Security Dilemma

On this week's episode of Security Dilemma , co-hosts John Gay and A.J. Manuzzi spoke with Danny Bessner about his new article in The Ideas Letter (https://www.theideasletter.org/essay/power-without-ideology/?) about why the emerging multipolar world order will be less characterized by ideological contestation than by spheres of influence. Danny is the is the Anne H.H. and Kenneth B. Pyle Asso...

On this week's episode of Security Dilemma , John Gay and A.J. Manuzzi have a conversation with the Quincy Institute's Nick Cleveland-Stout about his research on the foreign influence lobby in Washington and how foreign and corporate influence distort American foreign policy. Nick is a research associate in the Democratizing Foreign Policy program at QI . He investigates foreign influence,...

On this week's episode of Security Dilemma , Dr. Lyle Goldstein returns to the show to discuss the Trump-Xi summit, Washington's China policy, and his new co-authored book on Russia-China maritime cooperation and its implications for U.S. grand strategy ( The New Cold War at Sea: Maritime Implications of the China-Russia Quasi-Alliance - available now at https://www.amazon.com/New-Cold-War...

This week on Security Dilemma, John Gay and guest co-host Adam Abdel-Qader spoke with Dr. Jon Lindsay about his new book, Age of Deception: Cybersecurity as Secret Statecraft (https://www.jstor.org/content/oa_book_monograph/10.7591/jj.24033720). Dr. Lindsay is an Associate Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Cybersecurity and Privacy and the Sam Nunn School of Internationa...

On this week's episode of Security Dilemma , co-hosts John Gay and A.J. Manuzzi interviewed Dr. Jasen Castillo and Dr. John Schuessler , both Associate Professors and Co-Directors of the Albritton Center for Grand Strategy at Texas A&M University , about U.S. grand strategy and their current projects on extended deterrence and whether the United States can learn to live with rival regional...

On this week's episode of Security Dilemma , co-hosts John Gay and A.J. Manuzzi spoke with Fulton Armstrong , a longtime analyst of Latin American affairs in government and academia. Fulton is a writer, analyst and adjunct professor at Syracuse University's Maxwell School Program in Washington, D.C. and a Fellow at the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies at American University . P...

On this week's episode of Security Dilemma , co-hosts A.J. Manuzzi and John Gay spoke with Dr. Michael Neagle about his book Chasing Bandits: America's Long War on Terror (https://uncpress.org/9781469691046/chasing-bandits/) and why America's 21st century "bandit wars" resemble previous bouts of American war and expansionism. Dr. Neagle is a Professor of History at Nichols Co...

On this week's episode of Security Dilemma , co-hosts A.J. Manuzzi and John Gay spoke with Dr. Albert Wolf . Dr. Wolf is Research Fellow at Habib University in Karachi. His research focuses on security studies, with particular attention to the Middle East, the relationship between domestic political survival and international relations, as well as nuclear proliferation.  He has served as a foreign...

On this week's episode of Security Dilemma , co-hosts A.J. Manuzzi and John Gay invited Curt Mills , Executive Director of  The American Conservative , back on the show to discuss the Iran War's reception in Trumpworld and on the Hill. Listener Questions: We are opening up SD to listener-submitted questions! Submit questions you'd like to ask future guests ⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠ . Please specify...

On this episode of Security Dilemma , co-hosts A.J. Manuzzi and John Gay are joined again by Jennifer Kavanagh. Jennifer is a Senior Fellow & Director of Military Analysis at Defense Priorities . Her research focuses on U.S. military strategy, force structure and defense budgeting, the defense industrial base, and military interventions and alliances in Asia and the Middle East. She is also th...

On this week's special, quick-hit edition of Security Dilemma , co-hosts A.J. Manuzzi and John Gay spoke with John Byrnes , Strategic Director of Concerned Veterans for America about the risk of American ground forces entering the war in Iran. Mr. Byrnes joined the Marine Corps in 1991 out of high school and served four years, deployed to Somalia in 1993. He joined the New York National Guard,...

On this episode of Security Dilemma , co-hosts A.J. Manuzzi and John Gay are joined by Sina Toossi , a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy , as they have a conversation about the ongoing U.S.-Iran war and the new Supreme Leader of Iran, Mojtaba Khamenei. Sina has a professional background in producing research and analysis on U.S.-Iran relations, U.S. foreign policy t...

