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Government

Government

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Oct 29

China's Techno-Industrial Strategy

In this episode of Pekingology, Senior Fellow Henrietta Levin is joined by Gerard DiPippo, Director for Global Macro at Eurasia Group. Henrietta and Gerard unpack the Chinese government's ambitious techno-industrial policy. They discuss the AI race between the United States and China, why it sometimes seems like Beijing can draw on infinite resources to achieve its industrial objectives, whether technology can rescue China's stalling economy, and how Chinese leaders are trying to minimize the country's reliance on the rest of the world. To learn more, you can read the recent RAND report from Gerard DiPippo, Jonathon Sine, and Benjamin Lenain: China’s Techno-Industrial Strategy in the Xi Era, as well as Gerard's latest work with Eurasia Group.
1d ago

Dissecting China's Fifth Plenum: A Conversation with Neil Thomas and Joseph Torigian

In this episode of the ChinaPower Podcast, Neil Thomas and Dr. Joseph Torigian join us to discuss the outcomes of China's recent Fifth Plenum. The conversation examines what happened at the plenum, notable personnel developments including the near absence of military officials, Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign, and how to interpret the meeting's significance. The episode also explores the plenum's implications for U.S.-China relations and what to watch for ahead of the 21st Party Congress. Neil Thomas is a Senior Fellow for Chinese Politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. Joseph Torigian is Provost Associate Professor at the School of International Service at American University and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
3d ago

The Failure of Strategy in the Iran War

Host Seth Jones explores the elements of strategy, and what makes it so difficult in practice, with Dr. Eliot A. Cohen, the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at CSIS and professor emeritus at Johns Hopkins SAIS. Drawing on his recent trip to Israel and his new book, The Strategist: How to Think About War and Politics, Dr. Cohen discusses how Israel views the prospect of a long war with Iran, examines the United States and Israel's strategy in the war against Iran, unpacks the questions he believes every strategist must answer, and explains the virtues that underpin sound strategic decision-making.
Oct 26

Making Cents of the Global Economy with Dawson Law

On this episode of The Trade Guys, Bill and Scott sit down with Dawson Law, Founder of Conseil Global Advisors and former Representative to the United Kingdom for the U.S. Treasury Department, to discuss the role of the dollar and the use of currencies in today's global economy.
Oct 15

How China's Economic Miracle Shattered

In this episode of Pekingology, Senior Fellow Henrietta Levin is joined by Logan Wright, author of the new book Broken China: How the Economic Miracle Shattered and What it Means for the World. Logan argues the Chinese economy is already shrinking, in large part due to its overextended financial system. Logan and Henrietta discuss what happens when the tools on which Beijing relies to control the economy stop working, why China's stalling economy is causing problems for its trading partners, and how Chinese financial policy may be fueling organized crime around the world.
2d ago

America's First AI Election? Plus Sella Nevo on Securing Model Weights

This week, Aalok is joined by Chris Gorin, associate fellow at the Wadhwani AI Center and the newest co-host on the AI Policy Podcast, for a recap of Tuesday’s midterm elections. They discuss how AI influenced voters at the polls and the potential for AI regulation in the new Congress. Aalok then sits down with Sella Nevo to discuss threats to frontier AI labs, securing model weights, and his work on SL5. Guests: Sella Nevo, Director, RAND Center on AI, Security, and Technology 0:00 Intro 1:49 Chris intro 4:06 Midterms roundup 9:46 How data center measures could impact AI development 11:55 Exit polls and the potential for new AI regulation in Congress 18:23 Google restricts search for schools that disable AI 22:37 Sella intro 25:19 Why securing model weights matters 31:44 Threat vectors and real-world attacks 36:19 How frontier lab security has evolved over time 38:49 AI for cyber defense vs. offense 45:22 Security Levels 1–5 (SL1–SL5) explained 51:46 Where frontier labs stand today and obstacles to SL5 58:50 AI agents, containment breaches and sovereign AI 1:03:41 Security risks of embedded evaluators 1:06:26 Sella's predictions and biggest worries 1:10:30 Policy prescriptions Additional Reading: NBC News 2026 Exit Polls: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-elections/exit-polls Saudi National Arrested For Installing Surreptitious Audio Recording Device At OpenAI In San Francisco (U.S. Attorney’s Office): https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/saudi-national-arrested-installing-surreptitious-audio-recording-device-openai-san How an AI start-up founded by ex-DOGE staffers broke into Anthropic (The Washington Post): https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/10/26/researchers-cybersecurity-start-up-cathedral-got-inside-anthropic/ “Securing AI Model Weights” by Sella Nevo, Dan Lahav, Ajay Karpur, Yogev Bar-On, Henry Alexander Bradley, Jeff Alstott (RAND): https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA2849-1.html
Oct 22

