Sources & Methods
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 and the halls of power, they bring you inside the Pentagon, State Department, and intelligence community to help you understand America's shifting role in the world, and how events in faraway places matter here at home. Additional episodes feature interviews with power players from the NatSec world -- current and former military officials, intelligence experts, diplomatic leaders, and more.<br><br><br>Email the show at <a href="mailto: sourcesandmethods@npr.org"target="_blank" >sourcesandmethods@npr.org</a>. <br><br><br>NPR+ supporters hear every episode sponsor-free and can access our complete archive. Learn more and support public media at <a href="https://plus.npr.org/"target="_blank" >plus.npr.org</a>.
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Rob Dannenberg understands Vladimir Putin. He was CIA station chief in Moscow and served as the chief of operations for CIA's Counterterrorism Center. He now works as an independent consultant on geopolitical and security risk and is the co-author of A Spy Walked Into A Bar: A Practitioner's Guide to Cocktail Tradecraft. Dannenberg speaks to Mary Louise Kelly about Putin's endgame in Ukraine, his approach with President Trump, and what cocktails and espionage have in common. We're back with a new episode on Thursday. Email the show at sourcesandmethods@npr.orgNPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
The President said U.S. military strikes have “almost totally stopped” drug trafficking from Venezuela by sea. “Now we’ll stop it by land,” he said.Justice correspondent Ryan Lucas and Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman talk through the disputed legal rationale for the strikes and what we know about President Trump’s goals in Venezuela. And Tom joined virtually the entire Pentagon press corps in handing in his badge on Wednesday. He explains how he’ll cover the decisions made in that building from the outside.Email the show at sourcesandmethods@npr.orgNPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
And the National Guard: coming to a city near you?After two brutal years of war, there is finally hope for a lasting peace in Gaza. Greg Myre in Tel Aviv explains why things start to get a lot more complicated after the initial ceasefire and return of hostages. And Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman breaks down when the president can legally federalize National Guard troops and how they operate on domestic deployments.Email the show at sourcesandmethods@npr.orgNPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
And the president's take-it-or-leave-it Gaza peace plan.This episode, veterans' affairs correspondent Quil Lawrence breaks down Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth's meeting of top US military brass at Quantico this week. And international correspondent Aya Batrawy reacts to the unveiling of President Trump's peace plan for Gaza, as Israel's war that began nearly two years ago continues.Email the show at sourcesandmethods@npr.orgNPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
This episode, Mary Louise Kelly sits down with ex-CIA analyst-turned novelist David McCloskey to discuss tradecraft and the blurry line between truth and fiction -- when the truth is classified. David McCloskey's new book is called The Persian. We're back with a new episode on Thursday.Email the show at sourcesandmethods@npr.orgNPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
And the president designates Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization.This episode, we dig into the Pentagon's demand that reporters sign a pledge commiting not to gather any information -- including unclassified reports -- that hasn't been authorized for release, or lose their press credentials. Mary Louise Kelly talks with Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman about how how it could change his reporting. And domestic extremism correspondent Odette Yousef clarifies what President Trump's executive order means in practice and what it signals.Email the show at sourcesandmethods@npr.orgNPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
And an increasingly isolated Israel launches a new ground offensive on Gaza City.In this episode, political correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben and diplomatic correspondent Michele Kelemen talk about the foreign policy issues that loomed large as President Trump visited U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer: the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. NPR international correspondent Daniel Estrin joins from Tel Aviv to talk about how Israelis are reacting to their increasing isolation amid international pressure on Israel to stop its offensive.Email the show at sourcesandmethods@npr.orgNPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
And Senator Elissa Slotkin takes our questions about the post-9/11 intel community.This episode, national security correspondent Greg Myre and domestic extremism correspondent Odette Yousef join Mary Louise Kelly discuss how U.S. national security changed after the September 11th attacks. Will the structures put in place to prevent another attack survive the Trump administration’s cuts to intelligence agencies? And did a focus on militant Islamism mean turning away from threats posed by white supremacist groups?And Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, argues that America’s political division is its greatest national security threat -- and the best defense is rebuilding the middle class.Email the show at sourcesandmethods@npr.org.NPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Trump's anti-drug warfare. China, Russia, and North Korea stand shoulder to shoulder.This episode, Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman and NPR international correspondent Anthony Kuhn join Mary Louise Kelly to break down the Trump administration's military strike against a boat the President says was transporting drugs, and his larger confrontational posture toward Venezuela and South America. And they explain the geopolitical message behind China's massive military parade this week. Email the show at sourcesandmethods@npr.orgNPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Ukraine and Russia's war of attrition. Connecting the dots on disarray in the intel community. And why D.C. feels a little like Minsk. This episode, Moscow bureau chief Charles Maynes and national security correspondent Greg Myre join Mary Louise Kelly to discuss the Trump administration's DC takeover, a spate of firings and security clearance revocations in the intelligence community, and why there's no peace deal in sight for Ukraine. Email the show at sourcesandmethods@npr.orgNPR+ supporters hear every episode without sponsor messages and unlock access to our complete archive. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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 and the halls of power, they bring you inside the Pentagon, State Department, and intelligence community to help you understand America's shifting role in the world, and how events in faraway places matter here at home. Additional episodes feature interviews with power players from the NatSec world -- current and former military officials, intelligence experts, diplomatic leaders, and more. Email the show at sourcesandmethods@npr.org. NPR+ supporters hear every episode sponsor-free and can access our complete archive. Learn more and support public media at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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