CDC, National Dept, General Officers

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!