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
The impeachment trial is about to begin in earnest. We’ll recap the latest. The Trump administration deals with the fallout from the strike that killed Qasem Soleimani. And in the final debate before voting starts, Democratic candidates for president have little to say about foreign policy.
President Trump says Iran is backing down after a missile strike on U.S. bases in retaliation for the killing of Qasem Suleimani. The crisis has calmed, but what did we learn from the administration’s tense and at times bungled handling of it? And the latest on the still pending impeachment trial.
Protesters attack the U.S. embassy in Baghdad following an American airstrike. U.S. Cyber Command contemplates information warfare to deter Russian election interference. And we’ll talk about the themes we think will loom large in 2020.
The House impeaches President Trump. What will a Senate trial look like? Former U.S. officials helped the United Arab Emirates build a domestic surveillance system. And a federal judge rebukes the FBI for its surveillance of a Trump campaign adviser.
The Justice Department Inspector General delivers a detailed report on the origins of the Trump-Russia probe. House lawmakers unveil articles of impeachment against Trump. And The Washington Post reveals that senior officials knew the U.S. wasn’t making progress in Afghanistan, contrary to their public claims.
The House Intelligence Committee submits its impeachment report, and the Judiciary Committee takes up the baton. Also, friend of the podcast Sophia Yan gives us an on-the-ground report from China.
The House conducts marathon impeachment hearings with key witnesses. And Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is indicted.
Ben wonders, what's the difference between sh-- and ass?
The first witnesses testify publicly in the impeachment inquiry. A jury deliberates Roger Stone’s fate. And Turkey’s president Erdogan visits Washington.
A key witness in the impeachment investigation changes his testimony. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is under fire for his leadership of U.S. diplomacy. And the House lays out the rules for the public phase of the impeachment process.
A senior National Security Council official testifies about Trump’s phone call with the president of Ukraine. The U.S. military kills the leader of ISIS. And an investigation into the origins of the Russia probe takes a turn.