Sirens: A Bombshell production

This week on Bombshell, Rebecca Lissner of Penn's Perry World House guest hosts with Radha and Loren to discuss the handshake heard round the world at the DMZ. The Iran Deal is on the rocks yet again, despite the entreaties of a very affectionate President Macron of France and #squadgoals eye rolls of Chancellor Merkel. The White House has some personnel wins (Pompeo's confirmation), losses (Dr. Ronny Jackson's trash fire of a VA nomination) and draws (Gina Haspel's confirmation delay). And the ladies of Bombshell are steadfastly the only people on the planet talking Tina Brown and chick-lit vs. Infinity War. Diana C. Mutz and Eunji Kim, "The Impact of In-Group Favoritism on Trade Preferences," International Organization Jeremy Page, "North Korea's Nuclear Test Site Is Largely Unusable, Chinese Scientists Say," Wall Street Journal Anna Fifield, "Talk of peace with North Korea has the South wondering: Will this time be different?" Washington Post Richard Nephew, "Trump's Middle Ground on Iran Deal Sanctions Waivers Is a Myth," Foreign Policy Carol Morello, "Pompeo says Kim Jong Un doesn't care if U.S. leaves Iran deal," Washington Post Yasmeen Serhan, "Exit Macron, Enter Merkel," Atlantic Editorial Board, "Macron and Merkel have handed Trump a road map," Washington Post Atul Aneja, "China and India are both important foreign engines for global growth: Xi," Hindu Amber Phillips, "The issues surrounding Ronny Jackson's nomination for VA, explained," Washington Post Joe Gould, "Top 3 takeaways from Mattis on Capitol Hill," Defense News Corey Dickstein, "Mattis defends new transgender policy, drawing senator's ire," Stars and Stripes

This week on Bombshell, Radha, Erin, and Loren play natsec madlibs with Amanda Sloat, discussing every possible complexity of US-Syria policy during John Bolton's first week. The neverending potential for a trade war, protests in the run up to the US embassy in Israel's moving day, and Russian expulsions get a lightning round in Keeping Up Foreign Relations. And for White House mayhem they stick to the other side of the river, checking in on the disturbing trend of aviation mishaps, the anniversary of combat integration of women, and sending troops to the border. And you should all be watching Killing Eve. Amanda Sloat, "Trump's Syria whiplash," Brookings Amanda Sloat, "The West's Turkey conundrum," Brookings BBC, "Syria: The story of the conflict," BBC Morning Edition, "Analysis Of U.S.-Led Airstrikes On Syria After Suspected Chemical Attack," NPR Nancy Marshall-Genzer, Jed Kim, Renata Sago, Marielle Segarra, Danielle Chiriguayo, Jana Kasperkevic, Aaron Schrank, "Your trade war questions, answered," Marketplace Alex Capri, "Trump's 'Trade War' Irony: America Loses By Not Rejoining The TPP," Forbes Zeeshan Aleem, "Trump wasted his chance to make the TPP stronger," Vox Keith Bradsher, "Trump Weighs Return to Trans-Pacific Partnership. Not So Fast, Say Members." New York Times Rushdi Abu Alouf and Noga Tarnopolsky, "Nearly 1,000 Palestinians injured in Gaza-Israel border protests," Los Angeles Times Ilan Goldenberg, "How Trump can move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem," Politico Greg Jaffe, John Hudson, and Philip Rucker, "Trump, a reluctant hawk, has battled his top aides on Russia and lost," Washington Post Katie Rogers and Eileen Sullivan, "Trump and Western Allies Expel Scores of Russians in Sweeping Rebuke Over U.K. Poisoning," New York Times Tara Copp, "Military Times Crash Database," Military Times Tara Copp, "Navy's spike in aviation mishaps is the military's worst, up 82 percent," Military Times Doug Mataconis, "Federal Judge Blocks New Version Of Trump's Transgender Military Ban," Outside the Beltway Elliot Spagat and Luis Alonso Lugo, "US says California rejects proposed border duties for troops," AP Lindsay P. Cohn, on Twitter "Update on the Status of Women in Combat," CNAS Jen Chaney, "BBC America's Killing Eve Is Instantly Addictive Television," Vulture

