Sources & Methods

By NPR

National security, unlocked. Each Thursday, host Mary Louise Kelly and a team of NPR correspondents discuss the biggest national security news of the week. With decades of reporting from battlefields ... more

4.9

772772 ratings

Download on the App Store

Download on the App Store

Get it on Google Play

FAQs about Sources & Methods:

How many episodes does Sources & Methods have?

The podcast currently has 37 episodes available.

Sources & Methods episodes:

March 05, 2026 Iran’s fight for survival / The widening war / Trump’s nebulous goals
The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran is spilling out across the region. What are the goals? And how does it end?

Host Mary Louise Kelly talks with International Correspondent Aya Batrawy, based in Dubai, and Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman, about the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Six days of war have turned the middle east upside down, and it's still not clear how the U.S. will determine when its objectives have been accomplished.

Recommended Iran reading:

Blackwave by Kim Ghattas
All the Shah’s Men by Stephen Kinzer
Prisoner by Jason Rezaian
Persian Mirrors by Elaine Sciolino

Listener spy novel recommendation:

Pariah by Dan Fesperman

Email the show at [email protected]

NPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.

To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
...more
28min
February 28, 2026 Iran's supreme leader is killed. What happens now?
President Trump says Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead.

This comes after Israel and the United States launched missile attacks across Iran targeting the country's top leadership. Iran responded with missile and drone strikes in several countries in the Gulf region.

Host Mary Louise Kelly speaks with NPR national security correspondent Greg Myre and NPR international correspondent Daniel Estrin about what this means for the Iranian regime and what might come next.

Email the show at [email protected]

NPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.

To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
...more
12min
February 28, 2026 U.S. and Israel strike Iran. Here's what we know
Overnight, the United States and Israel launched military strikes against Iran.

The strikes targeted Iran’s top leaders, Supreme Leader Khamanei and President Masoud Pezeshkian — trying to kill them, according to a person briefed on Israel’s operation who spoke to NPR. Iran has responded by lobbing missiles at Israel and other countries in the region that host U.S. troops.
Host Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Greg Myre, NPR national security correspondent, and Daniel Estrin, NPR international correspondent based in Tel Aviv, about what they know and what could come next.

Email the show at [email protected]

NPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.

To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
...more
26min
February 26, 2026 Drone warfare / Iran on the brink? / Ukraine four years on
The seas of the Middle East are bristling with American warships and airpower trained on Iran. What does President Trump have in mind for them?

Host Mary Louise Kelly talks with National Security Correspondent Greg Myre and Pentagon Correspondent Tom Bowman about Trump's aims in nuclear negotiations with Iran and the risks of military action.
And four years after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a look at the many obstacles to peace and how Ukraine has pioneered a scrappy, improvised way of fighting, built around inexpensive drones.Email the show at [email protected].

NPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.

To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
...more
31min
February 19, 2026 China: Purging generals and testing nukes? / Trump, Iran and Ukraine
Did China conduct secret nuclear tests? The United States thinks so.

Host Mary Louise Kelly speaks with NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman and NPR China correspondent Jennifer Pak about China's nuclear arsenal and U.S. claims of an illicit Chinese nuclear test conducted in 2020. They also check in on other national security topics swirling this week: Board of Peace inaugural meeting, Iran and Ukraine.

Email the show at [email protected]

NPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.

To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
...more
27min
February 17, 2026 Europe's post-Munich exhale / Machado on gifting Nobel to Trump
If you heard our show last week you know we were at the Munich Security Conference – a gathering in Germany where world leaders, security experts and defense officials meet yearly to take the temperature of the global order.

This is a special follow-up episode to share some of what we learned there.

Host Mary Louise Kelly spoke with Michael Froman, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s keynote address. She also hosted a conversation with María Corina Machado, Venezuela’s opposition leader, in front of a live audience at the Munich Security Conference. Machado was on Zoom from an undisclosed location in the United States.

Email the show at [email protected]

NPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.

To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
...more
26min
February 12, 2026 View from Munich / Europe’s far-right / DNI in Georgia
“The world has entered a period of wrecking-ball politics,” begins the Munich Security Report, released as the world’s security establishment gathers in Germany.
Host Mary Louise Kelly is on the ground at the Munich Security Conference, as is Berlin Correspondent Rob Schmitz. Together with National Security Correspondent Greg Myre, they check in on Europe’s effort to bolster its own defenses, as the U.S. pulls back.
Rob explains Germany’s right-wing populist AfD party’s political ascendence and its goals for security policy.
And Greg walks through what Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was doing at a Fulton County, Ga. elections hub during an FBI search.Email the show at [email protected]
NPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.

To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
...more
27min
February 10, 2026 'Persons of no interest:' embassy wives become spies in new thriller
Two American women -- living in Cold War-era Moscow, with husbands in the CIA -- suddenly become undercover agents themselves. That's the set-up for PONIES, a new spy thriller now available on Peacock. Mary Louise Kelly speaks with star Haley Lu Richardson and showrunner David Iserson about the show, the research behind it, and what makes a good spy.

Email the show at [email protected]

NPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.

To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
...more
28min
February 05, 2026 Can Iran negotiate its way out of a U.S. attack?
President Trump says he’ll act against Iran “with speed and violence,” if he doesn’t get a deal to rein in Iran’s nuclear program.

Host Mary Louise Kelly talks with National Security Corresponent Greg Myre and Science and Security Correspondent Geoff Brumfiel about how, after a month of turmoil, the US and Iran seem to have arrived at talks over Tehran's nuclear capabilities. And they'll unpack how much more dangerous the world is after the expiration of the last U.S.-Russia nuclear weapons treaty.

Email the show at [email protected]

NPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.

To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
...more
29min
January 29, 2026 Is the “president of peace” preparing for war?
Last week, President Trump was announcing a Board of Peace
for Gaza. This week, he’s threatening war against Iran.

Host Mary Louise Kelly speaks with NPR’s national security correspondent
Greg Myre and NPR’s Tel Aviv-based correspondent Daniel Estrin about war,
peace and the Middle East.

Email the show at [email protected].

NPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access
to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.
A previous version of
this episode incorrectly contained audio of a news broadcast when discussing
comments by Ali Shamkhani, counselor to Iran's supreme leader.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
...more
39min

FAQs about Sources & Methods:

How many episodes does Sources & Methods have?

The podcast currently has 37 episodes available.

More shows like Sources & Methods

The New Yorker Radio Hour by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The New Yorker Radio Hour

6,977 Listeners

The NPR Politics Podcast by NPR

The NPR Politics Podcast

25,995 Listeners

On the Media by WNYC Studios

On the Media

9,216 Listeners

Here & Now Anytime by NPR

Here & Now Anytime

1,024 Listeners

1A by NPR

1A

4,682 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

113,420 Listeners

Up First from NPR by NPR

Up First from NPR

56,938 Listeners

Radio Atlantic by The Atlantic

Radio Atlantic

2,395 Listeners

Post Reports by The Washington Post

Post Reports

5,336 Listeners

Throughline by NPR

Throughline

16,474 Listeners

Short Wave by NPR

Short Wave

6,576 Listeners

Consider This from NPR by NPR

Consider This from NPR

6,443 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

16,499 Listeners

State of the World from NPR by NPR

State of the World from NPR

441 Listeners

Trump's Terms by NPR

Trump's Terms

423 Listeners