This week, the ladies of Bombshell welcome Lindsey Ford, from the ‎Asia Society Policy Institute, to chat about this spring's Appointment in Helsinki: the US-North Korea presidential summit. Then, they set an Iran Deal death watch and puzzle through what happens when Red Sparrow meets real life in the nerve-agent poisoning of a Russian double agent in the UK.  White House mayhem continues to say "hold my beer" with the firing of Rex Tillerson and what it means for Trump administration Kremlinology.  Finally, the pop culture world is looking up, with the return of Occupied, the digital release of Last Jedi, and much more.   Karoun Demirjian, "," Washington Post Ankit Panda and Vipin Narang, "," War on the Rocks Ellen Barry, "," New York Times Andrew Jeong, "," Wall Street Journal Heidi Blake, Tom Warren, Richard Holmes, Jason Leopold, Jane Bradley, Alex Campbell, "," BuzzFeed Derek Chollet and Julie Smith, "," Foreign Policy Ilan Goldenberg, "," Foreign Policy Ilan Goldenberg and Elizabeth Rosenberg, "," Foreign Affairs Alex Ward, "?" Vox Ellen Barry, "," New York Times Asia Society Policy Institute event, ""

This week, the ladies of Bombshell welcome Sarah Margon, Washington Director of Human Rights Watch, to explore a side of the Syria conflict we discuss too little on this show: the human dimension. The ladies wade through three different political maelstroms in Italian elections, President Xi’s quest for immortality, and President Putin’s land of misfit nukes.  Hairstyles, process, and wrongheaded beliefs about trade deficits explain the White House, and Radha plugs spoken word cookbooks (written by spies).   Economist, "," Economist Laura McGann, "" Vox Sarah Margon, "," Foreign Affairs Marc Freeman, "," Hollywood Reporter Evan Osnos, "" New Yorker Philip Rucker, Ashley Parker, and Josh Dawsey, "'," Washington Post William J. Broad and Ainara Tiefenthaler, "?" New York Times

This week, the Bombshell ladies welcome Lauren Fish of the Center for a New American Security to talk all things FY19 defense budget, including why this big funding increase may not be all that it seems.  While finding future employment for Navy SEALs on the skeleton track, we talk North Korea’s charm offensive, how we and maybe everyone else have totally lost the plot in Syria, and why the Munich Security Conference was the party everyone wanted to bail on.  We offer everything you wanted to know about security clearances and deployability (and then everything you didn’t know you wanted to know).  And oh yeah, Erin’s seen Red Sparrow.   Center for New American Security, “,” CNAS David Wharton, "'," LA Times Motoko Rich and Choe Sang-Hun, "," New York Times Scott Neuman, "'," NPR Isabel Kershner, Anne Barnard, and Eric Schmitt, "," New York Times J. Dana Stuster, "," Lawfare Aaron Mehta, "," Military Times Eliot A. Cohen, "," The Atlantic Henry Meyer and Patrick Donahue, "," Bloomberg William J. Antholis, "," Politico Tara Copp, "," Military Times Dahlia Lithwick, "." Slate

This week the ladies of Bombshell return to regularly scheduled programming, re-introducing ourselves with our new Bombshell questions including everyone's favorite bars and least favorite books. Next we turn to our old friends Afghanistan and North Korea (wondering if we'll ever get a public debate on either), before wonking out to the Nuclear Posture Review and State of the Union address. Also, if you PT three times per day but don't log it in Strava does it even count, bro? Finally, a dazzling potpourri of pop-culture - even Radha weighs in.   Don't forget to send all your process valentines!     David D. Kirkpatrick, “,” New York Times Max Fisher, “?,” New York Times Mia Bloom,   Thomas Gibbons-Neff, “,” New York Times Steve Inskeep, “,” NPR Anna Fifield, “.,” Washington Post Victor Cha, “,” Washington Post David Nakamura,  James Acton, “,” War on the Rocks Patrick Tucker, “,” Defense One Patrick Tucker, “,” Defense One

On our first anniversary we couldn’t help but wonder: What's it like to be a man in national security? Kai Ryssdal, Frank Gavin, and Benjamin Wittes join us to discuss.