Erin, Radha, and Loren make it back to the Show (where we never handle our own luggage), welcoming back all-star guest Kori Schake to talk NSC turnover, civil-military relations, and everything else that's radical in a tubular kind of way. We break down Kim Jong-Un's super-secret trip to Beijing and note that when the Saudi Crown Prince showed up for his two week tour of America, not all welcomes were warm. Meanwhile, VA Secretary Shulkin is out (sometimes you win), the president's personal doctor is in (sometimes you lose); and DoD tries to square the circle on the transgender ban (sometimes it rains). We substitute basketball for pop-culture, with predictable consequences. Oh, and when you speak of us, speak well. Loren DeJonge Schulman, "John Bolton thinks he can be tough. Can he also be fair?" Washington Post Matthew Waxman, "The John Bolton I Knew," Lawfare Alex Ward, "Kim Jong Un's secret visit to China, explained by an expert," Vox Evan Osnos, "Why Kim Jong Un went to China," New Yorker Dan De Luce, Robbie Gramer, "Congress Sours on Saudi Arabia Over Yemen," Foreign Policy Dana Stuster, "What's on Mohammed bin Salman's Agenda?" Lawfare Ryan Hass, "What we know--and don't--about the meeting between Kim Jon-un and Xi Jinping," Brookings "Doubt cast on Saudi claims of Houthi missile interception," Al Jazeera Jeffrey Lewis, "Patriot Missiles Are Made in America and Fail Everywhere," Foreign Policy Phillip Carter, "Chaos Awaits Ronny Jackson at the VA," Slate Leo Shane III, "What we've learned from David Shulkin's post-firing media blitz," Military Times Philip Rucker, "Trump's Ohio speech to promote infrastructure ranges widely, from North Korea to 'Roseanne,'" Washington Post

This week, the ladies of Bombshell welcome Lindsey Ford, from the ‎Asia Society Policy Institute, to chat about this spring's Appointment in Helsinki: the US-North Korea presidential summit. Then, they set an Iran Deal death watch and puzzle through what happens when Red Sparrow meets real life in the nerve-agent poisoning of a Russian double agent in the UK. White House mayhem continues to say "hold my beer" with the firing of Rex Tillerson and what it means for Trump administration Kremlinology. Finally, the pop culture world is looking up, with the return of Occupied, the digital release of Last Jedi, and much more. Karoun Demirjian, "Corker prediction: Trump will pull out of Iran nuclear deal in May," Washington Post Ankit Panda and Vipin Narang, "The Trump-Kim Summit and North Korean Denuclearization: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," War on the Rocks Ellen Barry, "Britain Says It Has Proof Russia Stockpiled Lethal Nerve Agent," New York Times Andrew Jeong, "North Korea to Meet for Talks With U.S., South Korean Delegations in Helsinki," Wall Street Journal Heidi Blake, Tom Warren, Richard Holmes, Jason Leopold, Jane Bradley, Alex Campbell, "From Russia With Blood," BuzzFeed Derek Chollet and Julie Smith, "The Clock Is Already Ticking On Mike Pompeo," Foreign Policy Ilan Goldenberg, "A Requiem for Rex's Redesign," Foreign Policy Ilan Goldenberg and Elizabeth Rosenberg, "How to Save the Iran Nuclear Deal," Foreign Affairs Alex Ward, "Trump finally decided to get tough on Russia. But did he go far enough?" Vox Ellen Barry, "Britain Hints at Tougher Blow Against Russia: Stripping Tycoon's Assets," New York Times Asia Society Policy Institute event, "Drones, Bots, and Smart Weapons: Artificial Intelligence and Asian Security"

This week, the ladies of Bombshell welcome Sarah Margon, Washington Director of Human Rights Watch, to explore a side of the Syria conflict we discuss too little on this show: the human dimension. The ladies wade through three different political maelstroms in Italian elections, President Xi's quest for immortality, and President Putin's land of misfit nukes. Hairstyles, process, and wrongheaded beliefs about trade deficits explain the White House, and Radha plugs spoken word cookbooks (written by spies). Economist, "Send in the clowns," Economist Laura McGann, "When does Hope Hicks get to be a 'wunderkind' instead of a 'former model'?" Vox Sarah Margon, "Giving Up the High Ground," Foreign Affairs Marc Freeman, "'M*A*S*H' Finale, 35 Years Later: Untold Stories of One of TV's Most Important Shows," Hollywood Reporter Evan Osnos, "Xi Jinping May Be President For Life. What Will Happen to China?" New Yorker Philip Rucker, Ashley Parker, and Josh Dawsey, "'Pure madness': Dark days inside the White House as Trump shocks and rages," Washington Post William J. Broad and Ainara Tiefenthaler, "Putin Flaunted Five Powerful Weapons. Are They a Threat?" New York Times

