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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LAST EPISODE

The “Talking Turkey” Edition

11.16.2023

This week, Quinta and Scott were jointed by Lawfare Managing Editor Tyler McBrien to talk over some of the week's big national security news, including:“The Day After.” As the war in Gaza enters a new phase, discussions are increasingly shifting ...

Rational Security episodes:

11.16.2023 The “Talking Turkey” Edition This week, Quinta and Scott were jointed by Lawfare Managing Editor Tyler McBrien to talk over some of the week's big national security news, including:“The Day After.” As the war in Gaza enters a new phase, discussions are increasingly shifting ...
11.09.2023 The ”Alan Revoir” Edition This week, Quinta and Scott bade a temporary farewell to Alan and spent one last afternoon (for a few months, anyway) digging into the week’s big national security news stories, including:“Ceasefire or Misfire?” We are now one month into Israel’s ...
11.02.2023 The “Regulatory Cage Match” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by Lawfare Fellow in Technology Policy and Law Eugenia Lostri to tackle some of the overlooked national security stories that have been percolating the past few weeks, including:“BrokenAI?” The Biden administration has ...
10.26.2023 The ”Covered in Lyes” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott came together in the virtual studio to talk over the week’s big national security news, including:“Stuck in the Middle (East) with You.” The Biden administration is finding itself increasingly pilloried from both sides for ...
10.19.2023 The ”Third Ballot’s the Charm” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by their Lawfare colleague and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Senior Fellow Eric Ciaramella to discuss the week’s big national security news, including:“PiS Off.” Elections in Poland appear set to oust the ...
10.12.2023 The ”Israel and Hamas at War” Special Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by Lawfare Editor-in-Chief Benjamin Wittes for a serious conversation about Hamas’s attacks in Israel, Israel’s military response, and what it might mean for the rest of the world. Given the gravity of ...
10.05.2023 The “We Can Finally Stop Talking About Kevin” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were once again joined by Congress guru Molly Reynolds to discuss the week’s big national security news, including:“Master of the House, Doling out the Harm, Ready with a Handshake and a Face Palm.” Over ...
09.28.2023 The “So Much for that Menendez Rest Stop” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott reunited to discuss the week’s big national security news, including:“Do as I Menendsez, Not as I Menendo.” New Jersey Senator and, until recently, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee Bob Menendez was indicted ...
09.21.2023 The “Sara-FIN” Edition This week, Quinta and Scott were joined by Lawfare colleagues Eric Ciaramella and Saraphin Dhanani, the latter for her last episode of RatSec before departing Lawfare, to break down the week’s big national security news stories, including:“UNGA UNGA Party.” President ...
09.14.2023 The “We Need to Talk About Kevin ... Again” Edition This week, with Scott traveling, Quinta and Alan were joined by Lawfare Senior Editor Molly Reynolds to break down the week’s big national security news stories, including:“What is Impeachment, Really?” Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has announced an impeachment ...
09.07.2023 The "2nd Anniversary Hot Take Takedown" Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott celebrated the second anniversary of Rational Security 2.0 by bringing back everyone's favorite game show edition: the Hot Take Takedown! But this year, instead of being contestants, they sat in judgment on the following ...
08.31.2023 The “Gone ‘Til September” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott reunited to talk through the week’s big national security news, including:“Pack Your Knives and Go Home.” Vladimir Putin’s top chef has been eliminated. Wagner mercenary chief and Kremlin caterer Yevgeny Prighozin was killed in ...
08.24.2023 The “Damn Danville!” Edition This week, Quinta and Scott were joined by Lawfare Executive Editor Natalie Orpett to break down the week’s big national security news stories, including:“Home to Roost.” A judge in the military commission trying Abdul Raheem al-Nashiri, a suspect in the ...
08.17.2023 The “Donny with the Gold Hair” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by Fulton County correspondent Anna Bower to talk through the week’s big news down south, including: “Waiting on a Midnight Complaint in Georgia.” Late on Monday night, Fulton County District Attorney Fani ...
08.10.2023 The “Dog Days” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott beat back the heat to dig into the week's big national security news stories, including:“ECOWAShed?” We are now several weeks into a coup in Niger, a country once seen as one of the more ...
08.03.2023 The “Third Time’s a Charm” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by co-host emeritus Benjamin Wittes to talk through the week's YUGE national security news, including:“So THAT’s What the Insurrection Act is For.” Former President Trump has been indicted for conspiring to overthrow ...
07.27.2023 The “Norpett Returns” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by the long absent Lawfare Executive Editor Natalie Orpett to talk through the week’s big national security news stories, including:“Next Fear in Jerusalem.” This week, Israel’s Knesset voted to abolish the “reasonableness ...
07.20.2023 The “Five Dollar Footlong-Gate” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott got together to NOT talk about that ONE big story that's not quite ripe yet. (You know the one. It involves sandwiches.) But they did chat through some of the week's other big national ...
07.13.2023 The “Long Middle Finger of Europe” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by Ravi Agrawal, Editor in Chief of Foreign Policy Magazine, to talk through the week’s big natsec news, including: “Pledge Week.” In a sign of strength, NATO held its annual summit in ...
07.06.2023 The “BANG! POW! SPARKLE!” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott sat down to talk over the week's post-Independence Day national security news, including:“Oy Revolt.” Israel launched a major military operation aimed at uprooting terrorist bases in the refugee camp outside the city of Jenin ...
06.29.2023 The “Mutiny in the Kitchen” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by their colleague and think-tank neighbor, Russia/Ukraine expert Eric Ciaramella, to talk over the week's big news, including:“Going All (Prigozh)in.” Yevgeny Prighozin, leader of the mercenary Wagner Group, went all in this ...
06.22.2023 The “Even Stephan” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by UVA Law Professor Paul Stephan to talk through the close-calls in this week's national security news, including:“Xi’s All That.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing this past week, for a ...
06.15.2023 The “You Want Her in The Line—You NEED Her in The Line” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by Lawfare Legal Fellow Anna Bower fresh from the Miami court system to discuss the week's yuge national security news story—and one more for good measure:“Aileen, Aileen, Aileen, Aileen! Please don’t take ...
06.08.2023 The “Air Quality Fuchsia” Edition This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott braved the haze to talk through the week’s (very) big national security news stories, including:“Downstream Effects.” The destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine promises a new wave of suffering and environmental devastation for ...
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 ...

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