Clearer Than Truth

Richard Fontaine, CEO of the Center for a New American Security, joins Clearer Than Truth to examine the strategic challenges facing the United States in an increasingly contested world. From the Trump administration’s approach to military force and the future of American alliances to defense spending, the competition with China, and the growing role of artificial intelligence, Fontaine explores w...

Ambassador Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia and author of Autocrats Versus Democrats , joins Clearer Than Truth to examine how Vladimir Putin transformed Russia’s relationship with the West and why the war in Ukraine remains so difficult to end. McFaul argues that Putin’s greatest fear is not NATO expansion but the spread of democracy, which threatens the legitimacy of his autocrat...

Julius Krein, founder and editor of American Affairs , joins Clearer Than Truth to examine why the United States has struggled to rebuild its industrial base even as the case for reindustrialization has entered the mainstream. Krein argues that tariffs alone cannot restore American productive capacity: the country needs strategic investment, skilled workers, coordinated supply chains, permitting r...

Historian Barbara Keys joins Clearer Than Truth to examine the making, breaking, and remaking of Henry Kissinger’s legacy. Drawing on her book Super K: The Making, Breaking, and Remaking of Henry Kissinger’s Legacy , Keys explores how Kissinger cultivated journalists, managed his public image, used personal relationships and behind-the-scenes pressure to influence coverage, and maintained extraord...

Vali Nasr joins Clearer Than Truth to explain why Americans often misunderstand the forces shaping the Middle East. Nasr argues that the region cannot be understood simply through religion, terrorism, or ancient sectarian divisions; instead, geopolitics, competition for power, contested borders, resources, and outside intervention are central to understanding its conflicts. He examines the evoluti...

James M. Lindsay joins Clearer Than Truth for a wide-ranging conversation about the future of American power and the international system the United States helped build. Lindsay is a longtime scholar of U.S. foreign policy and the policymaking process at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he previously served as senior vice president and director of studies and where he hosts The President&ap...

Joby Warrick returns to Clearer Than Truth to discuss his new book, The Jackal: The Rise and Fall of Carlos the World's First Super-Terrorist . A two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The Washington Post, Warrick has spent decades reporting on terrorism, intelligence failures, and the conflicts shaping the modern Middle East. This time, he goes back to the 1970s to examine the extrao...

Richard Overy is one of the world's leading historians of the Second World War and the history of warfare. In this episode of Clearer Than Truth, Overy draws on decades of research to examine one of the most enduring questions in international politics: why do leaders continue to choose war when history repeatedly demonstrates how difficult it is to control? The conversation begins with the d...

Robert Zoellick, former U.S. Trade Representative, Deputy Secretary of State, and President of the World Bank, joins Clearer Than Truth for a wide-ranging conversation about globalization, trade, American power, and the future of the international order. Zoellick argues that the backlash against globalization has become intertwined with a broader backlash against elites and established institution...

Africa is becoming increasingly central to the global order, yet many of its conflicts and political shifts remain overlooked in Western discourse. On this episode of Clearer Than Truth , Nathan speaks with Declan Walsh , Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Chief Africa Correspondent for The New York Times , about the forces reshaping the continent. Walsh begins with the war in Sudan, a conflict...

Two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and acclaimed presidential historian H.W. Brands joins Clearer Than Truth to explore what history can teach us about American leadership, democracy, and the presidency. Brands discusses what separates great presidents from mediocre ones, arguing that the most important quality in a leader is good judgment —the ability to make wise decisions in circumstances where t...

Arne Westad, one of the world’s leading historians of international history and the Cold War, joins Clearer Than Truth to examine the geopolitical forces reshaping the world. Westad argues that today’s rivalry between the United States and China should not simply be viewed as a new Cold War. Instead, he sees stronger parallels with the period before World War I—a time when a relatively stable inte...

Admiral Mike Rogers joins hosts Nathan Kiker and George Bogden to assess how cyber deterrence, disinformation, and rapid advances in AI are reshaping strategic competition. Rogers argues that the United States’ most consequential vulnerability is domestic: deep polarization that blocks consensus on hard problems—public debt, social programs, and technology governance—making solutions more costly t...

