The DSR Network

Jared Kushner is in charge of the US relations with the Saudis (among others). How's that working for us? Is he the one giving the Saudis the thumbs up that they can abuse human rights to their hearts content without any consequences if they only accept his hare-brained scheme for Middle East Peace (which will never happen)? Is it time for a new approach? And what about the Congressional investiga...

David Sanger was in Hanoi for the failed negotiations between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. He recommends the food, the US approaches to the negotiation not so much. Apparently, leaving it to two megalomaniacal leaders who think they have the skill to land a deal that their negotiators weren't even close to is a bad idea. David discusses the trip and its consequences with Ed Luce of the Financial...

Five years ago, the Russian invasion of Eastern Ukraine began. That was followed by the annexation of Crimea, US and European sanctions and, soon after, by stepped Russian efforts to undermine the leaders and parties in the West that were opposing him. Which of course, leads not just to Donald Trump but to Brexit and the rise of the right in Europe. It's a stunning turn of events...and events look...

Craig's college fallback plan was to become a tv writer and when you're as talented and funny as he is, a TV writer is a great fallback plan. Signing with an agent while a senior in college (overachiever) he and his writing partner Carter Bays quickly found work writing for David Letterman and moved on to create the hit show How I Met Your Mother. Craig's path to success wasn't a Disney Movie, unl...

Depending on your view of history and human life, the Michael Cohen circus on television this Wednesday was the third or fourth most important story of the day (that we know of). Certainly, a shooting war between two nuclear powers like India and Pakistan has got to rank first. And the possibility of a breakthrough between the US and North Korea might rank second (if it actually happens and it is...

Sometimes the experts at Deep State Radio harbor a slight but noticeable skepticism about the foreign policy acumen of Donald Trump and the band of ignorant thugs around him. But in this episode, nuclear experts Joe Cirincione and Jeffrey Lewis and DSR’s own Rosa Brooks suffer an outbreak of optimism about Trump’s summit with his diminutive love, Kim Jong Un. Is it possible? Where will this lead? ...

Once upon a time Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer wrote a blockbuster book called "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy." Deep State Radio Host David Rothkopf slammed it. But if you are tuning in to hear the two of them go at each other, you'll be disappointed. Rothkopf admits to Walt he felt his critique of the book was over the top and that Walt and Mearsheimer helped trigger an important con...

Everyone has a story to tell and Elena Nicolaou has a helluva one. For years Elena and her family were close friends with Paul Erickson and his girlfriend Maria Butina...yes that Maria Butina. (The "alleged" Russian spy.) Elena details the relationship her family had with Paul and this red headed Russian girlfriend (who was half his age, but no judgement). Maria and Paul went to Disney World with...

Donald Trump’s America has so alienated our traditional allies that when Mike Pence and Ivanka Trump went to the Munich Security Conference this past week, they were humiliated on more than one occasion by a clearly hostile crowd.  But our problem is not just that America is rejecting principles on which it has built its security for decades.  Our allies are faltering and facing deep problems of t...

In America today we face the shocking reality that there are traitors at the highest level of our government selling out our country.  What makes this more shocking is that depending on which party you are in, you see a different group of traitors.  Incivility is so five years ago.  We’re at the point where the goal is to send your opponents to jail.  That said—the case against one set of traitors...

In his 37 year career in the U.S. Army, General Charles Jacoby rose to become the commanding general of U.S. Northcom and the North American Aerospace Defense Command and a leading thinker of some of the most pressing issues the U.S. military faces. Today, he chairs the Modern War Institute at West Point, a think tank within the military academy that contemplates the future of conflict, new techno...

They're twitter's dynamic duo: he's the peanut butter to her jelly, the Mickey to her Minnie, the Batman to...you get the point. These two guests are hilarious and when you bring them together on this podcast, THEY ARE FIRE. You'd think that leading GOP strategist RickWilson and liberal writer Molly Jong-Fast would have nothing in common, but you're wrong. They have two very important things in co...

