The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
The Lawfare Podcast features discussions with experts, policymakers, and opinion leaders at the nexus of national security, law, and policy. On issues from foreign policy, homeland security, intelligence, and cybersecurity to governance and law, we have doubled down on seriousness at a time when others are running away from it. Visit us at www.lawfaremedia.org.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/lawfare. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Mentioned books
May 13, 2026 • 50min
Lawfare Daily: Terrorism and Insurgency in sub-Saharan Africa
Alexander (Zander) Palmer, a CSIS fellow tracking transnational terrorism in Africa, and Holly Berkley Fletcher, a former CIA Africa analyst, unpack jihadist networks across the Sahel, Lake Chad, Mozambique, and Somalia. They discuss how weak states and local politics fuel violence. They examine evolving tactics like weaponized drones, regional vulnerabilities, global shocks, and what outside powers should rethink.
May 12, 2026 • 53min
Lawfare Daily: Russian PMCs Update with Candace Rondeaux
Candace Rondeaux, founder of Frontline Atlas and scholar of geopolitical risk, explains the fallout from Wagner’s collapse and the split into competing Russian PMCs. She breaks down recruitment channels, Wagner branding, and the shadow fleet’s role in moving oil. Discussion also covers PMC activity and setbacks in Mali, Russia–Iran maritime links, and legal and policy responses.
May 11, 2026 • 59min
Lawfare Daily: What the War Powers Resolution Means for Iran
Scott R. Anderson, senior editor and national security law analyst, outlines the War Powers Resolution and its mechanisms. He walks through reporting triggers, the 60/90-day clock, intermittent hostilities, and how administrations frame actions as defensive. The legal enforceability, standing hurdles for lawsuits, and congressional tools to check presidential war-making are also discussed.
9 snips
May 10, 2026 • 38min
Lawfare Archive: Pam Samuelson on Copyright's Threat to Generative AI
Pamela Samuelson, a UC Berkeley law professor and digital copyright pioneer, examines how copyrighted works power generative AI. She discusses training data ingestion, major lawsuits challenging model training, fair use debates, potential remedies up to model destruction, and how U.S. uncertainty compares with overseas approaches.
May 9, 2026 • 56min
Lawfare Archive: Orin Kerr on the Digital Fourth Amendment
Orin Kerr, Stanford Law professor and leading scholar on the Fourth Amendment, discusses his book The Digital Fourth Amendment. He traces how digital data upends physical-world Fourth Amendment assumptions. He explains his Equilibrium-Adjustment Theory and how courts have adapted doctrines like Carpenter and Katz. He also covers challenges like mosaic theory, commercial data, and how scholars influence judges.
May 8, 2026 • 45min
Lawfare Daily: The Supreme Court’s Long Shadow with Steve Vladeck and Kate Klonick
Steve Vladeck, Georgetown law professor and Supreme Court commentator, joins to unpack the rise of the shadow docket and thin emergency rulings. He and Kate Klonick discuss the New York Times leak, Chief Justice Roberts’s memos, tensions between the high court and lower courts, and how procedural choices and political pressures shape judicial accountability.
4 snips
May 7, 2026 • 1h 22min
Rational Security: The “I’ve Never Done THAT Before!” Edition
Roger Parloff, senior editor who adds legal history context; Molly Roberts, senior editor offering legal perspective on domestic security; Tyler McBrien, managing editor who analyzes policy and law. They debate Comey’s seashell “8647” indictment and prosecutorial motives. They unpack War Powers questions after 60 days of Iran hostilities. They scrutinize efforts to justify Trump’s DC construction projects with national security claims.
May 7, 2026 • 46min
Lawfare Daily: An Insider’s Account of the Trump Administration’s Dismantling of USAID
Nicholas Enrich, former acting assistant administrator for Global Health at USAID and author of Into the Wood Chipper, gives an insider account of USAID’s rapid dismantling. He recounts the January 20 freeze, disruptive political hires and DOGE influence, consequences for Ebola and global health programs, waves of contract cancellations, litigation, and the daunting task of rebuilding expertise and international trust.
May 6, 2026 • 36min
Lawfare Daily: Patrick Radden Keefe on ‘London Falling’
Patrick Radden Keefe, New Yorker staff writer and bestselling investigative author, discusses his book London Falling. He unpacks a London teen’s fatal plunge and the city’s transformation by foreign wealth. Conversations cover reporting methods, tangled lives between white‑collar and underworld figures, and how power reshaped the capital.
May 5, 2026 • 1h 3min
Lawfare Daily: Chatting on Chatrie with Adam Unikowsky, Michael Dreeben, and Richard Salgado
Richard Salgado, former Google lawyer and Stanford lecturer who handled warrants and tech briefs. Michael Dreeben, former Deputy Solicitor General experienced in Supreme Court Fourth Amendment cases. Adam Unikowsky, attorney who argued Chatrie and geofence litigation. They unpack geofence warrants, how Google’s Sensor Vault and Location History work, debates over algorithmic queries as searches, and what the Court seemed focused on.
