Rational Security 2.0: The 'Washington Meltdown' Edition
Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With
This week, Alan, Quinta and Scott flew solo as they talked through the week's big national security news stories, including:
- “Our Gun Epidemic.” Last week’s horrifying school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, is only the latest high-profile incident in a wave of gun violence that is sweeping the United States. But most experts maintain that there is almost no chance Congress will pursue any serious substantive response. Why do guns play such a central role in American culture? And how do we make progress on combating gun violence in spite of it?
- “Feenluond und Sveeden ond borgen NATO, si Erdogan needou torgin bi borgen. Bork bork bork.” Sweden is moving closer every day to joining NATO, as is its neighbor Finland–if, that is, their applications are not derailed by Turkish President Erdogan or another objector within the alliance. What are the pros and cons of NATO expansion in these cases? And where should it go next?
- “Revenge is a Dish Best Served Covered in a Tacky Amount of Gold.” Former President Trump’s revenge campaign against Republicans who openly accepted his defeat in the 2020 election ran aground in the state of Georgia last week, as a slate of Trump-backed candidates lost in Republican primaries to the incumbents who certified his election loss. Next on his target list appears to be Rep. Liz Cheney, who is facing a hard primary fight in Wyoming. What should we make of this campaign–and what might it mean for the rule of law and election security moving forward?
For object lessons, budding BBQ hobbyist Alan gave a strong endorsement to the "Slow 'n Sear" attachment to his Weber grill. Quinta read perhaps the world's greatest Amazon review. And Scott gave a pop quiz to his hot shot co-hosts on the fantasy epic Willow, which will soon be getting a sequel a mere 34 years after its original release.
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 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 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 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.
