The DSR Network

Deep State Radio listeners know Rosa Brooks as one of our founding regulars, a scholar on constitutional and international law and a national security expert. But for the past few years she has served as a police officer in Washington, DC and has written about her experiences and the lessons we can all draw from them in a new book, "Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City." It is an extraor...

ISIS was as unstoppable as their beliefs and actions were unconscionable when they arrived in Kobani. But there they were defeated by a force that not only outfought them on the battlefield but simultaneously obliterated their eleventh century ideology of the suppression and abuse of women. It was an army led in part by women, featuring fierce, capable women fighters many of whom just months earli...

Last week, the Biden Administration released the official conclusion that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was behind the brutal murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. It also detailed a host of measures to penalize the Saudis. Critics were unhappy there were no direct penalties for MBS. But the administration made it clear to the Saudis that the free ride they were getting wit...

When the 9/11 Commission was formed in the wake of the Al Qaeda attacks on the US, the current was united in grief and anger but politically polarized and it was very difficult to find a path forward that would be credible and an effective driver of reform. But the divisions of the early 2000s were nothing compared to what we have today and the problem is compounded by the active culpability one p...

The US has seen its influence plummet during the past four years as our president made everything including foreign policy about himself. That changed in an instant when Joe Biden was elected president, but now we must come to grips with the fact that in many areas our international and national security policies are woefully out of step with the times. Where should we go next on cyber policy, on...

Donald Trump introduced the truth-optional, bring your own dysfunction era to American politics and it made for good ratings. Now, he has been replaced by a president who rejects Trump's approaches, his use of social media, his melodrama, his lies and his criming. So, is that a good thing or will it afford Trump to outshine the bully pulpit of the presidency by continuing to often the media the ca...

Craig Unger's new book American Kompromat details the KGB recruitment of Donald Trump and how a man like Trump can become a valued Russian asset. It can all be legal. It can all be more or less out in the open. And in the end, it can compromise US national interests in profound ways...as it did. It's a fascinating look at the back story of the greatest traitor in American history. Don't miss it. S...

The Biden foreign policy and national security teams arrived to choruses of praise for the experience of the members and their general positions. That said a van full of orangutans would have been greeted as an improvement to Trump & his motley crew. But what are the potential areas in which they will face challenges? And what does the world have in store for them that may change the calculus whet...

This is our first episode of Deep Thoughts with David Rothkopf, our new weekly feature available exclusively to our members. This week, David discusses the grim milestone of 500K deaths from Covid. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepstateradio. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While Trumpists may have celebrated that the disgraced former president was not convicted by the Senate and the Senators who voted to convict have been attacked for their show of conscience, the reality is that Trump's legal prospects are not good. Mitch McConnell, his one time ally, called for his prosecution. Multiple cases in which he is a target are under way--in NY, Atlanta, and Washington DC...

In the latest in our "Ask the Blob" series (see links below for more about the name), host David Rothkopf is joined by Juliette Kayyem and Clint Watts (Bios Below). They discuss the rise of domestic terrorism and what can be done to combat it. They also answer the audience's questions on the subject. A very informative discussion not to be missed. Note: This podcast is available in its entirety ex...

Representative Ted Deutch (D-Florida) is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa and Global Counterterrorism. He joined the podcast to discuss the promising first moves of the Biden foreign policy team with regard to international alliances, support for the international system, communication at home and abroad and with respect to the biggest i...

For the second time in as many years, Donald Trump was acquitted by the Senate, this time for inciting insurrection. Even with the overwhelming evidence the impeachment managers brought forth, just 7 Republican Senators voted for conviction. Where does this leave us as a country? Is the U.S. strengthened or weakened in the eyes of our allies? We discuss this, the state of policing in America and m...

The House Impeachment managers proved beyond any reasonable doubt that Donald Trump incited an insurrection against the US government that resulted in six deaths over 140 injuries and profound damage to our democracy. Good as they were, we have to admit, it wasn't that tough to do because we all saw the events unfold. So, ensuring justice will be done should be easy, right? Not so fast. The Senate...

The House Impeachment managers are meticulously making an irrefutable case against former President Trump and they are meeting very little resistance from Trump's almost comically inept defense team. But what then? What if the vast majority of GOP Senators vote to acquit? (As they will.) Where does the party go from here? What will the influence of the small but noticeable Sanity Caucus be going f...

Undoing the policies of our disgraced former president are the low hanging fruit for Biden foreign and national security policy. Allies can be prioritized, executive orders can be reversed, kow towing to foreign dictators can stop. But, what then? What will the Biden team attempt that is complicated or difficult or both? A new deal with iran? A coherent China policy? Pentagon reform? We discuss wi...

MSNBC legal analyst Joyce Vance joins the podcast this week, and we discuss highly unrelated topics such as pet chickens and how necessary judicial reforms can create a more equitable legal system. Vance’s straight talk on the future of the Department of Justice and how current laws can handle domestic terrorism offers hope for the future. Cake helps, and Joyce and Marissa make a British Bake-Off-...

Has the GOP lost its mind? Or is its embrace and defense of lunatics, violent extremists, traitors, sex offenders, racists and the highly corrupt a shrewd, carefully considered political strategy? How should Democrats respond? How do they get accountability for abuses when the GOP absolutely refuses to go along? How do they achieve progress on healing our wounds when the other party actively wants...

This is a complex moment for America and for the world. It is a far cry from the euphoria of the immediate post-Cold War, tech boom era. But there were foreshadowings we would grapple with today's problems and three-time Pulitzer Prize Winner, NY Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman identified them more than two decades ago in his book "The Lexus and the Olive Tree." We talk with Tom about how we go...

"The FBI Way" is a terrific new book from 25 year FBI veteran and MSNBC contributor Frank Figliuzzi. It details the values within the FBI that have enabled it to succeed so frequently in the past as well as discussing where mistakes have been made and how they have been remedied. The book is rich with stories many of which intersect with the headlines of the past few years. We discuss the book wit...

Imagine: A coup attempt in which the coup leaders justify taking power because of massive voter fraud. Or imagine a government using force against thousands of peaceful demonstrators. Now imagine that those things were not taking place in the US on behalf of America's disgraced former president but were instead happening in Myanmar and Russia. Suddenly, the new administration faces its first inter...

Today’s episode features Kavita Patel, practicing physician and former health and economics policy advisor in the Obama Administration. We talk pro-cookie baking tips and Covid, including the pros and cons of the available vaccines, the reality of our shared grief and what to say to someone who’s not wearing a mask. We also talk about more pleasant things, including that most pleasant thing of all...

While some may look at the Trump coup attempt on January 6th as the last desperate act of the disgraced former president to remain in power, it is already being seen among white supremacist groups as a long expected signal of an escalation in domestic unrest leading to a civil war they have long planned and hoped for. The fact that Trump is likely to go unpunished for leading the January 6th effor...

Senate "institutionalists" claim the filibuster is a traditional US Senate tool that produces compromise. Nope. It's a tool that was almost never used during the first 200 years of US history. And when it was used it was almost always used to promote a racist agenda. And now that it is used more often, it is used to obstruct and give disproportionate power to Republicans. The first step to elimina...

While some Washington hot take artists are already predicting a backlash against Bidenism (and this even before the first dogs Major and Champ have had a chance to start chewing on the White House furniture), even observers who are disinclined to jumping to conclusions have noticed big changes in Joe Biden's Washington. Our experts--Rosa Brooks of Georgetown University Law Center, Kori Schake of t...