The Steady State Sentinel

A veteran LA Times correspondent on Trump’s assault on the press, the White House Correspondents' Dinner security scare, and the fight for truth in a fractured media era.
In the latest episode of the Sentinel podcast, former CIA Operations Officer Margaret Henoch interviews Bob Drogin, a 38-year veteran of the Los Angeles Times. Drogin describes what he assesses as the Trump administration’s unprecedented assault on the First Amendment: cutting NPR and PBS funding, banning reporters from the White House and taking over the press pool. He frames this against a backdrop of limiting FOIA access, targeting government data, and filing punitive lawsuits against major news outlets.
Drogin contextualizes this crisis within the brief "golden age" of journalism, the rise of billionaire press lords, and today’s fragmented media landscape. He discusses the White House Correspondents' Dinner security scare, and reflects on how AI and social media are reshaping (and threatening) the future of news.
Guest Info:
Bob Drogin spent 38 years at the Los Angeles Times as a national correspondent, foreign correspondent, and Washington correspondent. He covered intelligence and national security for more than a decade, later serving as national security editor and White House editor during the first Trump administration. He is the author of Curveball: Spies, Lies, and the Con Man Who Caused a War, about the case for the Iraqi war made by the GW Bush administration.

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A deep dive into FISA, modern surveillance authorities, and the growing tension between intelligence collection and civil liberties in the digital age.
Former CIA Senior Officer Jim Petrila joins Peter Mina to break down the evolution of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the controversies surrounding Section 702, and the growing tension between national security surveillance and civil liberties. Petrilla explains how technological shifts after the Cold War and 9/11 transformed intelligence collection, leading to major legal and policy battles over government access to communications data.
The conversation explores incidental collection of Americans’ communications,debate over tfhe need to obtain warrants, oversight concerns, and the expanding role of third-party data brokers that collect and sell personal information outside many traditional safeguards. Petrilla also warns how surveillance authorities and emergency powers can become vulnerable to abuse when accountability and public trust erode.
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About the guest: James Petrila spent over thirty years as a lawyer in the Intelligence Community, working at the National Security Agency and, for most of his career, at the Central Intelligence Agency with the Office of the General Counsel. He has taught courses on counterterrorism law and legal issues at the CIA at the George Washington University School of Law. He is currently a senior advisor to the Institute for the Study of States of Exception and is a member of The Steady State.

The Spoils System Returns, the Foreign Service Professional Association Is Crushed, and Why the Next President Will Be Handicapped
In the latest episode of the Sentinel, Peter Mina interviews Ambassador Eric Rubin, a 38‑year Foreign Service veteran, former president of American Foreign Service Association and current Steady State board member. Rubin describes how the Trump administration has dismantled the nonpartisan career foreign service, destroyed employee associations and affinity groups, and replaced them with a loyalty‑based “spoils system.”
He reveals that membership in the Benjamin Franklin Fellowship, a Heritage Foundation project, has become the equivalent of membership in the Soviet Communist Party for State Department officers seeking promotions. Rubin also discusses the catastrophic war with Iran, noting that Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff (both staunch Netanyahu supporters) are the actual negotiators, while career Iran experts have been purged. He offers a sobering look at how allies will never fully trust the U.S. again, and why young people should still join the Foreign Service, because America will need diplomats long after Trump.
The episode ends with a powerful call to action: international engagement is the basis of our prosperity and security, and Americans must recognize that we are less safe today than on January 19, 2025.
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Ambassador Eric Rubin is a senior fellow with the Democratic Resilience Program at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and a member of the board of directors of The Steady State. A career Foreign Service officer for 38 years, he served as U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria (2016‑2019) and was elected president of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) from 2019 to 2023. He has held key assignments in Ukraine, Russia, Thailand, and Honduras. You can follow his writing and speaking engagements on LinkedIn

Government Transparency, Security Clearance Battles, and the Future of American Democracy
Former CIA officer Jim Lawler and former FBI senior executive Lauren C. Anderson host Mark Zaid, a renowned national security attorney who has represented whistleblowers, been personally targeted by a presidential clearance revocation, and fought for government transparency for nearly three decades.
They discuss the real difference between a whistleblower and a leaker (using Edward Snowden as a cautionary example), the erosion of democratic norms under the second Trump administration, and why the rule of law has become “water soluble.”
Zaid predicts that the loss of seasoned diplomats, intelligence officers, and FBI agents will take a generation to rebuild, and explains why, despite everything, the judiciary remains his beacon of hope. The conversation also covers FOIA in the digital age, his representation of clients across the political spectrum, and practical advice for law students entering national security law.
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Mark S. Zaid is a nationally recognized Washington, D.C. attorney specializing in national security, First Amendment, government accountability, and whistleblower representation. He founded the James Madison Project in 1998 and co‑founded Whistleblower Aid in 2017. He represented the whistleblower whose complaint triggered the first impeachment of President Trump, sued Libya on behalf of Pan Am 103 victims, and taught security clearance law as an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University. You can follow his work through the James Madison Project (www.jamesmadisonproject.org) and on X (formerly Twitter) at @MarkSZaidEsq.

Conspiracy Narratives, Media Challenges, and the Long Shadow of Russian Influence
Former CIA officer John Sipher sits down for the latest Sentinel podcast with David Corn, Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones and one of the nation’s most respected political journalists. They dive deep into the explosive schisms within MAGA world triggered by the Iran war, from Tucker Carlson accusing Trump of being the anti‑Christ to escalating feuds between figures like Megyn Kelly and Mark Levin.
Corn explains why the FBI under Kash Patel has been gutted of counterterrorism expertise, how a reportedly Kremlin‑connected propagandist gave Patel $25,000, and why career national security officials are now terrified to speak with reporters. The conversation also covers RFK Jr.’s dangerous tenure at HHS, Tulsi Gabbard’s politicization of intelligence, and the media’s struggle to cover an administration that lies as a strategy. Corn offers a sobering assessment of American democracy’s fragility—and where he still finds hope.
David Corn is the Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones and a longtime national security and political journalist. He has covered presidents, scandals, and the rise of the modern right for more than three decades. He is the author of several books, including Russian Roulette (with Michael Isikoff) and the forthcoming How Russia Won. His newsletter, R‑Land, is available at davidcorn.com. You can find him on Bluesky at @davidcorn and on Signal at DavidCorn99.
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