Home Podcasts The Lawfare Podcast: Patreon Edition
The Lawfare Podcast: Patreon Edition

The Lawfare Podcast: Patreon Edition

The Lawfare Institute 2174 Episodes Aug 23, 2026

The Lawfare Podcast features discussions with experts, policymakers, and opinion leaders at the nexus of national security, law, and policy. It covers issues from foreign policy, homeland security, intelligence, and cybersecurity to governance and law. The show aims to provide serious analysis in a time when others are avoiding it.

Episodes

Lawfare Archive: Much Ado About Coups with Naunihal Singh
Lawfare Archive: Much Ado About Coups with Naunihal Singh Aug 23, 2026 44:27 From September 13, 2023: On August 30, soldiers and high-ranking officers of the Armed Forces of Gabon seized control of government buildings and communication channels in the capital city of Libreville, detaining Gabon’s President Ali Bongo in his residence and declaring an end to the Bongo family’s 56-year rule. It was a coup—one of nine in the last three years in West and Central Africa, includ
Lawfare Archive: The Golden Dome Missile Defense Program
Lawfare Archive: The Golden Dome Missile Defense Program Aug 22, 2026 29:26 From April 11, 2025: For today's episode, Lawfare Foreign Policy Editor Daniel Byman interviewed Tom Karako, the Director of the Missile Defense Program at CSIS, to discuss the Trump administration's missile defense proposals known as "Golden Dome." Karako explains the purpose of Golden Dome, its feasibility and cost, the likely reactions of China and Russia, and what realistic success would look
Lawfare Daily: The Trials of the Trump Administration, Aug21
Lawfare Daily: The Trials of the Trump Administration, Aug21 Aug 22, 2026 1:30:26 In a conversation on YouTube, Lawfare Editor in Chief Benjamin Wittes sat down with Senior Editors Anna Bower, Molly Roberts, and Eric Columbus to discuss Chief Justice Roberts issuing a stay of the injunction preventing the construction of the White House ballroom, updates in the prosecution of Don Lemon, two courts of appeal ruling against acting U.S. attorneys, developments in the Kennedy Cente
Scaling Laws: Matt Abrams on Trust and the Migration to the Digital Age
Scaling Laws: Matt Abrams on Trust and the Migration to the Digital Age Aug 21, 2026 49:04 Matt Abrams, technologist, investor, and co-founder of $1 Billion for Trust, joins Kevin Frazier, AI Innovation and Law Fellow at the University of Texas School of Law and a Senior Editor at Lawfare, to discuss the collapse of institutional trust and how AI may accelerate—or potentially help reverse—that trend.The conversation explores Matt’s work to rebuild trust in information ecosystems, interp
Lawfare Daily: What’s So Special About a Special Grand Jury?
Lawfare Daily: What’s So Special About a Special Grand Jury? Aug 20, 2026 43:53 The Justice Department has empaneled a special grand jury in Washington, D.C., according to a new report from the Washington Post. But what, exactly, is so special about a special grand jury? Lawfare Editor in Chief Benjamin Wittes sits down with Senior Editor Anna Bower to discuss that very question, which Bower answers at length in her latest Lawfare article. Bower and Wittes talk about how
Lawfare Daily: The Complicated Past and Present of Ukraine’s Relations with Poland
Lawfare Daily: The Complicated Past and Present of Ukraine’s Relations with Poland Aug 19, 2026 52:04 In this episode, Lawfare’s Ukraine Fellow Anastasiia Lapatina sits down with Ukrainian historian Yaroslav Hrytsak to discuss the history of Ukrainian-Polish relations, the controversies surrounding the Volhynian tragedy, and how the politicization of history can impact Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Lawfare Daily: Vinh Nguyen, Elham Tabassi, and Kat Duffy on How to Design a Better AI Regulator
Lawfare Daily: Vinh Nguyen, Elham Tabassi, and Kat Duffy on How to Design a Better AI Regulator Aug 18, 2026 41:01 Lawfare Senior Editor Kate Klonick is joined by three guests to discuss their recent article for the Council on Foreign Relations on the FINRA-style AI regulator reportedly under White House review: Vinh Nguyen, former chief AI officer at the National Security Agency and now CFR’s Senior Fellow for Artificial Intelligence; Elham Tabassi, former chief AI advisor at NIST and now director of Brooking
Lawfare Daily: Trans and Indispensable in the Trump White House
Lawfare Daily: Trans and Indispensable in the Trump White House Aug 17, 2026 58:20 Julia Curlee was a long-time CIA officer; she served as Vice President Mike Pence’s briefer for more than a year; and she was a senior NSC official when the second Trump administration began. She is also a trans woman. In two articles published recently—this one on Lawfare and this one today in The Atlantic—she describes the purge of the NSC in the first 70 days of Trump’s second presidency. In th
Lawfare Daily: The Trials of the Trump Administration, August 14
Lawfare Daily: The Trials of the Trump Administration, August 14 Aug 16, 2026 1:50:02 In a live conversation on YouTube, Lawfare Editor in Chief Benjamin Wittes sat down with Senior Editors Molly Roberts, Anna Bower, and Roger Parloff to discuss a fired Justice Department prosecutor challenging his firing, a nationwide preliminary injunction against President Trump’s mail-in ballot executive order, the new birthright citizenship order, and more..You can find information on legal ch
Lawfare Archive: The Return of the Syrian Civil War
Lawfare Archive: The Return of the Syrian Civil War Aug 15, 2026 36:16 From December 3, 2024: Lawfare Foreign Policy Editor and Georgetown professor Daniel Byman sits down with Charles Lister, Director of Syria and Countering Terrorism & Extremism Programs at the Middle East Institute for an update on the Syrian opposition taking Aleppo and the prospects for the civil war going forward. They discuss the status of the Syrian conflict; the nature of the key group,
Scaling Laws: AI Consciousness with Anil Seth
Scaling Laws: AI Consciousness with Anil Seth Aug 14, 2026 54:19 Anil Seth, Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience and Director of the Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science at the University of Sussex, joins Kevin Frazier, director of the AI Innovation and Law Program at the University of Texas School of Law and a Senior Editor at Lawfare, to examine whether artificial intelligence could ever be conscious.Drawing on Seth’s essay, “The Mythology
Rational Security: The "Sloop John Stamos" Edition
Rational Security: The "Sloop John Stamos" Edition Aug 13, 2026 1:31:21 This week, Scott sat down with his Lawfare colleagues Alan Rozenshtein, Michael Feinberg, and Loren Voss to talk through the week’s big news in national security, including:“Under Pressure.” Over the past two weeks, hackers have breached the industrial control systems of water and wastewater utilities in at least seven states, prompting an urgent joint warning from federal agencies. The intruders

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