The DSR Network

Not everyone can claim Kermit the Frog, Miss. Piggy and Fozzie Bear as their friends. Not everyone can say they created the most successful sitcom on television. And certainly, not everyone can say they were awarded the Anti- Defamation League Entertainment Industry Award. Not anyone can claim all of those things...but one person can: Bill Prady. On this Washington for Beautiful People, Bill and E...

What made the Tiara of Optimism sparkle in 2018? And who? We pick the positive stories of the past year and the people for whom we are the most grateful so that you can enjoy your holidays in the right spirit of optimism. (Which is the only way you get both the Philippine Coast Guard and Robert Mueller in the same conversation.). Join Kori Schake of IISS, Rosa Brooks of Georgetown, David Sanger of...

The latest edition of Deep State Radio's National Security Magazine offers up an in-depth interview with one of the most distinguished leaders the U.S. intelligence community has produced, General James Clapper. Culminating his 54 year career in the military and intelligence communities with a six and a half year term as Director of National Intelligence, Clapper considers the current state of the...

Santa is not the only one who knows whether you have been naughty or nice. The rest of the Deep State knows too. And by the rest of the Deep State, we mean...yes, Santa is one of us. Of course. On this episode, using our intelligence assets on the North Pole and elsewhere we pluck some thorns from the Crown of Entropy and distribute them to the people, ideas and events of 2018 that most deserve th...

What does Trump, podcasts and Patti Lupone have in common: Jon Cryer. On Washington for Beautiful People Jon and Emily discuss Trump, twitter trolls, podcasting and (wait for it) Patti Lupone. While most people know Jon Cryer as Duckie from "Pretty in Pink" or Alan Harper from "Two and a Half Men" Cryer has always had an interest in our political system and criminal justice. Since 2016, Cryer has...

The U.S. Senate, not recently known for its courage or willingness to stand up to President Donald Trump, sent the entire Trump Administration an acid rebuke on Thursday when it voted to stop funding for U.S. support of the War in Yemen and passed a resolution declaring that Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman was responsible for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. At the same time, report...

David Sanger of the New York Times discusses how the Trump Administration's decision to pull out of the INF Treaty because of Russian non-compliance may be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the unwinding of the foundational nuclear agreements of the past several decades. He describes why the INF was widely regarded as a successful agreement and why the rise of new powers may make it har...

The Economist named former Foreign Secretary and famed unmade bed Boris Johnson as its idiot of the year. Ed Luce of the Financial Times, joins our discussion to explain why. Then Evelyn Farkas of the German Marshall Fund and Rosa Brooks of Georgetown University Law School defend America's honor by describing the enormous idiot surplus America enjoys these days. In addition, they also discuss Trum...

When TV Writer Nell Scovell wrote her now famous tell all expose in Vanity Fair about the behind the scenes exploits at Late Night with David Letterman, some thought it would ruin her career. But, the essay--a critical moment on the path to our "Me Too" era-- didn't end her career, she thrived. Nell went on to write jokes for President Obama at the White House Correspondence Dinner, for some of te...

We can debate the policy and personal successes and failures of George H.W. Bush but there is no question that his example stands in stark contrast to that of America's current president and many in the generation of political leaders around him. The question is: Was Bush the last of a breed? Did something change a quarter century ago when he left the presidency? Did it change even earlier? And ar...

Relax. Keep your champagne on ice. Donald Trump is still president of the United States. And his foreign policy--which is a crudely mixed cocktail of racism and greed with a twist of incompetence--is still what America is serving up to the world. But that won't always be the case. In fact a New Democratic House of Representatives may start changing some of it pretty soon. Which begs the question,...

Tony liked ducks. He was introspective enough to enter therapy. He loved his family. He had a code of ethics. He even drank every so often. He had a soul. He was likable. In short, he was everything our president is not. But would you really prefer him as president to the current Gangster-in-Chief who tampers with witnesses in the open, praises the guts of lying co-conspirators and, well, has his...

