Rational Security

By The Lawfare Institute

What's Rational Security about?

A weekly discussion of national security and foreign policy matters featuring Lawfare senior editors Scott R. Anderson, Quinta Jurecic, and Alan Rozenshtein. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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The “Pun Moll” Edition

06.01.2023

This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by their Brookings and Lawfare colleague Molly Reynolds to talk all things Congress in the week’s national security news, including:Shattering the Must-Pass Ceiling.” Earlier this week, President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin ...

Rational Security episodes:

06.01.2023 The “Pun Moll” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by their Brookings and Lawfare colleague Molly Reynolds to talk all things Congress in the week’s national security news, including:Shattering the Must-Pass Ceiling.” Earlier this week, President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin ...
05.25.2023 The “Alan is One Year Closer to Death” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were reunited to celebrate Alan's gradual physical and mental decline, and to talk over the week in national security news, including:“Fear of Flying.” President Biden finally greenlit the transfer of F-16s to Ukraine, despite ...
05.18.2023 The “Low Down Dirty Shane” Edition This week, Alan and Scott were joined by co-host emeritus (and Washington Post star reporter) Shane Harris to talk over the week's news! Including:“Flight of the Valkyries.” Recently leaked U.S. intelligence reports allege that Wagner Group owner Yevgeniy Prighozin—who has ...
05.11.2023 The “You Hear That, Mr. Anderson? That Is the Sound of Inevitability. Goodbye, Mr. Anderson” Edition This week, Scott took a well-deserved vacation, so Alan and Quinta were joined by Lawfare managing editor Tyler McBrien to discuss:“But I thought 42 was the answer to life, the universe, and everything.” This week the Biden administration will cease ...
05.04.2023 The “Q Agone” Edition This week, a Quinta-less Alan and Scott were joined by Lawfare legal fellow Saraphin Dhanani to talk through the week's big national security news, including:“Seoul Authority.” South Korea and the United States recommitted themselves to their close security relationship this ...
04.27.2023 The “Exile on Alan Street” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott sat down—2/3 in a new studio space! (sorry, not sorry, Alan)—to discuss the week's big national security news, including:“A Sense of Doom in Khartoum.” An armed conflict between two rival military factions has broken ...
04.20.2023 The “Catch More Flies with Shugerman” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by law professor extraordinaire Jed Shugerman to talk over his controversial take on the New York district attorney's case against former President Trump, among other items in the week's national security news, ...
04.13.2023 The “Signed Pol Pot Rookie Card” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were reunited to discuss the perils of Nazi paraphernalia collecting, among other hot national security news stories from the week, including:“TrickyLeaks.” A tranche of what appear to be genuine classified Defense Department documents has ...
04.06.2023 The “24-Hour News Psychos” Edition This week, Quinta and Scott were joined by Lawfare Managing Editor Tyler McBrien to celebrate the return of the complete media madhouse and talk through the week’s big stories, including:I’m So Indicted and I Just Can’t Fight It.” Donald Trump ...
03.30.2023 The “Tik Tik Tik” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined once again by co-host emeritus and Lawfare Editor-in-Chief Benjamin Wittes to talk through national security news stories from the Holy Land to the Lone Star State, including:“Rebel Aviv.” Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s ...
03.23.2023 The “Mission Admonished” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott waited for a big shoe to drop by talking over the week's big national security news, including:“What Else Can I Get Away With on Fifth Avenue...” Donald Trump is expected to become the first ...
03.16.2023 The “Wickedly Talented Adele Dazeem” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined for a special episode by the most glamorous of RatSec co-hosts emeritus, Shane Harris, to hand out some Academy Awards for events in national security over the past year. The nominees include: ...
03.09.2023 The “Giving Two Effs” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by Naval Academy professor and cyberlaw expert Jeff "Two Effs" Kosseff to work through the week's big national security news stories, including:“Dox Populi.” Florida’s state legislature is the latest of several to ...
03.02.2023 The “Key West v. West Bank” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by favorite guest Lawfare executive editor Natalie Orpett to talk through the week's news, including:“Low Confidence Games.” A Department of Energy intelligence report concluded with “low confidence” that COVID-19 may have begun ...
02.23.2023 The “Not, Like, the Three Greatest Experts at Podcasting” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott sat through literally hours of oral arguments to prepare to discuss all the national security developments in the news, including:“The HIMAR Anniversary.” The war in Ukraine is one year old this week. The Biden ...
