Rational Security is a weekly roundtable podcast featuring Shane Harris of the Washington Post and Susan Hennessey, Tamara Cofman Wittes and Benjamin Wittes of the Brookings Institution. It’s a lively and irreverent discussion of news, ideas, foreign policy, and law. There’s always a laugh. Sometimes there’s even scotch. You can subscribe here or on iTunes.
Latest in Rational Security
A top member of the Mueller team says the special counsel “could have done more” to hold Trump accountable. A career government official accuses the White House of improperly trying to stop John Bolton from publishing his memoir. And the CIA is clamping down on intelligence about Russia, according to a new report.
A Trump-aligned political organization is accused of running a troll farm. The No. 2 on the team investigating the origins of the Russia probe quits, reportedly over concerns that the investigation is being politicized. And Israel signs an historic accord with two Arab states, as a fight over weapons sales to the UAE looms.
Multiple news organizations report that Trump has disparaged combat veterans, calling them “losers” and “suckers.” A senior Homeland Security official says he was told to stand down on the threat of Russian election interference. And the legal battle continues over whether a former White House counsel must testify before Congress.
Shootings in Kenosha and Portland raise new concerns about violent protests in the U.S. Former national security adviser Michael Flynn is not yet free of the justice system. And a prominent Russian opposition leader has been poisoned with a nerve agent.
The Senate Intelligence Committee issues its long-awaited—and very long—report on Russian electoral interference in 2016 and the counterintelligence risks in the Trump campaign. The GAO determines that the leadership is serving illegally. And Belarussians have taken to the streets in protest against another stolen election by long-time strongman Alexander Lukashenko.
Russia wants to “denigrate” Joe Biden and China would prefer Trump lose in November, viewing him as “unpredictable,” the nation’s top election security official says. An investigation by The New York Times raises questions about whether intelligence officials are softening their views on Russia to avoid upsetting Trump. And Biden picks Kamala Harris as his running mate. The gang looks at her national security positions and how those issues will or won’t influence the 2020 campaign.
The Homeland Security Department compiles “intelligence reports” on protestors and journalists—including the tweets of our own Ben Wittes. Massive explosions in Beirut compound that country’s political and economic crises. And officials are increasingly warning about foreign interference in November’s election.
Attorney General Bill Barr testifies before Congress-about a lot. State and federal officials negotiate how to remove federal forces from Portland amid continuing protests. And Secretary of State Mike Pompeo faces his own day on the Hill after a blistering report on State Department dysfunction.
Federal officers descend on protestors in Portland, over the objections of state and local officials. Why did Trump choose this city, and what does he hope to gain from this expanding campaign of federal authority? And the U.S. hits back at Chinese spies, indicting two hackers and shuttering a consulate in Houston.
Chinese tech giants once again find themselves in the crosshairs of Western governments. The CIA has expanded its operations in cyberspace. And intelligence veterans warn that repairing the U.S. relationship with Russia is a fool’s errand.