The DSR Network

One of the surest ways to get fired in the Trump Administration is to speak the truth. Ask Captain Brett Crozier. Or just place your duty to the country ahead of your loyalty to Donald Trump. Ask former Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson...and so many others. This is not just disturbing behavior it is death by a thousand cuts to democracy and the current COVID crisis is givi...

America is just over 4% of the world's population but home to 25% of its COVID-19 cases. While European nations like Italy and Spain are wracked with the disease, Europeans typically do not have the added anxiety of trying to figure out how to pay for healthcare or worrying that their government will not support them if they lose their job. We congratulate ourselves on having the strongest economy...

Joe Nye, Harvard professor and formerly Dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, has a timely new book called "Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump" that serves as a jumping off point for our discussion of where we are in the current crisis, why we are here and what we can do better going forward. We have an exceptional group discussing these topics including Ro...

In South Africa during the AIDS crisis, as our special guest Dr. Seema Yasmin points out, the government's denial of AIDS took a measurable toll. Today, she argues, we are at risk from the misinformation, denial and deception of many current public officials right here in the U.S. Dr. Yasmin joins Ed Luce of the Financial Times and Ryan Goodman of Just Security and NYU Law School for a discussion...

While the debate about managing the pandemic has grown more rancorous in recent days as death tolls have climbed and states have lamented the unresponsiveness of the federal government, while on Capitol Hill the name calling has resumed, the virus is immune to politics. There is a right way and wrong way to manage a pandemic and the resulting economic and social crises it triggers. We discuss how...

The Coronavirus Crisis is the first 50 state natural disaster in American history. And while it is certainly not the first for which the federal response was lacking, it may be the worst overall response of an administration to a major crisis in our history. The lies continue. Public confidence continues to erode. Vital supplies from tests to masks to ventilators remain out of reach for many. Coor...

From an explosion of e-commerce to a re-evaluation of the roll of government, a teaching moment for healthcare policy and geopolitical shocks and aftershocks, the COVID-19 crisis is going to leave the world changed in material ways. We won't be the same again. Kori Schake of the American Enterprise Institute, Ed Luce of the Financial Times and Host David Rothkopf look ahead to the near-term and la...

There are countries and systems that are managing the COVID-19 crisis comparatively well. South Korea, which invested heavily and early in testing is one. Singapore, in the view of renowned infectious disease expert and Pulitzer Prize-winner Laurie Garrett, may be an even better one. Their testing is almost ubiquitous and trust in the government's handling of the crisis is rock solid. Garrett, Jus...

Lives are at stake in the coronavirus crisis. And the future of democracy is at stake in the upcoming election. What is disturbing is that both vitally important issues depend on all of us having access to the facts and there are powerful forces working to make that difficult. Foreign governments. Our own government. Politicians and other we an axe to grind. We discuss with disinformation expert a...

In a moment that a global pandemic has you self-quarantined and social distancing and a global market collapse has you terrified about the future and bad leadership has you curled up on under your bed, there is only one perfect solution! Listening to a podcast. That's what's called finding the silver lining. Can we find them with the multiple calamities that have befallen us in the past few weeks...

We don't raise an eyebrow when Trump lies. Most of his early lies were of little consequence, about his wealth or sexual prowess or intellect. But in recent weeks, in the midst of the first major International crisis the president has faced (that he did not himself create), we have seen those lies turned into potential weapons of mass destruction. By minimizing the consequences of a global pandemi...

After 20 years, the US is trying its best to get out of Dodge in Afghanistan. Trouble is the not-quite-a-peace-deal announced over the weekend fell apart on Monday. The US got out of Syria and now that country is on the verge of what may be a new and horrific humanitarian crisis. By the end of the year, it seems, everyone everywhere may have coronavirus and we're only beginning to understand the c...

