The Burn Bag Podcast

On Friday, A’ndre chatted with Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky, a presidential historian and Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Library, to explore President Jimmy Carter’s presidential and post-presidential foreign policy legacy following his passing at age 100. The discussion began by addressing public reactions to Carter’s death and why the dichotomy of a “failed presidency but out...

On January 2nd, A'ndre sat down with former U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper (2019-2020) to discuss key security challenges facing the United States in 2025 and the Department of Defense's preparedness in addressing them. They began their conversation with a focus on the Middle East, analyzing the aftermath of Assad's ouster and the HTS takeover in Syria, exploring the potential...

A'ndre sat down with former CIA Director General (Ret.) David Petraeus to discuss the evolution of warfare since 1945, covering conflicts from World War II to Vietnam and the current wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. General Petraeus examines how warfare considerations shifted after World War II and explores the "wars of decolonization" that followed. Drawing on his experience co...

On Thursday, Israel announced that it had killed Hamas' de facto leader Yahya Sinwar near Rafah, a significant development for the ongoing War in Gaza. A'ndre chatted with his old friend and mentor Javed Ali, former Senior Director for Counterterrorism on the U.S. National Security Council, about his reactions to the development and what it could mean for the broader crisis in the Middle...

In this re - release of our popular episode from October 2021 (excuse the old theme music!),  A'ndre and Ryan speak with George Will, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author, on what it means to practice a 'conservative' foreign policy. Dr. Will, who has published a twice-weekly column in The Washington Post since 1974, provides his definition of what it means to be conservative...

This week, A'ndre welcomes a unique guest: The Most Rev. Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. Some of our audience may recall Bishop Curry's captivating sermon during the 2018 Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. He has been an outspoken advocate on various social and political issues, discussing the Episcopal Church's role in policy advocacy amid ris...

Following Israel's targeted killing of Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah, the pager explosions, and the ongoing escalation in Southern Lebanon, A'ndre sat down with Dr. Matthew Levitt from the Washington Institute to discuss anything and everything relating to Hezbollah. Dr. Levitt, who wrote Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon's Party of God , provides a brief history of the...

The Burn Bag will be covering the Israel-Gaza War over the course of several episodes, sourcing multiple perspectives on the conflict. The Burn Bag does not officially endorse any views expressed by our guests, but rather brings those perspectives to you, the audience, and will continue to provide a diverse array of voices on the program. In this episode, A’ndre introduces Uri Bar-Joseph, professo...

On Saturday, President Joe Biden will host the leaders of India, Japan, and Australia in Wilmington, Delaware, for his final Quad summit. What is the Quad? To explore this four-way partnership and preview the summit, A'ndre is joined by Aman Thakker , an Adjunct Fellow with the Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies at CSIS. They discuss the Quad's history, including its inception in 2004 af...

A powerful U.S. Senator. A leading aide to the New York Governor. A leading Korea expert. All prominent figures in the last several months who have been accused of being foreign agents, working on behalf of foreign governments to influence U.S. policy. To make sense of this all, A'ndre chatted with Casey Michel , author of Foreign Agents and the Director of the Combating Kleptocracy Program a...

This week, A'ndre chatted with Eliot Higgins, an award-winning journalist who founded the citizen journalism outlet Bellingcat, a fact-checking platform utilizing open-source intelligence focusing on international affairs. Eliot talks about his initial work studying the Syrian Civil War and the conflict in Libya, and how he was able to identify key war crimes from analyzing open-source and pu...

Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Within hours, the U.S. and allies coordinated a shadow-war – using the tools of economic statecraft – to bring the heat down on Moscow. That shadow-war is the subject of this week's conversation featuring Stephanie Baker, veteran Bloomberg journalist and Russia expert, as she talks about this economic war, how it was coordi...

This week, A'ndre chatted with Sara Wahedi, an award-winning Afghan technologist and humanitarian who created Ehtesab, a crisis notification app that has provided Kabul residents in Afghanistan with real-time emergency alerts. A'ndre and Sara chatted on the three year anniversary of the Taliban's takeover of the country, with Sara sharing her reflections on the plight of women since...