02.16.2023 The “All Blow’d Up” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott talked over some of the various natsec stories blowing up headlines, including:“The Truth is Up There…And We Shot It Down.” Last week’s controversy over a Chinese spy balloon has blown up, as the United ...
02.09.2023 The "Are You There, Nena? It's Me, NORAD" Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined once again by host emeritus Benjamin Wittes to talk through the week's various freak-outs, including:“We Found the 100th Luftballon.” Last week, a Chinese spy balloon floated over the United States, triggering a ...
02.02.2023 The “When the Bower Breaks News” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by Lawfare special Georgia correspondent Anna Bower to talk through the week's big national security news stories, including:“You Gotta Know When to Fulton.” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has wrapped up ...
01.26.2023 The “M1 Abrams Accords” Edition This week, Quinta and Scott were joined by special guest Michel Paradis to talk over the week's big national security news, including:“Don’t Tank my Chain.” Western allies of Ukraine have finally agreed to a way forward on providing the country ...
01.19.2023 The “Thelma or Louise” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott reunited on our new recording day to talk through the week’s big national security news, including:“Blocked and Muted.” Earlier this week, the Washington Post published a draft report by the Jan. 6 committee detailing ...
01.17.2023 Programming Note Hey there, Rational Security listeners! We have a quick programming note for you: Due to some scheduling conflicts both among us co-hosts and with Lawfare’s broader podcast production schedule, we are moving Rational Security’s release date from Wednesday to Thursday ...
01.11.2023 The “Sincerest Form of Flattery” Edition This week, a Quinta-less Alan and Scott were joined by their Lawfare colleagues senior editor Molly Reynolds and managing editor Tyler McBrien to talk over some copycat-ing that's been taking place in the national security space, including:“Hoppin’ the Fence at ...
01.04.2023 The “2023 and Me” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by co-host emeritus Benjamin Wittes to talk through the big natsec news stories starting off the new year, including:“Watch Out, You Might Get What You’re After.” As we recorded, the Freedom Caucus ...
12.28.2022 The “Toodle 2020-Two Doo” Edition For their end-of-the-year episode, Alan, Quinta, and Scott took on a number of hard-hitting questions posed by you, the listeners, including:What did Quinta mean when she referenced "the radical political statement" of the Star Wars series Andor?How should we grade ...
12.21.2022 The “Fracket Fracas” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were once again joined by Congress maven Molly Reynolds to hash through some of the week's big natsec news, including:“Don’t Fear the Referr(als).” As its presumed end draws nigh with the new Congress, the ...
12.14.2022 The “It Has a Kilt!” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by serial guest Lawfare executive editor Natalie Orpett to talk through the week's big national security news, including:“Surly Intervention.” Desperate circumstances in the island nation of Haiti have both Haitians and the ...
12.07.2022 The “Dork at 4pm” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were reunited after a few weeks apart to talk through the week's big national security news, including:“In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is Still Guilty of Seditious Conspiracy.” The jury in ...
11.30.2022 The “Doorstepped” Edition This week, Quinta and Scott co-hosted sans Alan, but were joined by the co-hosts of the Carnegie Council's The Doorstep Podcast, Nikolas Gvosdev and Tatiania Serafin! They talked through the week's big national security news, including:“Paper Rocks Censors.” China has ...
11.23.2022 The “Get Off My Lawn” Edition This week, a Quinta-less Alan and Scott welcomed Lawfare's dynamic associate editor duo, Katherine Pompilio and Hyemin Han, on to the show to talk through the week's big national security news stories, including:“Going Full Cleve.” Last week, former President Donald ...
11.16.2022 The “Raising a Wordcel” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott talked through a big week of national security news, including:“Red Dead Redemption.” Expectations of a “red wave” in the 2022 midterm elections came up short this week, as Democrats retained control of the Senate ...
11.09.2022 The “Needle is BACK” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by Brookings Institution Middle East expert Natan Sachs to talk over the week's big (non-U.S. election) national security news, including:“Bibi Got Back.” Last week, an unprecedented fifth national election in the last ...
11.02.2022 The “Happy Hallowmas” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott shook off their post-Halloween sugar comas to hash through some of the week's big national security news stories, including:“A Home Invasion in the House.” A man connected to various online conspiracies broke into the ...
10.26.2022 The “Ku Ku Kachoo” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by China expert and law professor Julian Ku to talk through some of the week's big national security news, including:“Xi Loves Me, Xi Loves Me Not.” At the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th ...
