Shows
Just Security: Out LoudEarly Edition October 21, 2025Your curated weekday guide to the biggest national security and foreign policy developments over the past 24 hours. Compiled by the Just Security team and read by an automated voice, The Early Edition is an essential resource for anyone shaping a just and secure world.Published October 21st on Just Security. ICYMI: Yesterday on Just SecurityWill Victims of Cyber Attacks Soon Get Their Day in Court? Options for Accountability for Cyber Attacks by Harriet Moynihan, Amal Clooney and Philippa WebbImplementing the Gaza Ceasefire by Laurie NathanRussia’s Eliminationist Rhetoric Against Ukr...
2025-10-2115 minJust Security: Out LoudEarly Edition August 5, 2025Your curated weekday guide to the biggest national security and foreign policy developments over the past 24 hours. Compiled by the Just Security team and read by an automated voice, The Early Edition is an essential resource for anyone shaping a just and secure world.Published August 5, 2025 on Just Security.ICYMI: yesterday on Just SecurityThe Freedom of Information Act and Deteriorating Federal Transparency Infrastructure By Amanda TeuscherThe Trump Administration’s Use of State Power Against Media: Keeping Track of the Big Picture By Rebecca HamiltonThe Just Security Podcast: Ukraine’s Resis...
2025-08-0513 min
The Just Security PodcastUkraine’s Resistance to Russia’s Invasion: The Other MobilizationUkraine’s response to the 2022 full-scale Russian invasion has been defined by extraordinary civilian mobilization. As millions of Ukrainians face the devastation of their homes, schools, and communities, volunteers—especially women—have stepped up in unprecedented ways to support the nation’s survival. In this episode, host Viola Gienger is joined by Lauren Van Metre, President and CEO of Women in International Security (WIIS) and a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, and Ella Lamakh, founder of the Kyiv-based Democracy Development Center, to discuss how Ukraine’s women in frontline communities have stepped up to lead the...
2025-08-0435 minThe Just Security PodcastTrump’s Shift on Ukraine and Russia: A Conversation with Amb. Daniel Fried and Dara MassicotPresident Donald Trump this week put weapons behind his growing irritation with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intransigence on negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. Meeting at the White House with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, President Trump announced that the United States will work with European allies in NATO to send advanced weapon systems, including Patriot missile batteries, to Ukraine. He also threatened tariffs and additional sanctions against Russia and countries that do business with it if it doesn’t ease its assault on Ukraine and make progress on stalled peace talks within 50 days. What impact is th...
2025-07-1736 minThe Just Security PodcastThe Srebrenica Genocide 30 Years On--Remembrance and Prevention in Bosnia and BeyondIn a picturesque valley in the mountains of eastern Bosnia, thousands of white gravestones bear witness to a mass atrocity that still struggles for a place in Europe’s conscience. Nearly 8,400 names are etched into a stone memorial, a stark reminder of the Srebrenica Genocide committed by Bosnian Serb forces against Bosnian Muslims in July 1995 – 30 years ago this year. And yet, too many political leaders and others continue denying the scale and scope of the travesty that unfolded there.What has the world learned about genocide denial since Srebrenica? How has that denial echoed persistent efforts to nega...
2025-07-1138 minThe Just Security PodcastA Ukrainian MP Takes Stock of the NATO Summit and the Prospects for PeaceThe 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...
2025-06-2724 minThe Just Security PodcastKeeping Track of the Big Picture--Challenges to Press Freedom and BeyondMay 3rd marks World Press Freedom Day. This year especially, press freedom is under threat in the United States from a range of directions: from hostile official rhetoric and actions to self-censorship and systemic appeasement, to just basic information overload. As the Trump administration continues to “flood the zone,” how can we assess individual developments to discern broader trends that might help us better understand what’s happening, its impact and what we can do about it? Just Security Executive Editor and Professor of Law at American University, Rebecca Hamilton, joins Just Security Washington Senior Editor, Viola Gienger...
