Sirens: A Bombshell production

Before going into Election Day, Radha and Loren walk through the possible scenarios of the 2027-28 Congress and how it might utilize oversight power. Plus, federal time in grade rule changes, DOD rules on betting on wars, more tariffs, and China's changes to AI export rules. Plus, happy Halloween!

Rachel Ziemba joins us for a fascinating discussion of energy and geopolitics, stemming from the latest Russia - oil drama. For it's a drill, the US has a new website and chat bot! It's….fine. Plus, Hegseth made another speech, the Bull Market goes fully toddler, and super intelligence. Finally a great chat about the postal service. No really.

Lindsey Laferriere of the Partnership for Public Service joins us to nerd out on the latest research on Americans' views of government, contradictions, mysteries and all. For It's a Drill, we have the not-so-Triumphal Arch, California's efforts to unlock EV trucks, Veterans' Affairs staffing challenges, and of course AI safety. And with lots recent assessments of DOGE, we talk through the receipts, literally, and whether any good came out. Plus, royals gossip.

The remarkable Kate Kuzminski joins us this week discuss the health of the general officer corps in the US military. For It's a Drill, quick hits on the CDC's measles data mess, the ongoing disparity in government pay raises between civilians, law enforcement, and military, Hugging Face once more, and tankers. For Dumpster Fires, another deep dive into the national debt: what does it really mean for policymakers? And for gong show: school reading lists.

In yet another Not On Our Bingo Card of 2026 moment, we welcome Dr. Stephanie Carvin to help us understand our apparently escalating conflict with our close neighbor and ally, Canada (may there be peace in our time?!). For it's a drill, the president is once more making drastic mil-mil relationship change over social media, we're officially forced ranking feds, Deputy Secretary Feinberg wants better pricing transparency on defense contracts, and did you know that the war in Ukraine still continues? And for dumpster fires, we use the 1 year anniversary of the National Guard deployment in DC do look at apparent results on the so-called crime emergy, how it impacts readiness and perception of the guard, and big picture how we should think about future judicial review and oversight of such deployments. Plus, Dolly.

We're lucky enough to have three incredible guests this week joining us from the Roosevelt Network's community of undergraduate students and early-career professionals: Yazmina Holness, Mya Love, and Sahiti Kulkarni, who joined Loren from the Roosevelt Library to talk about their views on reimagining government. For It's a drill, we get into what's up with DoD not attending Aspen, the turnover of political appointees, the Fauci hearings, and the latest frontier AI model shenanigans. And in dumpster fires we use the opportunity of a new director of national intelligence to ask, more than two decades later, what's the point of the ODNI?

Have you ever found yourself in a cave and thought, this would be a great place to store the retirement records of the largest workforce in the country? The government did - but maybe not anymore! That and engagement surveys, DODs testosterone tests, and China export controls feature in It's A Drill. For Dumpster Fires, we get super nerdy in increased use of Other Transaction Authority in Pentagon AI buys. Finally, we have so many thoughts about the Odyssey! Except we haven't seen it.

Sirens is overjoyed to come back from Summer break to bring on Dr. Amanda Sloat for a fantastic-if-depressing discussion on the stress points of the U.S.-Europe relationship (with the inevitable rom-com comparisons). We have a litany of crazy to walk through in It's a Drill, from the ongoing destustruction of DOT&E, the politicization of FEMA funds, the still somehow happening minimization of TBI in the military, and the weird little Claude Fable break the government went on. Dumpster Fires is a complex chat on military families and economic insecurity - and how that's both hard to measure and harder to address than you might imagine. Plus? summer reads.

Gywneth Paltrow, typo right? Nope. Nope not at all. Check out our it's a drill segment where we again name drop Pope Leon, plus Schedule P/C, the Reflecting Pool refurbishment from hell, the proposed update to federal grantmaking, and the queen of Goop interviewing the founder of Anduril. Plus, we read all the recent federal AI policies so you don't have to, and welcome DCODE CEO Meagan Metzger to chat defense innovation and what makes it (not) work.

Marina Nitze joins us to discuss their new book, Crisis Engineering, and how real change can come to government even in the worst moments. For Its a Drill, apparently the attack on science continues with the threat to defund the National Academy of Sciences, and the shocking response by ICE when Senator Andy Kim visited at detention facility. In Dumpster Fires we ask whether congressional war powers are well and truly dead, with some help from the Pope. Plus our angsty (and cringey) teenage vacation stories as we get ready to head into summer.

Molly Reynolds joins us to talk through all the mysteries and magic of reconciliation, and if the appropriations works will ever be the same. We don't even get to the China trip because we have FISA 702 renewal, hantavirus, Germany troops rotations and new leadership in Hungary (plus zebras). There's interesting things afoot in Russia-Ukraine despite or because of endless Trump shenanigans. And as always Devil Wears Prada.