Virginia's leadership mess obscures deeper problems within the state...and the country. How do our flaws--from racism to anti-semitism to our corrupt current leadership--impact America's standing and create opportunities for our enemies? Join Rosa Brooks, Evelyn Farkas and host, David Rothkopf for an introspective journey into our moment and what to do about it. Support this show http://supporter....

What if Rosa Brooks was president? What if Kori Schake were? What about Evelyn Farkas? We live in an era of strong women candidates...what about strong women from the Deep State? Tune in and you will discover that's the answer to all our problems...in what will probably be your favorite Deep State Radio episode effort. Featuring: Pepin the Short! Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/deepst...

In an in-depth conversation with former National Security Advisor to Vice President Joe Biden Colin Kahl, now of Stanford University, we discuss the unsettling reality of Trump Administration foreign policy for American interests and for those of our allies worldwide. From the intelligence community's not so subtle indictment of Trump policies in their most recent report on global threats to the S...

What if I told you I know this guy who counts U.S. Presidents as fans, has been on the New York Times Bestseller list (many times) & created a tv show that featured a little known actor named Bradley Cooper. You'd say this sounds like a character from a novel and I'd say...you're close. It's author Brad Meltzer whose own life is as interesting as the characters he writes. In this fascinating chat,...

Adam Schiff, Chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, is a soft-spoken, thoughtful man who does not at first glance seem to be the kind of person who might put a fright into the most powerful man in the world. But Schiff's announcement of his committee's scope for its investigation into Trump, his family and the financial ties and foreign influence that might have compromised them h...

Congressman Ted Lieu of California, is one of the smartest, hardest working members of the U.S. Congress. A member of the Democratic Leadership, Lieu, brings an undergraduate degree in computer science from Stanford, a magna cum laude law degree from Georgetown where he edited the law review, a background as an Air Force J.A.G. officer, an on-going role as colonel in the Air Force reserve and exte...

Roger Stone was very upset the FBI made his dog anxious when they raided his home. He also was unhappy he did not have chance to put on a nice suit before being hauled in court. On the other hand, who cares? He's a big time sleaze and deserves everything he gets. Meanwhile, no one deserves to be abused as the people of Venezuela have been first by Hugo Chavez and then by Nicolas Maduro. So the U.S...

You may know Asha Rangappa as the witty, brilliant legal & national security analyst that graces your television screens on CNN. But, I know her as my tap dancing, french fry loving snark sister. What makes Asha's voice so important in today's political conversation is her trailblazing career and unique experience; she's one of the first Indian Americans to work FBI counterintelligence. She brings...

If the shutdown in Washington drags on and with it animosity between the political parties grows, will the remainder of Trump's first term be marked by gridlock in DC...and a president forced to turn overseas to make his mark? What might that mark be? Pulling troops out of S. Korea? Breaking up NATO? War with Iran? Kori Schake of IISS, Ed Luce of the Financial Times and Joe Cirincione of the Ploug...

For more than 30 years, John McLaughlin has been one of the most thoughtful and trusted minds in the U.S. Intelligence Community rising to be Acting Director of Central Intelligence and Deputy Director of Central Intelligence. He sees no precedent for the period we are in, the threats we face both internally and externally nor the challenges these present for the intelligence community or the coun...

Donald Trump has the figure and muscle tone of a baby whale but he moved through the MLK Memorial in Washington on Monday like Usain Bolt. Traveling with the equally intolerant and odious Mike Pence, the U.S. president was in and out of the memorial in two minutes. But he went. Which our own Kori Schake says speaks to the power of norms in our society and is a good thing. Even better, the rapidly...

After 300 rejection letters from local newspapers around the country, Warren Leight decided it was time to ditch his journalistic pursuits, and we're lucky he did. Warren has always had his thumb on America's political pulse merging the most topical issues into his work. While he never found an audience for his feel good hostage musical comedy, he found critical acclaim writing/producing Law & Ord...

Trump may be a disaster as a person and as a president. But he may also be triggering a rebirth in American political thought and a flowering of new policy ideas. The progressive branch of the Democratic Party is in the lead at the moment, but with so many areas demanding rethinking, the ferment may spread and we may all be the beneficiaries. How? Tune in to our discussion among Georgetown's Rosa...