2025-05-0223 minThe Just Security PodcastNobel Peace Prize Recipient Oleksandra Matviichuk on Accountability in Russia’s War Against UkraineOleksandra Matviichuk is one of the leading lawyers and human rights advocates pushing for accountability for grave crimes committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In 2007, Oleksandra founded the Center for Civil Liberties, which she still leads. In 2022, it became the first Ukrainian organization to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The center was awarded the prize that year alongside human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, and the Russian human rights organization Memorial. The Center for Civil Liberties aims to advance human rights and democracy in Ukraine and the broader Europe-Eurasia region. It defends individual rights, develops leg...
2024-12-1840 minThe Just Security PodcastKey Trends and Takeaways from the 2024 U.N. General Assembly’s High-Level WeekMore than 130 world leaders just completed a week of meetings in New York for the annual opening of the United Nations General Assembly. This high-level week, as it’s called, began with States adopting U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' "Pact for the Future,” a key document generated as part of the "Summit of the Future." The goal of the Summit, and the pact, is to recharge the idea of global cooperation, which is facing severe strain amid competition between the United States and its allies on the one hand, and Russia and China and their allies on the o...
2024-10-0238 minThe Just Security PodcastWhat to Expect from the 2024 U.N. General AssemblyNext week, world leaders from nearly 150 nations will meet in New York for the annual high-level week during the United Nations General Assembly’s new session. Among the many topics for discussion will be the ongoing wars in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan, efforts to regulate artificial intelligence and get sustainable development back on track, and the role of the U.N. Security Council in international peace and security. The formal and informal meetings of the week will play out as many of the U.N.’s agencies and institutions – from the Security Council to the International Court of Just...
2024-09-2033 minThe Just Security PodcastThe Evolution of U.S. Hostage PolicyAugust this year marks 10 years since the shocking execution of American freelance journalist James Foley at the hands of ISIS amid the war in Syria in 2014. His videotaped decapitation was the first of a spree of ISIS beheadings, including several Americans, which ISIS often used as recruitment propaganda. Jim’s killing, almost two years after he had been captured, stunned the world. A month later, ISIS did the same to another American journalist, Time Magazine contributor Steven Joel Sotloff. A month later, an American aid worker, Peter Kassig, was killed in the same way. Another American aid worker, Kayla Mu...
2024-08-011h 02The Just Security PodcastNATO's Washington Summit: Russia's War on Ukraine Tests AllianceThis week, leaders from across the Euro-Atlantic region met in Washington, D.C., for the annual NATO Summit. The security pact turned 75 this year, and its 32 members are facing challenges on multiple fronts, from Russia’s continuing bombardment of Ukraine, now in its third year, to the growing relationship between Russia and China and NATO member Hungary’s outreach to both. And that’s not to mention issues such as the impacts of technology, especially artificial intelligence, and questions of how many allies are reaching the intended threshold for their own defense spending of at least 2% of GDP.And...
2024-07-1233 minThe Just Security PodcastICC Arrest Warrants for Russian Attacks on Ukraine’s Power GridOn June 24, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for two top Russian officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Prosecutors allege that Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s former defense minister, and Valery Gerasimov, the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, directed missile strikes against Ukraine’s power plants and electrical infrastructure. Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power plants during the winter of 2022-2023 left 12 million people with limited or no access to energy and severely damaged Ukraine's health care system. Just how...
2024-06-2831 minThe Just Security PodcastHarm to Women in War Goes Beyond Sexual Violence: `Obstetric Violence' NeglectedIn recent decades, the international community has sought to address the particular harms that women and girls experience in war. International law now punishes sexual violence in armed conflict. And there’s the Women, Peace and Security agenda, which the U.N. Security Council launched in 2000 with Resolution 1325. That requires member States to consider impacts of conflict based on gender and to involve women more in all aspects of conflict prevention, management, and resolution. But while some harms rightly receive coverage and draw condemnation, other forms of violence are overlooked. In November 2023, the World Heath Organization estimated that...