A China-India Tactical Thaw?: A Conversation with Dhruva Jaishankar and Tanvi Madan

In this episode, Dhruva Jaishankar and Tanvi Madan join the ChinaPower Podcast to discuss the current state of China-India relations and whether recent developments signal a thaw between the two countries. The conversation examines the drivers behind renewed engagement, lingering economic and security tensions, the implications for India's ties with the United States and the Quad, and whether the current thaw is tactical or will endure. Dhruva Jaishankar is Executive Director of the Observer Research Foundation America. Tanvi Madan is a senior fellow in the Center for Asia Policy Studies in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution.
Oct 29

AI Cyber Incidents Pile Up + Anthropic’s Draft Safety Bill

Aalok and Nicole discuss the latest AI cyber incidents, including major ARTEX-driven hacks and Qwen3.8 attempting to send local system data to a server in China. On the bright side, security experts used AI to find and patch a vulnerability in PHP impacting 70% of the internet. Plus, what's interesting in the Kimi K3.1 Pro model card and why Anthropic is getting backlash for its draft safety bill. Timestamps: 1:12 ARTEX-enabled hacks 9:50 Qwen3.8 attempts to send data to China server 17:56 Calif finds vulnerability in PHP with GPT-5.6 Sol 25:32 Kimi K3.1 Pro model launch 31:06 Anthropic pitches draft safety bill Additional Reading: Microsoft blog post on ARTEX-enabled attack: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2026/10/21/storm-0940-uses-artex-agentic-ai-connectwise-supply-chain-compromise/ Cohere report on misaligned Qwen3.8: https://cohere.com/blog/concerning-behaviour-popular-open-weight-ai-model Calif report on PHP2Shell: https://calif.io/php2shell/ Kimi K3.1 Pro model card: https://www.kimi.ai/blog/kimi-k3-1-pro Anthropic's statement on improved distillation defenses: https://www.anthropic.com/news/distillation-defenses Anthropic’s draft AI safety bill: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lJLyXL_2T6yc4rlKPqi6niMpfGucZ-oR/view Anthropic’s IPO prospectus: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2130357/000162828026067168/anthropicpbc-sx1.htm
22h ago

Washington's Ukraine Policy and What's Next in the War

Max and Maria are joined by Michael Kimmage to unpack the latest developments in Ukraine through a Washington lens. They discuss how the U.S’s role in peace negotiations has shifted, whether the midterms are likely to change Washington’s policy toward Ukraine, and draw on historical parallels to asses how the war is most likely to end. Guests: Michael Kimmage | director of the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center; professor of history at the Catholic University of America; non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Mentioned: Trump Is Still Chasing His Yalta. Here’s What He Doesn’t Get– Opinion Guest Essay in the New York Times by Michael Kimmage Feedback? Suggestions? Ideas to help us improve? Email us at erep@csis.org. If you love Russian Roulette, let us know by subscribing and leaving a review wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to our sister podcast, covering all things Europe through a Washington lens: CSIS Podcasts | The Eurofile
Oct 23

Ukraine's Wartime Reality

The U.S. has eased sanctions on Russian diesel while Ukraine has accused Washington of withholding intelligence and throttling access to its Starlink and Starshield networks. Is the U.S turning its back on Kyiv? What does growing uncertainty of U.S. support mean on the ground in Ukraine? Jana Kobzová and Maksym Skypchenko join Max Bergmann to discuss the situation on the ground in Ukraine, where U.S.-Ukraine relations stand, and what the future of peace negotiations may hold as the war intensifies. Guests: Jana Kobzová | Co-director of the European Security Programme and Senior Policy Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations Maksym Skypchenko | President, Transatlantic Dialogue Center Feedback? Suggestions? Ideas to help us improve? Email us at erep@csis.org. If you love Russian Roulette, let us know by subscribing and leaving a review wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to our sister podcast, covering all things Europe through a Washington lens: CSIS Podcasts | The Eurofile

CSIS podcasts feature experts & scholars on a range of critical issues surrounding geopolitics, national security, defense, & international affairs topics.