Sirens: A Bombshell production

This week on Bombshell, we each dial in from parts-unknown to compare our drinking habits to the Queen of England. We also discuss new North Korean sanctions, whether anyone sent flowers to the new Pakistani Prime Minister, and what on earth is happening in Venezuela. White House mayhem is dialed to eleven and we dissect leaks, tweets, and the new sheriff in town. Finally Loren and Radha confess their love of spoilers because they’re obviously insane control freaks. Episode Reading: "," by Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Brian Murphy, The Washington Post. "", by Phil Carter, Slate. "," Nicholas Casey, The New York Times. "," Carol Lee and Courtney Kube, NBC News. , by Michael Duncan (PublicAffairs, 2017).

Susan Hennessey of Lawfare and Rational Security fame joins Radha and Erin to wade through recertifying the Iran deal, social media shenanigans in the Persian Gulf, and whither the new Russia sanctions. Also on tap: all the leaks! and how we forgot about our $1 billion in foreign loans. Radha swoons over a baby hippo and Erin begs Loren to return so we can talk about Jon and Sansa. Reading: Peter Baker, “,” The New York Times. Monika Nalepa, “,” The Monkey Cage. M. Taylor Fravel, “,” The Indian Express. Barkha Dutt, “” The Washington Post. Mark Champion and Marek Strzelecki, “,” Bloomberg. Jana Winter, Robbie Gramer, and Dan De Luce, “,” Foreign Policy. Robert Windrem and William Arkin, “” NBC News. Karen DeYoung and Ellen Nakashima, “,” The Washington Post. “,” NPR.

Special guest Amy Shafer joins us for the full show and highlights her fabulous research on the civil-military divide in America (and dishes on the Air Force Tops in Blue). Then we celebrate the liberation of Mosul, walk through the North Korean missile test, and wonder what exactly happened at the G20 meetings. Also on the table: Whither our Afghan strategy? And Erin gets giddy over space marines. Stick around for our “Game of Thrones” preview!* *By which we mean fan-girl shouts of joy and anticipation. Reading: , Amy Shafer, CNAS “,” Mike Giglio, Buzzfeed  “,” Defense One Staff, Defense One  “,” Liz Sly, The Washington Post  “,” Liz Sly, The Washington Post “,” Yasir Abbas and Dan Trombly, War on the Rocks “,” Toby Harshaw, Bloomberg  “,” Ankit Panda and Vipin Narang, War on the Rocks “,” Nancy Youssef, Buzzfeed  “,” CNN “,” A Space Blog Odyssey

A special LIVE episode from the CNAS annual conference. We pour some French 75s and talk to Karen Attiah and Jia Lynn Yang from The Washington Post about national security in a time of distraction. Then we dive into the Modi visit, late night Syria shots, and Defense Department recruiting and personnel issues. We wrap up with questions from the audience and a blast from the past: how not to dress like an Army colonel.

How do you solve a problem like Qatar? This week over Pimms Cups, we talk with Mara Karlin about all the Middle East dramas (and why she loves the SAIS cult). We lament the State Dept budget and UK politics, pay tribute to the USS Fitzgerald, and wonder if we’ll ever have a strategy in Afghanistan or Syria. Finally, American Gods, the Manic Pixie Dream S2 of Band of Brothers, and Fidget Spinners. Reading: "," by Radha Iyengar and Jake Shapiro, Empirical Studies of Conflict "" by Katya Alder, BBC "" by Adam Becket, Business Insider "," by Ben Rhodes, The Atlantic "," by Bryan McGrath, War on the Rocks

This week we go it alone to focus on your questions! We force Radha and Loren to actually define their true loves of process and staffing, all while drinking delicious white sangria. Plus, what’s a wonk? Then we dig into the president’s whirlwind trip, upcoming U.K. elections and Erin and Radha's obsession with measurement error, how to make decisions on major international agreements after a Frenchman shakes your hand too hard, and whether the world is really as zero-sum as reality TV. Reading: , Steve Hadley, Texas A&M , Eliot Cohen, The Atlantic , Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight , Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight , Ernie Moniz, The Boston Globe , Dan Balz, The Washington Post , David Sanger and Jane Perlez, The New York Times , HR McMaster & Gary Cohn, The Wall Street Journal , Dan Drezner, The Washington Post , Karen DeYoung and Adam Entous, The Washington Post ,  Jerry Portwood, Rolling Stone  Greg Jaffe, The Washington Post , Rebecca Pahle, Pajiba