CSET's Lauren Kahn joins us this week to discuss trends in drone deployment and whether or how they are changing the character of warfare. For the rest of the episode, well, it's a whole lot of "you're fired!" The Navy Secretary was fired (for battleships? for no battleships? for principle?). Several members of Congress under ethics investigation resigned ahead of other sanctions. And in yet more trends in the Trump administration threatening independent public science, the entire National Science Board was fired, by a short little email. All that, plus DC proms!

Radha and Loren welcome Margaret Mullins (Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator) to discuss her new report proposal new models for organizing federal hiring and talent maangement (it's extremely cool, trust us). We have just way too much fun in it's a drill between Iranian Lego meme wars, the Pentagon's threats to the Pope, the FY27 budget, and the extreme drama that is our tech overlords. For Dumpster Fires, we consider just what Anthropic actually meant when they said their latest AI model is simply too scary and what response we can expect from the Trump administration. And for Gong Show - Artemis!

Radha and Loren welcome the glorious Dr. Kori Schake to the podcast for a discussion of her new book, The State and the Soldier:A History of Civil-Military Relations in the United States; hurray! As we hopefully welcome spring, we grapple with chaotic management of military promotions, the globally economy, and the Iran war in It's a Drill. And for Dumpster Fires, we wade into the political crisis + administrative burden burden + totally out of sync funding system that is federal science grantmaking, just for fun. Also: Devil Wears Prada 2, anyone? That's All.

Radha and Loren are so excited to welcome the Co-Director of the Yale Budget Lab, Martha Gimbel, to explore her team's work and her fantastic recent testimony exploring how the the national debt and tariffs show up in the lived experience of Americans. For It's a Drill, we note that the SAVE Act doesn't really save anyone, except maybe people who want to be saved from women's votes, and give you the long extended analogy of how the dynamics Straits of Hormuz is actually the movie He's Just Not That Into You. For Dumpster Fires, we use the recent court ruling on reinstating Voice of America staff to consider the role of government in the information space. Also: the Oscars!

Radha and Loren are so excited to welcome special guest Dana Stroul to help us understand this war, er, special military operation in Iran, but first we wade through cocktail party gossip on the end of the endangerment finding, forced ranking for civil servants, and like a lot of things going on in the western hemisphere. If you've ever wanted to know about the systems challenges of security clearances, our discussion on NBIS and its woes are for you; plus, of course we couldn't avoid getting into the messiness of the DOD-Anthropic situationship. Plus: do you have an Irish soda bread recipe? We don't.

Radha and Loren are very excited about a range of important things, starting with Radha's purse, which is the same as the newly supermajoritied Japanese PM (yes, that's a word, we made it one). Also in the cocktail circuit we have DHS shutdown and a new administration intervention on defense primes. We welcome (ok not really) schedule policy / career (schedule F) back to Dumpster Fires with a deep explainer on what this new policy means for civil servants and the American people, and then explore Munich Security Conference: Rubio, AOC, the weird civilizational dialgoue and the tired tropes. Finally we are so jazzed to welcome Dr. Rebecca Lissner to discuss her research on American sentiment on AI and data centers. Also, you get our extremely non-expert Olympic commentary.

Loren and Radha reminisce about wintry memories and Benedict Cumberbatch before a cocktail parties worth of gossip on Fed rates, tariffs, and appropriations politics. In dumpster fires, they explore the strange ways the federal government shapes higher education, including event moves to change accreditation. And we're delighted to welcome CNAS's Carrie Cordero to discuss what we SHOULD expect of federal law enforcement and how to think about reforms to DHS, near and long term.

Sirens welcomes the tremendous Dr. Mara Karlin as a guest to first determine which current buzzwords we'd ban but more importantly to assess this moment of US and allied relationships: what allies should be planning, how US chaos shakes up more than just NATO meetings, and signals to watch. For dumpster fires, we talk through what's new and what's unfortunate de ja vu as the Trump Administration pressures the Iranian regime amid increasingly violent protest crackdowns, as well as what the transition at the GAO means for oversight (yes, we do the sexy topics!). Finally: what delights and baffles you about the Jane Austen-verse?

Happy 2026 to all friends of Sirens! Loren, Radha, and Erin are truly astonished at the pace of news in their mid-winters nap and gab for an extended drill to cover new Hatch Act procedures, protests in Iran, the thwarted terrorist attack on NYE, the drastic decrease in financial crime fines in 2026, and Netanyahu's visit (also, Andy and Anderson's NYE, of course). While Venezuela could be an entire episode series unto itself, we augment with another dumpster fire: what exactly the daycare funding fraud allegations mean in Minnesota and how they may impact the entire theory of change of federalism. For Warning Signs, we offer what we're looking for and at ain 2026, and suggest some resolutions for American institutions in 2026.