Bill Rapp was an academic historian before joining the CIA where he spent 35 years as an analyst. Among his assignments was as White House PDB briefer for Condoleezza Rice. After retiring he combined his past careers to become a prolific novelist. We talk to him about his latest book set in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis - but the action is in Turkey where CIA Soviet assets are mysteriously dying.

Imad Mughniyeah was a Lebanese terrorist responsible for more American deaths than any other individual – until 9/11. He is now the subject of a 4-part Showtime dramatic series that debuts on May 19. We talk with Greg Barker who directed and co-wrote this unusual series that tells from American, Israeli and Lebanese perspectives the story of the man who was behind many suicide bombings, hijackings and murders in the Middle East and who evaded capture for two decades until he was killed by a car bomb in Syria.  The drama also weaves in first-hand, real-life interviews with prominent officials from the CIA and Mossad.

Former New York Times correspondent Thom Shanker and defense expert Andrew Hoehn have crafted an important new book looking at the challenges the United States faces from Russia and China – and from emerging threats like pandemics, AI-enabled weapons and cybersecurity. We talk with them about how to address these challenges which they say will require revamping the U.S. national security structure.

The story of how a small group of women - wives of Vietnam POWs founded the  National League of Families and rallied the nation behind the cause of bringing home American POWs and resolving the status of MIAs. Author Taylor Kiland tell this moving story.

Interview with VADM Pete Daly, USN, Ret. CEO and Publisher of the U.S. Naval Institute. Daly discusses how USNI Press differs from mainstream publishers and academic presses.  He talks about trends in the publishing industry, how the pandemic impacted book publishing, how authors can submit material for consideration  and some of USNI’s greatest hits – including Tom Clancy’s “The Hunt for Red October.”