The Truth of the Matter Podcast
1) AI Competition and Security: A discussion with Kemba Walden and Devin Lynch
“We’re in a whole tangled mess…we’ve gotten ourselves into a tangled mess around not just securing our infrastructure, but also around competition for the pieces of our infrastructure.” AI has become ...Show More
AI Competition and Security: A discussion with Kemba Walden and Devin Lynch
31:11 | Jul 10th, 2025
2) Keeping Our Beaches Clean with the Surfrider Foundation
This summer, millions of Americans will head to the beach to beat the heat. But how clean is the water they're swimming in? At many beaches, especially on the East Coast, water quality is rarely teste...Show More
3) NATO’s “Brain-Dead” Summit
“I think what happened here is Europeans made a lot of commitments that they don’t have any intention of fulfilling—at least in the near term—and this is all about appeasing President Trump to keep hi...Show More
4) Did U.S. Strikes Prevent an Iranian Bomb—or Provoke One?
“The word ‘obliteration’ is being used a lot…I think there’s a little more nuance to it.” Intelligence assessments from the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran, and the United States have provide...Show More
5) Is Ideology Blinding Iran to Reality?
“They didn’t understand the essence of Israel, and they are now dead.” Are Iran and regional terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah considering the reality of Israel’s military posture and motivati...Show More
6) Emergency Podcast: How Degraded is Iran’s Nuclear and Missile Program?
CSIS Missile Threat Program director Tom Karako joins the podcast to assess conflicting reports about the degradation of Iran’s nuclear and missile program and how soon Iran may be able to rebuild.
7) 12-Day War: Now What?
CSIS’s Jon Alterman, a longtime Middle East scholar and geopolitical expert, joins the podcast to discuss potential outcomes from Israel and Iran’s 12-day war and shaky ceasefire. Key question: Does t...Show More
8) Emergency Podcast: Iran Strikes Back
CSIS Middle East Program Director Mona Yacoubian joins the podcast to discuss Monday’s strike by Iran on Al Udeid Air Base, the largest American military installation in the Middle East and the broade...Show More
9) Google's Gopi Kallayil on the AI Revolution
In this cross over episode, Mariana and Andrew are joined by Gopi Kallayil, Google’s Chief Business Strategist for AI, to explore what he calls “the most profound technology ever created by human bein...Show More
10) How Might Iran Conflict End?
CSIS’s Norm Roule, a former senior U.S. intelligence officer for the Middle East joins the podcast to discuss how conflict with Iran might end, what regime change could look like, the wider implicatio...Show More