Bombshell returns from a long winter's nap for its first 2018 episode and first test run of a brand new set of Bombshell questions! Christy Abizaid joins us to talk Pakistan and the joys of Austin, TX, and we talk protests in Iran and what happens when South Korea hears that hotline bling.  Yet another White House shuffle could be in the works, and we eagerly anticipate the arrival of a new defense strategy.  Finally, hyperspace ramming and Nazi uncles get the attention you'd expect from us in pop culture.  Bonus: expect news about a Bombshell anniversary party soon!   After we recorded, we learned that one of the first friends of the pod, Shawn Brimley, passed away. Shawn will be remembered as a brilliant scholar and great friend and colleague, but he was first and foremost a wonderful husband and dad. You can .   Episode Reading: BBC News, “?," BBC News “,” NPR Jared Keller, “,” Task & Purpose Susan B. Glasser, “?,” Politico Stephen Tankel, “,” CNAS Uri Friedman, “,” Atlantic Suzanne Maloney, “,” Brookings Samuel Ramani, “,” Diplomat C. Christine Fair, “,” Foreign Policy Jonah Shepp, “,” New York Magazine Max Fisher and Amanda Taub, “,” The New York Times

Loren, Radha, and Erin traveled to Maxwell AFB for a special live year in review episode at the Air Command and Staff College. Come for their thoughts on the biggest national security stories of the year and stay for an extended Q&A with ACSC students (starting around 39:00). Plus, bonus Star Wars commentary.

This week Susanna Blume joins to tell us how the sausage is made on Capitol Hill - the defense budget, continuing resolutions, and other congressional hijinks. And Radha returns from maternity leave! Then we wade through the president's Jerusalem announcement and recent Brexit breakthroughs, before dissecting the new National Security Strategy. And of course we discuss Season 2 of "The Crown" - and our new gift guide!   Episode Reading: Susanna V. Blume and Lauren Fish, “,” CNAS Susanna V. Blume and Lauren Fish, “,” CNAS Max Fisher, “,” New York Times Ishaan Tharoor, “,” Washington Post Tony Connelly, “,” RTE BBC, “,” BBC Alex Hunt and Brian Wheeler, “,” BBC Kate Brannen, "," The Atlantic Salman Ahmed and Alexander Bick, “?,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Ilan Goldenberg, “,” Slate Kori Schake, “,” Atlantic Mira Rapp-Hooper, “,” Atlantic

This week on Bombshell we talk with Mieke Eoyang about, well, basically everything. We take a rapid fire tour of political dramas in Zimbabwe, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon. Stop for a bit to bask in the crazy sunshine of Turkish plots and then return to the United States just to ask: Exactly how many troops do we have overseas? Then just for kicks, we debate what a lawful order for a nuclear first strike would look like. We wrap up with Mieke's Twitter conversation with John Cusack and Erin's dream for a Master and Commander sequel.   Episode Reading Ben Freeman and Mieke Eoyang, "," Third Way Sisonke Msimang, "," New York Times Von Marcus Gatzke and Marlies Uken, "," Zeit Online Andreas Rinke and Madeline Chambers, ," Reuters Marwa Eltagouri, "," Washington Post Erin Cunningham and Louisa Loveluck, "," Washington Post Thomas L. Friedman, "," New York Times Borzou Daragahi, "," BuzzFeed News Reuters Staff, "," Reuters Alex Horton, "," Washington Post Luis Martinez, "," ABC News Azmat Khan and Anand Gopal, "," New York Times Magazine Michael Barbaro, "," New York Times, 'The Daily' Karoun Demirjian, "," Washington Post Stewart Baker, Jim Lewis, and Brian Egan, "," Steptoe, The Cyberlaw Podcast Chris Evangelista, "'," Slash Film Disney-Pixar, "," Disney-Pixar

This week on Bombshell, Quinta Jurecic of Lawfare (and Washington Post!) fame joins us to break down the Mueller investigation, AUMF debate, and whether Mike Flynn is really a character from a Coen Brothers' movie. We also discuss the president's trip to Asia and do our best to understand the drama in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, which is all happening without the benefit of a functioning State Department. Quinta confesses her love of James Comey's Twitter account, while Erin and Loren do their best cosplay courtesy of Rag and Bone. Episode Reading: Quinta Jurecic, "," The Washington Post Benjamin Wittes, "," Lawfare Julia Ioffe, "," The Atlantic James V. Grimaldi, Shane Harris, and Aruna Viswanatha, "," The Wall Street Journal Daniel W. Drezner, "," The Washington Post Zeeshan Aleem, "," Vox Anne Barnard, "," The New York Times Louisa Loveluck and Suzan Haidamous, ",'" The Washington Post The Economist, "," The Economist Zack Beauchamp, "," Vox Amb. Barbara Stephenson, "," American Foreign Service Association Charlie Savage, "?," The New York Times Scott Anderson and Sabrina McCubbin, "," Lawfare Rag & Bone,  (December 1, 2017)