The Burn Bag returns after a brief hiatus, and we're bringing back "What in the World?" A series where A'ndre talks about ongoing current events with other youthful foreign policy professionals, experts, and geeks. This week, A'ndre chats with his old UChicago classmate Gabriela Saade about the ongoing political crisis unfolding after Venezuela's recent elections. Whi...

This week, A'ndre welcomed back to  The Burn Bag Brian Morra, a retired Air Force Intelligence Officer and the author of  The Righteous Arrows , a fictionalized account of U.S. proxy efforts during the Soviet-Afghan War. A'ndre and Brian discuss heightened tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union during the mid-1980s, outlining the motivations behind why the U.S. Governmen...

This week, A’ndre and Andrea speak with former SOF-CENTCOM commander LTG Michael Nagata and former senior State Department official Laurel Miller on a recent USIP report on counterterrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  LTG Nagata and Laurel discuss how the counterterrorism landscape has changed since 2021, outlining the different terror groups in the region, from al Qaeda and ISIS-K to anti-Pakis...

This week, Andrew interviews Eric and Greg Levesque, co-founders of Strider Technologies. Strider is a tech company that utilizes open-source data and AI methodologies to provide strategic intelligence to governments, corporations, and research institutions around the world to proactively identify and mitigate nation-state-directed IP theft, talent recruitment, and supply chain threats. Eric and G...

Last week, co-hosts Andrea Ochoa and Christina Oh attended the 2024 NATO Youth Summit, which was a collaborative event hosted by NATO, The Aspen Institute, Aspen Institute Romania, the Swedish Defence University and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. The event focused on global security issues and enhancing youth understanding of the transatlantic alliance, including how the alliance can addr...

This week, A'ndre and Andrew interview Dr. Gregory Stanton, founder of Genocide Watch on the process of genocide, genocide in modern warfare, and efforts towards reconciliation. Dr. Stanton has been a key figure in the genocide prevention movement for several decades, and walks the audience through his ' 10 Stages of Genocide ' framework. Dr. Stanton outlines why he believes total w...

This week, A'ndre chatted with former Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper on the recent strikes exchanged between Israel and Iran, Israel's conduct in Gaza, and the broader regional dynamics at play. Director Clapper, who served as DNI between 2010-2017, discusses his initial reactions to the October 7th Attacks, recalling his own visit to the Gaza border in 2014 and talking ab...

In this episode, A'ndre and Andrea welcome Jonna Mendez, a distinguished former Chief of Disguise in the CIA's Office of Technical Service, for an intriguing discussion on espionage, disguise, and Jonna's groundbreaking career. Known for her role that is sometimes akin to "Q" from the James Bond series, Jonna sheds light on her 27-year tenure at the CIA, where she speciali...

This week, A'ndre is joined by Lindsay Gorman, the Managing Director & Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund’s GMF Tech, to delve into the controversies surrounding TikTok and its implications for national security. Lindsay sheds light on ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, and discusses the concerns surrounding its data storage practices. A'ndre and Lindsay explore the concept...

This week, Christina interviews Sophie Rutenbar (she/her), a visiting fellow in the Brookings Strobe Talbott Center and a Visiting Scholar at New York University's Center on International Cooperation, on the current crisis in Haiti and the emergence of gangs as leading political voices. With experience as the Planning Officer for the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), based in...

This week, A'ndre is joined by Javed Ali, a former counterterrorism official who served as Senior Director of Counterterrorism on the National Security Council, to discuss Friday's horrific ISIS terror attacks at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow, Russia. Javed and A'ndre discuss what ISIS-K is, and how the Afghan-based group is different from the 'core' ISIS that has operate...

This week, A'ndre chatted with former Secretary of Defense (and CIA Director, and Chief of Staff, and Congressman!) Leon Panetta on a litany of key national security and foreign policy topics relating to the Israel-Gaza War, Russia-Ukraine, the U.S.-China relationship, and the 2024 Presidential Election. A'ndre and Secretary Panetta spent a good chunk of the interview discussing the ongo...