Donald Trump has made narcissism the central organizing principle of his government. It used to be said institutions were the lengthened shadow of one man. In the case of the US government today it is the lengthened shadow of one man's psychopathology. Every decision, every action turns on whether Trump and those close to him feel it is good or bad for him personally. And half of America is cool w...

Donald Trump is remaking the U.S. government in ways that make you less safe, make our justice system less fair, put our democracy at greater risk. This past week we have seen manifold examples of the Trump method for putting down opposition, twisting the facts, suppressing intelligence, culling experts and independent thinkers and doing it all constantly to a devastating cumulative effect. Kori S...

Donald Trump is purging his cabinet of expertise and those who place loyalty to the Constitution above that to Trump personally. In the intelligence community, State Department, Justice Department, Department of Defense and the National Security Council we have seen an exodus of talent and a message delivered to all who remain that is positively chilling. Don't raise awareness of threats like Russ...

You may think that all Donald Trump thinks about is himself. Or his latest grift. Or cheeseburgers. But when you look at his recent behavior, it looks like even with impeachment behind him, our president saves most of his bandwidth for the land of Tchaikovsky, Putin and borscht. He shoved aside his acting Director of National Intelligence in a fit of pique over a Congressional briefing from a top...

It would seem like 2020 would be offering a great opportunity for Democrats what with the president being historical unpopular and perhaps the most corrupt and worst president in U.S. history. But still, Democrats will be Democrats and even with urgency and opportunity looming large, they seem dedicated to the idea of blowing their chances sky high. We discuss how they are doing that and speculate...

Coronavirus has a new name: Covid-19. It has infected over 50,000 people and taken over 1,000 lives. But the crisis may be just beginning. And the response of governments from China to the United States may be only be making its potential toll worse. We speak with Pulitzer Prize winning science writer, Laurie Garrett, one of the world's preeminent experts on global public health issues about just...

In 2016, Russia not only helped elect Donald Trump, they also assured Americans would never again be able to look at election results with the same trust they had in the past. If anything, actions by them, the Administration, other bad actors and incompetent administrators have raised unease about what we might expect in this year's election cycle. Beyond that, risks we have focused on in the past...

With each day since Trump's sham acquittal ceremony, it has become clear that the president sees the outcome that was served up on a silver platter by the servile Senate GOP (with one exception) as the license to behave badly. Trump never disappoints those who expect the worst from him. We discuss where this leaves us with three of the great voices of the resistance--Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chal...

If you thought Trump's acquittal by the Senate was the worst thing that could happen this week, you seem to be forgetting who you are dealing with. First, the Senate trial had much value and was, by any reasonable assessment, a net benefit for the country even despite the fact that it wasn't really a trial, was rigged and further empowered a bad president. But in rapid succession we had awards for...

If you read Fred Kaplan's new book "The Bomb" you will discover that despite the best efforts of some very qualified, competent presidents and their teams, we've come pretty close to blowing up the world a few times over the years. Now we have a president is none of those things. Indeed he's making the risk of global calamity greater with each passing day. So how come no one on the campaign trail...

The House Managers have done an extraordinary job in the Senate trial, led by the eloquence and brilliance of Adam Schiff. They have compellingly made the case that President Trump violated the law and his oath of office and should be removed from that office. But that's not going to happen. Because this trial was rigged from the outset. But does this story end here? Will the House Managers win th...

The outbreak of coronavirus in China is rapidly emerging as a major global public health crisis? How bad might it get? How is our government doing in handling it? We talk to President Obama's ebola response czar Ron Klain about where we are and what's next? Then, because Ron is a top figure in the Biden campaign, the former VP's former chief of staff, we discuss with him Iowa, the other early prim...

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists recently pushed its Doomsday Clock closer to "midnight" than it has ever been. They did this because nuclear safeguards are disappearing, risks are growing and because they include the risk of climate armageddon in their calculus. And you thought the impeachment and the death of American democracy was worrisome! Nuclear expert Jon Wolfsthal, Georgetown's Rosa Broo...