2024-04-2631 minThe Just Security PodcastA Russian Legal Scholar in Exile on the Future of Resistance to PutinVladimir Putin recently claimed victory as Russia’s president despite extensive evidence that the “election” was illegitimate in a number of ways. His repression, including evidence of State-ordered assassinations and assassination attempts, and his manipulation of Russia’s legal systems and institutions seems to assure him power – and impunity.Putin’s efforts to consolidate that power have included eliminating most political opposition and civil society organizations and forcing independent media to shut down or move their operations into exile. The recent death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a remote prison camp exemplified the threats to anyone deemed criti...
2024-03-2939 minThe Just Security PodcastCrisis in HaitiHaiti’s crisis of gang violence and political dysfunction has been spiraling out of control. The number of reported homicides more than doubled last year to almost 4,800, and kidnappings soared to almost 2,500 cases. Sexual violence is rampant, and 313,000 Haitians have fled their homes.In recent weeks, the crisis has reached new heights. While de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry was out of the country, the gangs took advantage and rampaged across the capital, Port-au-Prince. According to the United Nations, since the start of the year, the gangs have killed over 1,100 people and injured nearly 700 others. As...
2024-03-1933 minThe Just Security PodcastRussia's Political Prisoners and Their Lawyers: Vladimir Kara-Murza's Case Highlights the RisksVladimir Kara-Murza is one of Russia’s most famous political prisoners. He is a longtime opposition leader and prominent guest columnist for The Washington Post who was poisoned twice in incidents that are widely attributed to the Kremlin. And yet, like another famous opposition leader currently imprisoned in Russia, Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Kara-Murza was determined to return to his homeland to continue his human rights work after recovering from attempts on his life. In April 2022, Russian authorities arrested him and charged him with “high treason.” He was eventually sentenced to 25 years in prison. In late January, Vladimir’s wife, E...
2024-02-0527 minThe Just Security PodcastCounterterrorism and Human Rights (Part 2 Spyware and Data Collection)Some of the biggest risks to human rights in the twenty-first century come from governments misusing surveillance technology originally designed to combat counterterrorism. These spyware tools are manufactured around the world, including in the United States, the European Union, China, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates. The technology is difficult to detect and allows access to a target’s communications, contacts, and geolocation and metadata. It can even delete information or plant incriminating data on a person’s phone. Now, nations are using it to spy on politicians, journalists, human rights activists, lawyers, and ordinary citizens with no li...
2023-11-2721 minThe Just Security PodcastCounterterrorism and Human Rights (Part I Root Causes, Guantanamo, and Northeast Syria)More than two decades after the 9/11 attacks, counterterrorism still dominates most security policies and practices around the world, including at the United Nations. And yet, the problem of terrorism persists around the world – from southwestern Pakistan, to the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, to the Sahel.Across the board, nations are failing to address the root causes of extremism. What might alternative approaches to counterterrorism look like? Perhaps no one is better equipped to consider the impact of counterterrorism on human rights than Fionnuala Ní Aoláin. This is Part 1...
2023-11-2030 minThe Just Security PodcastRecapping the NATO SummitToday, July 12, the leaders of NATO member countries are wrapping up a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. The meeting opened as Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ended his opposition to NATO membership for Sweden, and as President Biden said Ukraine still needs to take steps before it can join the Alliance. Biden further said Ukraine shouldn’t be admitted while Russia’s invasion continues because that would pit the Alliance directly against Russia.In 2008, Alliance members vaguely promised that Ukraine could join NATO, but left the timing unspecified. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made it clear he bel...
2023-07-1221 minThe Just Security PodcastA Year in Russia's War Against Ukraine: Forging a US ResponseSince Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine a year ago, we’ve seen some surprising military, diplomatic, and legal developments in the war. Ukrainian forces have proven remarkably strong, and the Ukrainian people have demonstrated utter determination against a Russian leadership and military that have drastically underperformed. Meanwhile, in Washington, the U.S. has developed its own response to Russia’s illegal invasion, which includes assembling an alliance to support Ukraine and providing billions in humanitarian aid and weapons, issuing massive sanctions against Russian banks and individuals, and passing new laws to prosecute those who commit grave crimes in U...