This week we trek out to the U.S. Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis for a geek field trip of epic proportions (three words: Jack Ryan's couch). We drink some rum and Claude Berube's scotch, and ring up former Under Secretary of the Navy Janine Davidson to talk about service secretaries, readiness, and why there is no Santa Claus. Then we dive into the Iranian elections, Syrian proxy war(s), our many desires for special counsels and other investigations, good skin care, and the defense budget. Finally, a short tour of the best of Navy pop culture. Sink their bones to Davy Jones, hooray! Episode Reading Janine Davidson, Emerson Brooking, and Benjamin J. Fernandes, , Council on Foreign Relations Ben Hubbard and Thomas Erdbrink, “,” New York Times Joshua Keating, “,” Slate Jane Chong, Quinta Jurecic, Susan Hennessey, Matthew Kahn, and Benjamin Wittes, “” Lawfare Ryan Lizza, “,” The New Yorker Todd Harrison, “,” CSIS Aaron Mehta and Joe Gould, “,” Military Times Dorian Merina, “,” National Public Radio

This week on Bombshell, we say nothing about Jim Comey! We recorded Monday and who could have guessed we'd be here today? Instead, we discuss recent casualties in Afghanistan and Somalia, check in on Venezuela and the French elections, and talk about the many ways one does and does not talk to friendly dictators. We also do our part to keep Costco margaritas in business. And then, in honor of Mother’s Day, we talk to our moms. You should too (your moms, not ours). Episode Reading: "," Vera Bergengruen, The Miami Herald  "," Helene Cooper, The New York Times , by Mike Duncan "," Nick Summers, Endgadget  "" Aaron Blake, The Washington Post "," Francisco Toro, WaPo "," Francisco Toro, Caracas Chronicles "," by Josh Lederman and Matthew Lee, AP  "," Nick Wadhams, Bloomberg "" Henry Farrell and Martha Finnemore, Foreign Affairs "'" John Hudson, Buzzfeed "," Alexandra Alter, The New York Times   Events: YPFP,  (16 May) CSIS,  (23 May) CNAS,  (28 June)

This week on "Bombshell," we dissect Trump’s first 100 days: whither America First, Axis of Adults (or just the big kids table?), budget shenanigans, and delegating all the things. But first,  joins us to walk through the state of play on the Korean Peninsula (and reveals where you can get literal bombshells made into knives). And then Loren and Erin confess why all we want in life is Mara Jade back in the Star Wars canon. Want to meet the Bombshell crew in person? “,” Robert Litwak, USA Today “,” Jon Wolfstahl, Foreign Policy “,” Abdul Matin, Reuters “,” Mara Karlin and Loren Schulman, War on the Rocks  “,” Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker “,” Jonah Goldberg, National Review “,” Olivier Knox, Yahoo News “,” by Dan Drezner, The Washington Post “”  Bryant Harris, et al, Foreign Policy “,” Jeremy Herb, CNN

This week on Bombshell we take a long look at Syria with special guest Melissa Dalton: what happened, what questions to ask, what hot takes to avoid, and where to go from here. And then we drink a lot. Also on the table: Devin Nunes and the Great Unmasking, reading tea-leaves in the National Security Council staff and membership, Jared Kushner's Wes Anderson adventure, how one dresses to go to war, and a few of our favorite spy novels. Readings: Jane Perlez,  (NYT) Declan Walsh,  (NYT) Ryan Lizza, on the  (New Yorker) Michael Crowley, (Politico) Susan Hennessey and April Doss, (Lawfare) Susan Hennessey and Ben Wittes,  (Lawfare) Michael Hanna and Sam Heller,  (WOTR) Carl Prine, (San Diego Union-Trib) CSIS report,  Adam Weinstein,  (Task and Purpose)