with just about anyone, should the U.S. government? Bombshell dives into President Trump's proclivity for theatrical political summits with adversaries, following up on current efforts in Afghanistan, North Korea, and Iran.  Radha introduces a new segment on trade: It's Aghast!  And the National Defense Authorization Act is a 2500 page gold mine of wonky policy fun.    Keeping up Foreign Relations North Korea "," BBC News Ellen Nakashima and Joby Warrick, "," Washington Post Uri Friedman, "," Atlantic Pakistan Elections Colin Cookman, "," War on the Rocks Alyssa Ayres, "," Council on Foreign Relations Afghanistan Strategy Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Helene Cooper, "," New York Times Spencer Ackerman, "," Daily Beast Idrees Ali, "," Reuters It's Aghast Jack Ewing, "," New York Times Shawn Donnan, "," Financial Times Doug Palmer, "," Politico White House Mayhem NDAA Mark Cancian, "," Breaking Defense Aaron Mehta and Joe Gould, "," Defense News Office of Management and Budget, "," Executive Office of the President Leo Shane III and Tara Copp, "," Military Times Tom Vanden Brook, "," USA Today Space Force Marcus Weisgerber, "," Defense One Paul Scharre, "," Defense One

Alina Polyakova of Brookings joins the Bombshell crew to dive into the fallout from the Helsinki Summit.  Radha furthers our education on tariffs, er trade taxes, as the great trade war of 2018 slouches toward chaos. Meanwhile, Teresa May’s Brexit woes continue as she mucks around with Northern Ireland. And despite Secretary Pompeo’s personal attention, President Trump is catching on to the fact that Singapore did not set up the greatest of deals with North Korea. In White House mayhem Trump’s NSC is trying desperately to stay out of his line of sight as they manage crises he won’t like - like the reemergence of ISIS in Iraq. Plus, Supergirl and puppies, airplane movies, Bombshell books, early gray fudge, and rose all day.   Helsinki Fallout Alina Polyakova and Benjamin Haddad, "," Foreign Affairs Alina Polyakova, "," Atlantic Alina Polyakova, "." Washington Post Julia Ioffe, "," Washington Post All the Tariffs Louis Nelson, Victoria Guida, Adam Behsudi, "," Politico "," Economist Hersh Shefrin, "," Forbes Ana Swanson, "," New York Times Merrit Kennedy, "," NPR Raymond Colitt, Patrick Gillespie, Carolynn Look, "," Time/Bloomberg Megan Cassella, "," Politico John Bowden, "," Hill Brexit "," QNTM Henry Farrell, "," Washington Post "," Irish Times North Korea John Hudson, Josh Dawsey, Carol D. Leonnig, "," Washington Post Christopher Dickey, "," Daily Beast ISIS Liz Sly and Mustafa Salim, "," Washington Post Weekend Edition Saturday, "," NPR Louisa Loveluck, "," Washington Post

This week we do our best impersonation of the Georgetown set recording from 1789 and lamenting the world gone to hell. We break down Pompeo's trip to North Korea, Theresa May's Brexit woes, and the NATO summit which has already been overrun by chaos Muppets. With so much White House mayhem, we focus on Trump's upcoming meeting with Putin, and Radha gets on her soapbox about MAVNI and suitability screenings. Need a pop-culture escape? We suggest Crazy Rich Asians and Sharp Objects.   Dahlia Lithwick, "," Slate Daniel Russel, "," Foreign Policy Jane Vaynman and Vipin Narang, "." Washington Post Nick Wadhams, "," Bloomberg Alex Hunt and Brian Wheeler, "," BBC Silvia Amaro, "," CNBC John Cassidy, "," New Yorker Robert Hutton, "," Bloomberg Mark Newton, Rachel Rizzo, Julianne Smith, and Jim Townsend, "," CNAS Kathleen Hicks, "," CSIS Heather Hurlburt, "," New York Magazine Victoria Newland, "," New York Times Tara Copp, "," Military Times Jeff Schogol and Adam Linehan, "," Task & Purpose Beth J. Asch, Jennie W. Wegner, Troy D. Smith, "," RAND Ben Mathis-Lilley, "," Slate Alex Ward, "," Vox Alex Horton, "," Washington Post

Bombshell goes international! Loren warily crosses the border to visit Stefanie von Hlatky, Stephanie Carvin, and Elaine Bunn for a special Canadian episode at the Kingston Conference on International Security. The ladies give deterrence a playlist and it’s own film series, then dive deeper into what deterrence means to the public and How to Teach Your President About Deterrence. And since deterrence is above all a human interaction, we discuss that elephant in the room: what it means to be a woman in the field.