10.19.2022 The “It’s Short for Scottrick” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott flew solo to talk through some of the week's big national security news stories, including:“Jake, Mr. Sullivan if You’re NSSty.” The Biden administration finally unveiled its long awaited (and overdue) National Security Strategy last ...
10.12.2022 The "Wahoowa" Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by beloved Lawfare contributor and UVA Law professor Ashley Deeks, fresh from her latest stint at the White House. They hashed through some of the week's big national security news, including:“The Bridge ...
10.05.2022 The “Escalatory Alan” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott sat down with unofficial fourth co-host, Lawfare executive editor Natalie Orpett, to discuss the week’s big national security news, including:“That’s one, one disqualified elector. (Ah ah ah.)” Both the House and Senate finally seem ...
09.28.2022 The “Spicy Tyler” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by Lawfare managing editor Tyler McBrien to hash through the week's big national security news, including:“Bad Vlad’s Sad Grab Has Leningrad a Tad Mad.” Russian President Vladimir Putin seems intent on escalating ...
09.21.2022 The “Korea Culpa” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott went guestless to discuss the week’s big national security news, including:“Ne Me Quitte Pas.” The nearby island nation of Haiti is hitting new levels of instability, as paired economic and political crises have given ...
09.14.2022 The “So Lonely on a Limb” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott sat down with Lawfare deputy foreign policy editor and RatSec rookie Dana Stuster, to talk through the week’s big national security news, including:“Chechens Coming Home to Roost.” Ukraine’s surprise counteroffensive in Kharkiv has proven ...
09.07.2022 The “Anniversary Hot Take Takedown” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by co-host emeriti Ben Wittes and Shane Harris for a very special anniversary edition of Rational Security that pits their national security hot takes up against each other. Which of the following ...
08.31.2022 The “Anniversar-eve” Edition On this anniversary-eve edition, Alan, Quinta, and Scott reunited to hash through this week’s big national security stories, including:“The Other Other Nuclear Option.” Hostilities in Ukraine are getting perilously close to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, with each side accusing the ...
08.24.2022 The “BOYZ NITE” Edition This week, a Quinta-less Alan and Scott were joined by host emeritus Benjamin Wittes to talk through the week's big national security stories, including:“Sometimes the Best Defense is a New Offensive.” With apparent U.S. support, Ukraine is bringing the fight ...
08.17.2022 The “Mar-a-gate v. Water-a-Lago” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by their fellow Lawfare senior editor Molly Reynolds to talk through a week of big national security news stories, including:“Regrets? I’ve had a few.” One year has passed since the chaotic U.S. ...
08.10.2022 The “Very Model of a Modern Major General” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by special guest Ravi Agrawal, editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy magazine, to hash through the week's big national security news, including:“Canned Strategy.” The war in Ukraine and tensions over Taiwan have led the ...
08.03.2022 The “Small World After All” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, Scott, and favorite guest Lawfare executive editor Natalie Orpett got together to discuss the week's big national security news, including:“Another One Bites the Dust.” This past weekend, an American drone strike successfully killed yet another major ...
07.27.2022 The “Alandectomy” Edition This week, most of Alan, Quinta, Scott, and co-host emeritus Ben Wittes got together to discuss the week's big national security news, including: “It’s Over, but Don’t Leave Before the Mid-Credits Sequence.” The Jan. 6 committee held its final primetime ...
07.20.2022 The “This Edition is Too Damn Early” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott got together for another early morning session to hash through the week's big national security news, including: “Stuck in the Middle (East) with You.” As President Biden ends his trip to the Middle East ...
07.13.2022 The "Coke Party" Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were reunited to hash through the week's national security news, including: “A Thousand and One Arabian Flights.” President Biden is conducting his first official visit to the Middle East this week with the stated ...
07.06.2022 The "Life After Cassidy" Edition This week, Quinta and Scott were joined by Lawfare's new Managing Editor, Tyler McBrien, to hash through the week's national security news, including: “(John) Dean for a Day.” Surprise testimony by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson has shed unprecedented ...
06.29.2022 The "Benner Than Ever" Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by star New York Times reporter Katie Benner to talk through some of this week's biggest national security news stories, including: “The Masked Ringer.” We’re about half way through the Jan. 6 ...

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