The United States Faces a Conundrum in Iran
Today, I joined CNN News Central to talk about where we are on Iran. The United States faces a conundrum. The Iranian regime is not going to be cowed into a nuclear deal, particularly zero enrichment (which I find hard to believe they would do), without major, major concessions from us. Those concessions, even if […]
The Road Ahead: U.S. Foreign Policy After Year One
I had the pleasure of joining my friend Jim Falk on his podcast, along with Ambassador Charles Shapiro, a deep Latin America specialist. We started strategic and then dove into some of the current hotspots. So much to talk about, so little time.
Iran Nuclear Talks Resume in Oman
I joined Brianna and Boris on CNN News Central to talk about where we are after the first round of US-Iran talks concluded today. I have low confidence that these will go anywhere, but I do think they are worth trying. My low confidence stems from the fact that the Iranian regime seems to be […]
Greenland in the Crosshairs
I was happy to participate in this fantastic panel on Greenland with panelists representing Greenland, Denmark, and the U.S. I found the information provided by the panelists to be extremely helpful in understanding just how important the trilateral relationship between the US-Denmark-Greenland is and how much of it is grounded in agreements and ongoing formal […]
Trump Administration grappling with Iran policy
We are not even halfway through the first month of the New Year, and there is more going on geopolitically than ever. Here is my take from last night on Iran with Kaitlan Collins and Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari on CNN. The President and his team are meeting today (Tuesday) at the White House to decide […]
Trump meets with Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago
This is my immediate reaction to the press conference between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu just before they sat down for a discussion at Mar-a-Lago today. I discuss Netanyahu’s political standing prior to the press conference.
US Drone Strike Targets Port Facility in Venezuela
China’s live-fire exercise around Taiwan
Attached is a clip of me talking about China’s latest and largest, measured by the amount of air and maritime areas closed off around Taiwan, and the second largest in terms of the number of ships and planes involved today. It has blocked all maritime traffic into Taiwan’s two largest ports and made most air travel […]
The Purpose and Limitations of an Iran Nuclear Intelligence Assessment
ABSTRACT Former Deputy Director of National Intelligence Beth Sanner offers guidance for managing politically charged intelligence assessments, examining the controversy surrounding Iran’s nuclear program following US and Israeli strikes in June 2025. Sanner provides practical lessons for reducing friction between the intelligence and policy communities by considering the contentious 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, which generated […]
U.S. Strategy of Sanctions Against Venezuela and Russia
Context matters. Both in the case of U.S. policy toward Venezuela, where Washington’s goals are clouded by domestic political issues, and Russia-Ukraine, where the U.S. posture toward Europe and Russia ultimately will affect the durability of any peace. In this clip, I tackle both subjects, including the purpose and effectiveness of seizing sanctioned Venezuelan tankers […]
U.S. Seizes Venezuelan Oil Tanker
I think there is a world of difference between striking purported drug runners in the Caribbean and seizing a tanker that has been under sanctions for years. The free world is struggling with the shadow fleet across the globe; it is shipping oil that profits adversaries and despots, it benefits China with cheap oil, it […]
Trump’s Asia Trip: Full Agenda, Big Challenges
Here is my take on the upcoming Trump-Xi meeting on @CNN this morning. Zooming out a bit, this Administration came in talking about the need to focus on Asia, including pulling resources from other parts of the world to do so. But this is the next week will mark the first time that Trump has gone […]