Iran’s nuclear program has long been a source of international tension. Early in U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, hopes for a diplomatic resolution resurfaced—until June, when Israel launched strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites. Days later, the United States joined the conflict, bombing three sites within Iran. Iran retaliated with missile attacks in Israel and a U.S. base in Qatar, and suspended cooperation with nuclear inspectors.

With both Washington and Tehran signaling interest in returning to talks despite the violence, what are the prospects for diplomacy now? To discuss where things stand and what a path forward might look like, Just Security’s co-editor-in-chief Tess Bridgeman is joined by Richard Nephew, a leading expert on Iran’s nuclear program and former Deputy Special Envoy for Iran.

Show Notes: 

• Just Security’s Israel-Iran Conflict Collection
• Richard Nephew’s “Did the Attacks on Iran Succeed?” in Foreign Affairs 
• Kelsey Davenport’s “Israeli Strikes Risk Driving Iran Toward Nuclear Weapons” in Just Security
• Brianna Rosen, Tess Bridgeman, and Nima Gerami’s “The Day After U.S. Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Program: A Policy and Legal Assessment” in Just Security
• Brianna Rosen’s “Intelligence Implications of the Shifting Iran Strike Narrative” in Just Security
• Brian O’Neill’s “What Counts as a Win?: Battle Damage Assessments and Public Messaging” in Just Security
• Brian Finucane’s “The Need for a Congressional Rebuttal on Trump’s Iran Attack” in Just Security
• James Acton’s “Guest Post: Sorry, Mr. Secretary, producing uranium metal isn’t particularly difficult” in Arms Control Wonk

The leaders of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance, just finished their annual Summit in The Hague in The Netherlands, as Ukraine continues its existential fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion that began more than three years ago. That invasion, preceded six years earlier by the capture of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine, set off the biggest war in Europe since World War II. 

How do Ukrainian leaders see the outcome of the NATO Summit? What are the prospects for negotiations, and how are Ukrainians faring in the meantime? And what about relations between Ukraine and the United States under this new administration in Washington? And with its European partners? 

Washington Senior Editor Viola Gienger and guest host Lauren Van Metre spoke with Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko to answer some of these crucial questions. 

Show Notes:

• Just Security’s Russia-Ukraine War archive.
• Just Security’s tracking of Russia’s Eliminationist Rhetoric Against Ukraine
• Hidden in the U.S. Army’s New Reform Initiative Is a Warning for Europe by Jennifer Kavanagh
• Can Trump Seize a Win in Ukraine? By Ambassador Daniel Fried
• International Law at the Precipice: Holding Leaders Accountable for the Crime of Aggression in Russia’s War Against Ukraine by Mark Ellis

Over the past several days, the Trump administration has taken increasingly drastic steps in response to protest activity and unrest in Los Angeles — including federalizing 4,000 National Guard troops and sending hundreds of Marines, against the objections of California’s state and local leadership. 

As events unfold on the ground in LA, and in the lead-up to further anticipated protests this weekend, Just Security and the Reiss Center on Law and Security hosted a YouTube Live event to examine the pressing legal and policy issues at stake. 

Notes: 

• Watch the full June 12th, 2025 event on YouTube, here.
• Elizabeth Goitein: Senior Director, Liberty & National Security Program, Brennan Center for Justice
• Mary B. McCord: Visiting Professor of Law and Executive Director, Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, Georgetown Law; Member, Board of Directors, Just Security 
• Steve Vladeck: Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Federal Courts, Georgetown Law; Executive Editor, Just Security   
• Ryan Goodman: Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Director, Reiss Center on Law and Security, NYU School of Law; Founding Co-Editor-in-Chief, Just Security 
• Just Security’s Civilian-Military Relations coverage. 
• Just Security’s Domestic Deployment of the U.S. Military coverage.  
• Just Security’s Law Enforcement archives. 

In recent years, the United States has sustained some of the most severe cyber threats in recent history– from the Russian-government directed hack SolarWinds to China’s prepositioning in U.S. critical infrastructure for future sabotage attacks through groups like Volt Typhoon. The Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is responsible for responding to, and protecting against these attacks.  

How do leaders steer through cyber crises, build trust, and chart a path forward? 

In conversation with Dr. Brianna Rosen, Just Security Senior Fellow and Director of the AI and Emerging Technologies Initiative, Jen Easterly, who just completed a transformative tenure as Director of CISA under the Biden Administration, unpacks the challenges, breakthroughs, and lessons from the front lines of America’s cybersecurity efforts.  

• Jen Easterly   
• Just Security’s Cybersecurity coverage 
• Empathy Matters: Leadership in Cyber by Jen Easterly ( 2019) 

For nearly 70 years, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division led efforts to protect voting rights and fight racial discrimination at the polls. But in January 2025, DOJ political appointees froze all new civil rights cases and dismissed every major pending voting rights lawsuit—prompting most career attorneys to leave the Division. 

With federal challenges to restrictive voting laws now dropped in several states, the fight for voting rights falls to individual voters and advocacy groups, raising urgent questions about the future of enforcement.

In this episode Dani Schulkin, Director of Democracy Initiatives at Just Security, is joined by Chiraag Bains. Chiraag is a senior fellow at Democracy Fund, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and former Deputy Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council for Racial Justice & Equity. He also previously served in the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. 

