Rational Security 2.0: The 'Potato Facts' Edition

Jen Patja, Alan Z. Rozenshtein, Quinta Jurecic, Scott R. Anderson
Wednesday, June 22, 2022, 12:00 PM
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This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott flew solo to discuss the week's big national security news, including: 

  • “Just Dropped in to See What Condition This Extradition is In.” The U.K. government has signed off on the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, putting him one step closer to trial in the United States. Are claims that his extradition threatens press freedoms fact or hyperbole? And what do we expect the Biden administration to do if it happens?
  • “Teach Xi How to Dougie.” A recently revealed internal report has revealed that, despite corporate commitments to Congress, substantial customer data held by the company TikTok can still be accessed by personnel at its Chinese parent company. Does the Biden administration need to revisit its position towards the app? Or China’s technology sector more generally?
  • “Not the Droid We’re Looking For.” An engineer was suspended last week for going public with his belief that Google’s LaMDA artificial intelligence program had achieved sentience. Is this a possibility worth taking seriously? What role should the possibility (or potential appearance) of sentience play in AI policy, if any? 

For object lessons, Alan endorsed Viet Thanh Nguyen's literature/spy thriller mash-up "The Sympathizer." Quinta shared her favorite John Eastman quote—“I’ve decided that I should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works”—and dared listeners to find a New Yorker cartoon where it wouldn't work as a caption. And Scott urged listeners to check out their local arboretum or botanical garden, and gave a special acknowledgement to the late William Gotelli, the "man who loved conifers" and donated his massive, continent-spanning collection to the National Arboretum, where they are now Scott's favorite section.

Here are a few other articles the RatSec crew mentioned in the course of the episode:

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Jen Patja

Jen Patja

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Jen Patja is the editor and producer of The Lawfare Podcast and Rational Security. She currently serves as the Co-Executive Director of Virginia Civics, a nonprofit organization that empowers the next generation of leaders in Virginia by promoting constitutional literacy, critical thinking, and civic engagement. She is the former Deputy Director of the Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution at James Madison's Montpelier and has been a freelance editor for over 20 years.
Alan Z. Rozenshtein

Alan Z. Rozenshtein

@ARozenshtein
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Alan Z. Rozenshtein is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School, a senior editor at Lawfare, and a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, he served as an Attorney Advisor with the Office of Law and Policy in the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland.
Quinta Jurecic

Quinta Jurecic

@qjurecic
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Quinta Jurecic is a fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and a senior editor at Lawfare. She previously served as Lawfare's managing editor and as an editorial writer for the Washington Post.
Scott R. Anderson

Scott R. Anderson

S_R_Anders
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Scott R. Anderson is a fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and a Senior Fellow in the National Security Law Program at Columbia Law School. He previously served as an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State and as the legal advisor for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.

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