2023-02-2451 min
NPC Update-1 PodcastWashington Post Humor Columnist Alexandra Petri Is Primed To Defend Her Championship at the Club's Press vs. Politicians Spelling BeeCan you spell the scientific name for bedbugs? You can bet Washington Post humor columnist Alexandra Petri (pronounced Pea’-try) can. Not only did she write a recent column taking on the persona of a bedbug incensed at being dragged into the muck of U.S. politics, she’s also a champion speller. In this edition of Update-1, National Press Club Broadcast/Podcast Committee member Viola Gienger has a fun conversation with Petri about her sense of humor, her championship last year in the NPC Press vs. Politicians Spelling Bee and her pending return this year, on Sept. 17, to defe...
2019-09-2011 minNPC Update-1 PodcastWashington Post Humor Columnist Alexandra Petri Is Primed To Defend Her Championship at the Club's Press vs. Politicians Spelling BeeCan you spell the scientific name for bedbugs? You can bet Washington Post humor columnist Alexandra Petri (pronounced Pea’-try) can. Not only did she write a recent column taking on the persona of a bedbug incensed at being dragged into the muck of U.S. politics, she’s also a champion speller. In this edition of Update-1, National Press Club Broadcast/Podcast Committee member Viola Gienger has a fun conversation with Petri about her sense of humor, her championship last year in the NPC Press vs. Politicians Spelling Bee and her pending return this year, on Sept. 17, to defe...
2019-09-2011 min
NPC Update-1 PodcastPress Freedom and China’s Influence in Ghana, With Journalist and Lawyer George SarpongThe murder in January of investigative journalist Ahmed Hussein Suale-Divela in Ghana, one of Africa’s most stable and democratic countries, shocked the country and journalists around the world. The National Press Club called for a thorough investigation, and urged Ghanaian officials to ensure that journalists can work without the threat of violence. Journalist and lawyer George Sarpong, executive secretary of Ghana’s National Media Commission, spoke with National Press Club broadcast/podcast team member Viola Gienger about that case and the state of the news media in Ghana, including the influence of China. Sarpong just completed a five-month fell...
2019-03-2720 min
NPC Update-1 PodcastPress Freedom and China’s Influence in Ghana, With Journalist and Lawyer George SarpongThe murder in January of investigative journalist Ahmed Hussein Suale-Divela in Ghana, one of Africa’s most stable and democratic countries, shocked the country and journalists around the world. The National Press Club called for a thorough investigation, and urged Ghanaian officials to ensure that journalists can work without the threat of violence. Journalist and lawyer George Sarpong, executive secretary of Ghana’s National Media Commission, spoke with National Press Club broadcast/podcast team member Viola Gienger about that case and the state of the news media in Ghana, including the influence of China. Sarpong just completed a five-month fell...
2019-03-2720 minNPC Update-1 PodcastJournalism Lessons From A Civil Rights ReporterNew York Times correspondent John Herbers was born to a white family in the segregated South, but he went on to earn praise for his pivotal coverage of the civil rights movement. Broadcast/Podcast Committee member Viola Gienger speaks with his daughter, journalist Anne Farris Rosen, about the personal and professional journey Herbers chronicled – and the lessons for journalists today -- in the memoir he wrote with her help before he died in 2017. Published this year, the book traces landmark events Herbers covered, such as the 1955 trial for the murder of Emmett Till, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, an...
2018-09-2615 minNPC Update-1 PodcastJournalism Lessons From A Civil Rights ReporterNew York Times correspondent John Herbers was born to a white family in the segregated South, but he went on to earn praise for his pivotal coverage of the civil rights movement. Broadcast/Podcast Committee member Viola Gienger speaks with his daughter, journalist Anne Farris Rosen, about the personal and professional journey Herbers chronicled – and the lessons for journalists today -- in the memoir he wrote with her help before he died in 2017. Published this year, the book traces landmark events Herbers covered, such as the 1955 trial for the murder of Emmett Till, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, an...
2018-09-2615 min