This week, the Bombshell ladies welcome Lauren Fish of the Center for a New American Security to talk all things FY19 defense budget, including why this big funding increase may not be all that it seems. While finding future employment for Navy SEALs on the skeleton track, we talk North Korea's charm offensive, how we and maybe everyone else have totally lost the plot in Syria, and why the Munich Security Conference was the party everyone wanted to bail on. We offer everything you wanted to know about security clearances and deployability (and then everything you didn't know you wanted to know). And oh yeah, Erin's seen Red Sparrow. Center for New American Security, "The Bottom Line," CNAS David Wharton, "'Peace Village,' a fake city just outside the DMZ, serves as metaphor for North Korean athletes at the Olympics," LA Times Motoko Rich and Choe Sang-Hun, "Kim Jong-un's Sister Turns On the Charm, Taking Pence's Spotlight," New York Times Scott Neuman, "'Dozens' Of Russian Mercenaries Reportedly Killed In U.S. Airstrikes In Syria," NPR Isabel Kershner, Anne Barnard, and Eric Schmitt, "Israel Strikes Iran in Syria and Loses a Jet," New York Times J. Dana Stuster, "Israel Strikes Iranian Targets in Syria after Drone Incursion," Lawfare Aaron Mehta, "Mattis: Unclear if Russia directed attack against U.S. allies in Syria," Military Times Eliot A. Cohen, "Witnessing the Collapse of the Global Elite," The Atlantic Henry Meyer and Patrick Donahue, "U.S.-Russia TEnsion Flares Over Nuclear Arms Control Now at Risk," Bloomberg William J. Antholis, "Rob Porter Is a National Security Scandal, Too," Politico Tara Copp, "It's official: DoD releases new 'deploy or get out' policy," Military Times Dahlia Lithwick, "Rob Porter's History of Domestic Abuse Wasn't a Secret. It's Just That No One Cared." Slate

This week the ladies of Bombshell return to regularly scheduled programming, re-introducing ourselves with our new Bombshell questions including everyone's favorite bars and least favorite books. Next we turn to our old friends Afghanistan and North Korea (wondering if we'll ever get a public debate on either), before wonking out to the Nuclear Posture Review and State of the Union address. Also, if you PT three times per day but don't log it in Strava does it even count, bro? Finally, a dazzling potpourri of pop-culture - even Radha weighs in. Don't forget to send all your process valentines! Bombshell Online Store David D. Kirkpatrick, "Secret Alliance: Israel Carriers Out Airstrikes in Egypt, With Cairo's O.K.," New York Times Max Fisher, "In Afghanistan's Unwinnable War, What's the Best Loss to Hope For?," New York Times Mia Bloom, January 27 Twitter status Thomas Gibbons-Neff, "Training Quick and Staffing Unfinished, Army Units Brace for Surging Taliban," New York Times Steve Inskeep, "U.S. Military Auditor Suggests The Afghan War Is Still At A Stalemate," NPR Anna Fifield, "North Koreans have tasted freedom through the markets. Sanctions could put that at risk.," Washington Post Victor Cha, "Victor Cha: Giving North Korea a 'bloody nose' carries a huge risk to Americans," Washington Post David Nakamura, February 1 Twitter status James Acton, "Command and Control in the Nuclear Posture Review: Right Problem, Wrong Solution," War on the Rocks Patrick Tucker, "No, the US Won't Respond to A Cyber Attack with Nukes," Defense One Patrick Tucker, "Strava's Just the Start: The US Military's Losing War Against Data Leakage," Defense One

On our first anniversary we couldn't help but wonder: What's it like to be a man in national security? Kai Ryssdal, Frank Gavin, and Benjamin Wittes join us to discuss.

Bombshell returns from a long winter's nap for its first 2018 episode and first test run of a brand new set of Bombshell questions! Christy Abizaid joins us to talk Pakistan and the joys of Austin, TX, and we talk protests in Iran and what happens when South Korea hears that hotline bling. Yet another White House shuffle could be in the works, and we eagerly anticipate the arrival of a new defense strategy. Finally, hyperspace ramming and Nazi uncles get the attention you'd expect from us in pop culture. Bonus: expect news about a Bombshell anniversary party soon! After we recorded, we learned that one of the first friends of the pod, Shawn Brimley, passed away. Shawn will be remembered as a brilliant scholar and great friend and colleague, but he was first and foremost a wonderful husband and dad. You can contribute to an education fund set up for his children. Episode Reading: BBC News, "How will the US move to cut aid affect Pakistan?," BBC News "Anna Mae Hays, Who Broke U.S. Military Barriers, Dies at 97," NPR Jared Keller, "Anna Mae Hays, The US Military's First Female General, Dies At Age 97," Task & Purpose Susan B. Glasser, "Is Trump Stuck With an Iran Deal He Loathes?," Politico Stephen Tankel, "Art of the Possible: Restructuring the Defense Relationship with Pakistan," CNAS Uri Friedman, "The World According to H.R. McMaster," Atlantic Suzanne Maloney, "Trump can help Iran's protesters by rejecting his own Iran policies," Brookings Samuel Ramani, "The Long History of the Pakistan-North Korea Nexus," Diplomat C. Christine Fair, "Pakistan Has All the Leverage Over Trump," Foreign Policy Jonah Shepp, "Pakistan Is a Problematic Ally, But Trump Cutting It Off Won't Change That," New York Magazine Max Fisher and Amanda Taub, "Five Crucial Insights on Iran," The New York Times

Loren, Radha, and Erin traveled to Maxwell AFB for a special live year in review episode at the Air Command and Staff College. Come for their thoughts on the biggest national security stories of the year and stay for an extended Q&A with ACSC students (starting around 39:00). Plus, bonus Star Wars commentary.