 Show Notes:  

• Chiraag Bains, “What Just Happened: The Trump Administration’s Dismissal of Voting Rights Lawsuits.” 
• Collection: Just Security’s Coverage of Trump Administration Executive Actions  
• Just Security’s DOJ Archives 
• Music: “Broken” by David Bullard from Uppbeat: https://uppbeat.io/t/david-bullard/broken (License code: OSC7K3LCPSGXISVI)

The State Department has released a reorganization plan that would usher in significant changes to the way the United States conducts its diplomacy and foreign assistance, at a time of considerable geopolitical change. Proposals by the Trump administration include eliminating or restructuring a number of the Department’s longstanding functions, dissolving and/or folding USAID into State, and imposing large budget and staffing cuts. 

Debates over how to structure and optimize the State Department, and U.S. foreign assistance programs in particular, are nothing new. But important questions remain about these proposals—including how they may interact with Congressional prerogatives; their implications for the conduct of U.S. foreign policy amidst compounding global crises; and, ultimately, whether these changes may herald a more streamlined and effective bureaucracy or undermine U.S. diplomatic power.

On May 14, 2025, the Reiss Center on Law and Security and Just Security convened an expert panel to consider these vitally important developments and to unpack what’s happening, what’s at stake, and what lies ahead. 

Show Notes: 

• Dani Schulkin, Tess Bridgeman, and Andrew Miller’s “What Just Happened: The Trump Administration's Reorganization of the State Department – and How We Got Here” 
• Ambassador Daniel Fried’s “The US Government’s Self-Harm in Killing RFE/RL” and “Is the U.S. Abandoning the Fight Against Foreign Information Operations?” 
• Hon. Dafna Rand’s “Stopped Security Assistant: From Counter-Narcotics to Combating Human Trafficking Programs”  
• Michael Schiffer’s “Secretary of State Rubio’s Reorganization Plan Could Offer a Chance to Rescue U.S. Foreign Assistance -- If He’s Smart About It” 
• Music: “Broken” by David Bullard from Uppbeat: https://uppbeat.io/t/david-bullard/broken (License code: OSC7K3LCPSGXISVI)

As the Supreme Court holds oral arguments on Thursday, May 15, Kristin A. Collins, Gerald Neuman and Rachel E. Rosenbloom argue that Executive Order 14160, which denies birthright citizenship to any child born in the United States who does not have at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, clearly violates the birthright citizenship federal statute.  They note the statute has not received as much public attention, as they discuss the 1940s and 1950s legislative history.

Show notes:

• Kristin A. Collins, Gerald Neuman and Rachel E. Rosenbloom, Another Reason Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order is Unlawful, Just Security, May 15, 2025

Now in its third year, the Russo-Ukraine War has upended the post-Cold War security landscape, exposing deep fractures in the global balance of power. 

As western unity frays and U.S. diplomacy shifts under President Trump, the war has become a flashpoint for competing visions of the international order. 

This week, the European Union gave Russia an ultimatum: accept a proposed ceasefire or face expanded sanctions—just days ahead of a potential round of direct peace talks in Istanbul on Thursday. The stakes are high, and the choices made this week could reshape not only the trajectory of the war but the future of global security.

How should we understand the prospects for a sustainable peace in Ukraine amidst evolving geopolitical dynamics and continued battlefield uncertainty? 

To help make sense of these developments, Just Security Senior Fellow and Director of the Oxford Programme for Cyber and Tech Policy, Brianna Rosen, sat down with Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King's College London and Professor Janina Dill, Dame Louise Richardson Chair in Global Security at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government. 

This conversation was part of the Calleva-Airey Neave Global Security Seminar Series at the University of Oxford. 

Show Notes: 

• Just Security's Russia-Ukraine War Archive 
• Ambassador Daniel Fried's "How to Land the Emerging Peace Deal on Peace for Ukraine"
• Music: “Broken” by David Bullard from Uppbeat: https://uppbeat.io/t/david-bullard/broken (License code: OSC7K3LCPSGXISVI)

On Friday, May 9, senior White House official Stephen Miller said: "The Constitution is clear, and that, of course, is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended at a time of invasion. So I would say that’s an action we’re actively looking at." CNN later reported that President Donald Trump has been personally involved in discussions in the administration over potentially suspending habeas.

In this episode of the podcast, Ryan Goodman discusses the constitutional law on suspension of habeas, the context of Rümeysa Öztürk's release on a habeas petition on Friday shortly before Miller's remarks, and how the courts may respond.

Show notes:

1. Amy Coney Barrett, Suspension and Delegation, 99 Cornell Law Review 251 (2014) 

2. Case of Rümeysa Öztürk Link to case summary and key court documents:

 https://www.justsecurity.org/107087/tracker-litigation-legal-challenges-trump-administration/?js_filter=00374

3. Ryan Goodman and Dani Schulkin, A Pyrrhic Victory: Initial Supreme Court Gain for Trump on Alien Enemies Act May End in Administration’s Loss, Just Security, May 9, 2025

4. Ilya Somin, What Just Happened: The “Invasion” Executive Order and Its Dangerous Implications, Just Security, January 28, 2025

5. Ryan Goodman, The Actual Threat: Attacks on Habeas and Citizenship Rights, YouTube

An audio of Ilya Somin's Just Security article, which has become more topical by the day. The title: "What Just Happened: The Invasion Executive Order and Its Dangerous Implications." Somin is a Professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, and author of Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration and Political Freedom (Oxford University Press).