Michael McFaul, former Ambassador to Russia, joins us from Stanford for a conversation about his time serving during the Russian reset, what it’s like to be the target of a Russian disinformation campaign, and his new book, From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia.

McFaul served for five years in the Obama administration, first as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Russian and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council at the White House and then as the 7th U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation. McFaul became the first non-career diplomat to be the U.S. ambassador to Russia.

He returned to academia and now is Professor of Political Science, Director and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is also an analyst for NBC News and a contributing columnist to The Washington Post.