When Josh Campbell joined the FBI, he was told one thing: FBI doesn’t lie. Josh worked for Comey, he worked for Mueller and learned that integrity is the backbone of the Bureau. So when faced with a President who couldn’t find “truth” with a map, Waze and the resurrected ghosts of Rand & McNally, he decided to leave the career he loved and joined CNN. On the premiere episode of "Washington for Bea...

Responding to the reports of Michael Cohen's Trump Tower Moscow lies and guilty plea, the rising star Congressman from California, Rep. Eric Swalwell, reveals where the new Congress is likely to take investigations into Trump's business ties and their consequences when it assumes office in January. He asserts the Congress will examine Trump Organization money laundering that his colleagues have re...

New from the Deep State Radio Network, National Security Magazine will be a regular podcast series featuring long-form interviews with important national security newsmakers. In this week's episode we feature a conversation with Wendy Sherman, the first woman to hold the post of Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and author of the new book, "Not for the Faint of Heart", a memoir of her...

When Donald Trump was presented with the overwhelming evidence of Russian interference in the US elections (of which he was Exhibit A) he said, "I don't believe it." When presented with proof of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman's role in ordering the murder of Jamal Khashoggi he said, "I don't believe it." When presented with his own government's assessment of the catastrophic costs of c...

Trump has forged an indelible bond not with our allies nor with the American people (a majority of whom can't stand him) but with a group of really bad men worldwide who are not just evil, they're creeps. Vlad. Bibi. Duterte. And of course, now topping that list Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Trump's defense of MBS and his indefensible crimes--from murder to torture--and his and...

It's Thanksgiving weekend in the USA. It's a warm, friendly, family holiday provided that a.) your family does not discuss politics, b.) your unhinged uncle does not drink too much and c.) the indoor deep-fryer does not burn the whole house down. Maybe you'll go to a class reunion. Those are always...terrible. Or, alternatively, maybe you'll do what you did on prom night...stay home alone. Except...

Who needs relatives? Join your Deep State family for a cheerful holiday discussion of the Turkeys of the Year, the losers, jerks, criminals, and large orange embarrassments that made the past year as unappetizing as an under-cooked Butterball. Our own Rosa Brooks, former undercover CIA operative and improv comedian Emily Brandwin and Maggie Feldman-Piltch of NatSecGirlSquad offer their views and.....

Yemen has become a humanitarian catastrophe on a scale of few others in the recent history of the planet. 14 million people live on the verge of famine. Tens of thousands are dead. And despite gestures in the direction of bringing the conflict to a close precious little progress has been made. Who is culpable? What is America's role? Obama's during the early stages of the conflict? Trump's now? Ou...

Trump's Europe trip was a rare multi-tiered fiasco, a kind of mille feuille of fiascos, at which the disasters operated on many levels--his alienation of our allies, his insults to our troops, his vanity, his cozying up to villains, his fear of getting wet, his complete lack of understanding of how the world works. In fact, it may be the worst overseas trip by any president ever...since Trump's He...

There are constitutional reasons why Mathew Whitaker should not succeed Jeff Sessions as even the Acting Attorney General of the US. There are legal reasons. There are ethical reasons. But none of these stopped Donald Trump from beginning the latest chapter in his effort to obstruct justice and contain the threats he feel Robert Mueller's investigation poses for him. On this special episode Florid...

It is one week after the shootings in Pittsburgh and 80 years after Kristallnacht. How deep do the rivers of hate in America today run? How much culpability do our political leaders have for channeling that hate into our daily discourse? Who is put at risk? On this 1-on-1 we have a conversation with one of America's leaders in combatting these forces that are tearing our society apart, Jonathan Gr...

Donald Trump said the mid-terms were a huge success (they weren't), that he did better than other presidents during their first mid-term elections (he didn't), that he had the touch of gold and only those who ran away from him suffered (not true). On the other hand, he still has a job today and Jeff Sessions doesn't. That's right, within hours of the election results coming in, the president flipp...

Americans will finally get to express themselves at the ballot box after two years of division, turmoil, lies and lurid headlines. Election Day is here. Our Rosa Brooks, Kori Schake and Ed Luce get together to help you all prepare for the election. Do you drink before you vote or vote before you drink? How much of each is appropriate? Legal? And what have we learned from the campaign about America...