The Burn Bag – National Security and Foreign Policy Redefined Burn Bag Media

This week, A’ndre and Andrea speak with former SOF-CENTCOM commander LTG Michael Nagata and former senior State Department official Laurel Miller on a recent USIP report on counterterrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan. LTG Nagata and Laurel discuss how the counterterrorism landscape has changed since 2021, outlining the different terror groups in the region, from al Qaeda and ISIS-K to anti-Pakistan and anti-India groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group. The two guests...

This week, Andrew interviews Eric and Greg Levesque, co-founders of Strider Technologies. Strider is a tech company that utilizes open-source data and AI methodologies to provide strategic intelligence to governments, corporations, and research institutions around the world to proactively identify and mitigate nation-state-directed IP theft, talent recruitment, and supply chain threats. Eric and Greg walk us through how open-source information capabilities have expanded dramatically since the...

Last week, co-hosts Andrea Ochoa and Christina Oh attended the 2024 NATO Youth Summit, which was a collaborative event hosted by NATO, The Aspen Institute, Aspen Institute Romania, the Swedish Defence University and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. The event focused on global security issues and enhancing youth understanding of the transatlantic alliance, including how the alliance can address current and future security challenges. As part of the event, Burn Bag sat down with som...

This week, A'ndre and Andrew interview Dr. Gregory Stanton, founder of Genocide Watch on the process of genocide, genocide in modern warfare, and efforts towards reconciliation. Dr. Stanton has been a key figure in the genocide prevention movement for several decades, and walks the audience through his '10 Stages of Genocide' framework. Dr. Stanton outlines why he believes total war / 'carpet bombing' is an act of genocide, citing the firebombing of Dresden and Tokyo, in addition to the atomi...

This week, A'ndre chatted with former Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper on the recent strikes exchanged between Israel and Iran, Israel's conduct in Gaza, and the broader regional dynamics at play. Director Clapper, who served as DNI between 2010-2017, discusses his initial reactions to the October 7th Attacks, recalling his own visit to the Gaza border in 2014 and talking about why the Israeli Government may have viewed Hamas as a 'benign' threat. Director Clapper outlines his pe...

In this episode, A'ndre and Andrea welcome Jonna Mendez, a distinguished former Chief of Disguise in the CIA's Office of Technical Service, for an intriguing discussion on espionage, disguise, and Jonna's groundbreaking career. Known for her role that is sometimes akin to "Q" from the James Bond series, Jonna sheds light on her 27-year tenure at the CIA, where she specialized in clandestine photography and innovative disguise tactics in some of the most hostile theaters of the Cold War. ...