On this week's episode of Security Dilemma , co-hosts A.J. Manuzzi and John Gay were joined by Dr. Michael Desch , the Packey J. Dee Professor of International Relations at the University of Notre Dame and founding Brian and Jeannelle Brady Family Director of the O'Brien Notre Dame International Security Center to discuss Dr. Desch's new Foreign Affairs article "Ukraine is Losing...

In a special, quick hit edition of Security Dilemma , John Gay and A.J. Manuzzi spoke with Dr. Michael Desch , Professor of International Relations at the University of Notre Dame and the Director of the O'Brien Notre Dame International Security Center, about the early course of the American war with Iran. Listeners also won't want to miss our regularly scheduled episode coming out on Tues...

On this week's episode of Security Dilemma , co-hosts A.J. Manuzzi and John Gay discussed the state of arms control after the expiration of New START, nuclear proliferation cascades, and whether sanctions can prevent nuclear proliferation with Dr. Ariel Petrovics . Dr. Petrovics is a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a visiting scholar at the University of...

On this week's episode of Security Dilemma , co-hosts A.J. Manuzzi and John Gay spoke with Dr. Rose Kelanic , Director of the Middle East Program at Defense Priorities about how the Trump Administration is addressing Iran policy. Dr. Kelanic spent 10 years teaching political science at the University of Notre Dame and Williams College prior to entering the policy world and is the author of  Bl...

On this week's episode of Security Dilemma, A.J. Manuzzi and John Allen Gay are joined by Ashleigh Subramanian-Montgomery , the Senior Director for Policy and Advocacy of the Charity & Security Network , a resource and advocacy center for nonprofit organizations to protect their ability to carry out effective programs that support peace and human rights, aid civilians in areas of disaster and...

On this week's episode of Security Dilemma, A.J. Manuzzi and John Allen Gay are joined by Daniel DePetris , a fellow at Defense Priorities . They discussed the Trump Administration's Latin America policy in light of the operation that captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and reports that the Administration is seeking regime change in Cuba by the end of the year. Dan also has a new e...

In this special Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend episode of Security Dilemma , A.J. Manuzzi and John Gay discuss the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize recipient's most famous foreign policy speech, "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" (1967), in which Dr. King explains why he must speak out against the Vietnam War and why America needs a "revolution of values" to defeat the thr...

On this week's episode of Security Dilemma , A.J. Manuzzi and John Gay were joined again by Chris Shell , a Fellow at the American Statecraft Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Dr. Shell researches how American communities view foreign policy issues, as well as issues related to Latin America and the Caribbean. He is also an alum of the Society’s Strategic Leaders Fello...

On this week's episode of Security Dilemma , A.J. Manuzzi and John Gay offered their reactions to the Trump Administration's new 2025 National Security Strategy (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf). In this conversation, A.J. and John discussed the strategy's recommendations as they relate to (or conflict with) realism and restrain...

In this week's episode of Security Dilemma, A.J. Manuzzi and John Gay spoke with Sahar Khan , an independent national security analyst who focuses on nonproliferation, strategic stability, counterterrorism, and crisis management in Southern Asia. Previously, Dr. Khan was the Deputy Director and Senior Fellow of South Asia at the Stimson Center, a Research Fellow in the Defense and Foreign Poli...

In this week's episode of Security Dilemma, A.J. Manuzzi and John Gay spoke with Dr. Sumantra Maitra about what an "America First" nuclear strategy might look like. Dr. Maitra is the Director of Research and Outreach at the American Ideas Institute and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Renewing America. He is also the author of The Sources of Russian Aggression . You can check out hi...

In this week's episode of Security Dilemma, A.J. Manuzzi and John Gay spoke with Mariya Grinberg about her new book Trade in War: Economic Cooperation Across Enemy Lines (https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501782442/trade-in-war/), why states may trade with their adversaries during wartime, and the relationship between economic interdependence and conflict. Dr Grinberg is an Assista...

In this week's edition of Security Dilemma , A.J. Manuzzi and John Gay spoke with William Hartung and Ben Freeman of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft about their new book The Trillion Dollar War Machine: How Runaway Military Spending Drives America into Foreign Wars and Bankrupts Us at Home. You can buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Trillion-Dollar-War-Machine-Bankrupts/...