CSIS Podcasts

Mike Brown, Partner at Shield Capital and former Director of the Defense Innovation unit, joined Navin Girishankar on this episode of Betting on America to explore the role of venture capital in growing our technological and industrial base, and ensuring our economic security.

We traditionally think of impact evaluation as an academic or technical skill. The Impact Evaluation (IE) Lab at the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF), a think tank in Dar es Salaam, is working to change that. Catherine Nzuki is joined by Dr. Constantine Manda, the co-founder and inaugural Director of the IE Lab at ESRF, and Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine. The core mission of the IE Lab is to expose every Tanzanian to IE, even in its simplest form, regardless of education level. They discuss what impact evaluation is, why it’s important for every Tanzanian to be introduced to impact evaluation methods, and how the IE Lab tailors its training for policymakers and local authorities. Dr. Manda also shares the interventions done by the IE Lab to encourage Covid-19 vaccine uptake in Tanzania and healthier food habits in Dar es Salaam. Read more about the IE Lab’s research here. 

Dr. Jeffrey Gold, President of the University of Nebraska system, testified recently before the House Committee on Veteran Affairs Health Subcommittee on plans to replace a 1950 VA hospital with a hospital on the university grounds, with projected savings of half a billion dollars. Since the Trump administration began two months ago, it has been “a day-by-day, week-by-week course adjustment,” featuring ongoing court deliberations, cuts to programs, and the rollout of tariffs, amid great uncertainty. Anxiety has risen due to the unusual speed of change, which has permitted little time to prepare. In the meantime, the decline in the price of corn and soy jeopardizes the economy. The university system and hospitals account for 8.5-9% of the state’s GDP, the highest level per capita in the country. They also depend on $700 million of extramurally funded research. For the past nine years, Dr. Gold has led the highly successful weekly cable broadcast, ‘Rural Health Matters’ on Monday nights on RFD TV. Its mandate is to create awareness among farmers and ranchers, reaching over 15 million households, of the most impactful health matters. 

This week Mike joins Nobukatsu Kanehara, Professor at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. Mr. Kanehara previously served as assistant chief cabinet secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from 2012 to 2019. In 2013, he also became the inaugural deputy secretary-general of the National Security Secretariat. He also served as deputy director of the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office. They discuss Japan's foreign policy and what to expect in the coming years.

The Trade Guys are joined by the new Scholl Chair in International Business, Dr. Philip Luck, to provide an update on tariffs on Canada and Mexico and to discuss the Mar-a-lago Accords. 

On March 4, Jon Alterman spoke with Renad Mansour, senior research fellow and director of the Iraq Initiative at Chatham House, and Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House, about the resilience of Iranian networks in the Middle East. Their discussion builds upon a recent Chatham House report Renad co-wrote on the topic. The following episode is a slightly condensed version of their conversation. You can find a link to the video of the complete discussion below. Transcript: "Renad Mansour and Sanam Vakil: Iranian Networks in the Middle East," CSIS, March 13, 2025. Video of the discussion: "Iranian Networks in the Middle East," CSIS, March 6, 2025. Renad's report: "The Shape-Shifting ‘Axis of Resistance’," Chatham House, March 6, 2025. Sanam and Jon's article: "The Indomitable IRGC," Foreign Affairs, August 15, 2024.

In this episode of Pekingology which aired in February 2022, Jude Blanchette is joined by Xuezhi Guo, the Lincoln Financial Professor of Political Science at Gilford College, to discuss his book, The Politics of the Core Leader in China: Culture, Institution, Legitimacy, and Power.

In this episode, we discuss the Wadhwani AI Center’s latest publication on the implications of DeepSeek for the future of export controls (0:40), Chinese company Manus AI (9:05), what Secretary Hegseth’s memo means for the DOD AI ecosystem (15:27), and xAI’s acquisition of 1 million square feet for its new data center in Memphis (21:28). 

Senator Todd Young (R-IN), a national champion of U.S. technology leadership in the global competition with China, joins Navin Girishankar on the Economic Security and Technology Department’s new series: Betting on America. Girishankar and Senator Young discuss a ‘tech power playbook’ for the United States including investments in chipmaking and biotech, tech diplomacy abroad, and the importance of investing in basic research. 

A short, spoken-word summary from CSIS’s Matthew P. Funaiole on his report with Brian Hart and Aidan Powers-Riggs, Ship Wars: Confronting China’s Dual-Use Shipbuilding Empire.