Julian Zelizer joins Nathan Kiker and George Bogden to assess how polarization and party dynamics have reshaped U.S. governance—and why that matters for foreign policy, markets, and national security. He argues that political parties are indispensable institutions that organize interests and enable collective decision-making, but warns that key guardrails and leadership norms have eroded since the...

Bojan Pancevski, Chief European Political Correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and author of The Nord Stream Conspiracy, unpacks the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines and its far‑reaching strategic consequences. The episode centers on attribution, tradecraft, and the emerging legal case in Germany—an unusually clear window into how a small clandestine team can generate outsized geopolitic...

Benjamin Alarie joins hosts Nathan Kiker and George Bogdan to examine how rapidly improving AI systems can strengthen the administration of law—starting with tax, where complexity, volume, and inconsistency have long constrained access to justice. Alarie argues that legal AI is transitioning from promise to performance, producing measurably more accurate and comprehensive research while enabling t...

David Ignatius assesses how a fragmenting international order is reshaping U.S. strategy, allied cohesion, and day‑to‑day security. He argues the Middle East is settling into a harder-edged equilibrium: Iran’s hardliners have gained leverage despite battlefield setbacks to Tehran’s proxies; the Strait of Hormuz will likely reopen on Iran’s terms; and Turkey’s assertiveness is now a central strateg...

Brad Thor returns to the show to discuss his latest thriller, Choke Point, a geopolitical suspense novel that explores one of the most consequential strategic questions of the 21st century: what happens if China gains control over the world's most critical maritime chokepoints. A #1 New York Times bestselling author and creator of the Scott Harvath series, Thor explains how real-world concern...

Dr. Michael Auslin, historian, Hoover Institution fellow, and author of National Treasure: How the Declaration of Independence Made America , joins the show to explore the remarkable journey of America's founding document as the nation approaches its 250th anniversary. In this conversation, Auslin explains why the Declaration of Independence was originally viewed as a practical wartime necess...

Mark Galeotti is one of the world’s foremost experts on Russia, an honorary professor at University College London, director of Mayak Intelligence, and author of more than 30 books on Russian history, intelligence, and organized crime. His latest work, Forged in War, explores the military history of Russia from its origins to the present day. In this episode, Galeotti explains why Vladimir Putin’s...

Douglas Brunt is a New York Times bestselling author, and host of the podcast Dedicated. His latest book, The Lost Empire of Emanuel Nobel, uncovers the forgotten story of the Nobel family’s oil empire — a business that once rivaled Rockefeller’s Standard Oil before being erased from history by the Soviet regime. In this episode, Brunt explores the rise of Emanuel Nobel, nephew of Alfred Nobel, an...

Ryan Crocker is one of the most distinguished diplomats in modern American history, serving as U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Lebanon, and Kuwait over a decades-long diplomatic career at the center of U.S. foreign policy. In this episode, Ambassador Crocker argues that the world is passing through a dangerous geopolitical “hinge point” — one marked by growing instability in...

David McCloskey is a former CIA analyst and presidential briefer, now a bestselling author and co-host of the hit podcast The Rest Is Classified. He is the author of acclaimed spy novels including Damascus Station, Moscow X, and The Persian. In this episode, McCloskey pulls back the curtain on the world of intelligence—explaining why people are so fascinated by espionage and how secret operations...

Kenneth Rogoff is a professor of international economics at Harvard University and former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund. One of the world’s most influential economists, his work spans financial crises, central banking, and global currency systems. His latest book, Our Dollar, Your Problem, examines the future of U.S. financial dominance. In this episode, Rogoff explains why th...

Robert Kaplan is a bestselling author and geopolitical analyst, known for works like The Revenge of Geography. A longtime foreign affairs correspondent for The Atlantic, he has also advised the Pentagon and served as a leading voice in strategic analysis for decades. In this episode, Kaplan explains how geography and human behavior together shape global conflict—from the Strait of Hormuz to Taiwan...