What are the most pressing external and internal threats to the United States? Two former US Intelligence officials discuss Syria, Russia, ISIS, and President Trump’s embattled relationship with the Intelligence community. John Brennan, former CIA Director, and James Clapper, former US Director of Intelligence, sit down with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. Their conversation was part of the Aspen Security Forum, held in July 2017. aspenideas.org
Jul 28, 2017•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 149
After many setbacks, a possible vote to overhaul of the Affordable Care Act is back on the table. President Trump is urging Senators to pass a bill that repeals and replaces the ACA. In today’s show, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price talks about the efforts in Washington, and what it’s like to work with President Trump. In his conversation with Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor in Chief of The Atlantic , Price discusses Trump’s leadership style, the opioid crisis, and proposed cuts to agencie...
Jul 25, 2017•31 min•Ep. 148
Democrats face an uphill battle: republicans control the House, Senate, and the White House. Democrats hold the lowest number of state legislative seats since the turn of the 20th century. And, the number of governors who are Democrats is at its lowest level since the 1920s. In this episode, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat, talks about the problems Democrats, and all Americans, need to confront to move the US forward. He says Republicans and Democrats need to unite to solve problems l...
Jul 21, 2017•59 min•Ep. 147
Despite controlling both the White House and Congress, the Republican Party has had a bumpy ride in the first months of the Trump administration. Trump isn’t a traditional party standard-bearer. So, can the party and the White House get in alignment on priorities and core values? What impact will the divide over ideology have on the Republican Party? Featuring Bill Kristol, editor-at-large of The Weekly Standard , Ramesh Ponnuru, senior editor for National Review , McKay Coppins, staff writer at...
Jul 18, 2017•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 146
Over the past year, the United States has been described as profoundly divided. But are these divisions as deep and hopeless as we think? The journalists in today’s show have made careers out of asking questions and listening to American voices. What have they gleaned from their thousands of conversations and interactions with people across the US? Featuring Joshua Johnson, Melissa Block, James Fallows, and Charles Sykes. aspenideas.org
Jul 14, 2017•54 min•Ep. 145
Known as the “land of lousy options,” North Korea has posed problems for the US for decades. But now, the country is testing its missiles regularly and the situation is increasingly dire. What are the best solutions for dealing with this escalating crisis? In this episode, speakers at the Aspen Ideas Festival work to demystify the North Korea subject, cut through the rhetoric, and examine what solutions are possible. Elizabeth Economy, director of Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations...
Jul 11, 2017•57 min•Ep. 144
In our final podcast takeover episode, award-winning journalist Michele Norris discusses the legacy of slavery with a US mayor and the necessity of solitude with a best-selling author. In a conversation with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Norris asks about Landrieu’s recent decision to remove four Confederate statues. Separately, Norris, who leads a program on race and cultural identity at the Aspen Institute, discusses the writing process with Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief and wri...
Jul 07, 2017•54 min•Ep. 143
Joshua Johnson, host of WAMU’s “1A,” interviews Simon Sinek in this Takeover episode. Sinek teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people. His 2009 Ted talk about how great leaders inspire others to take action, is the third most watched talk on TED.com. His books include Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action ; Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t ; Together is Better ; and the forthcoming Find Your Why . In this discussion, Sinek ...
Jul 01, 2017•31 min•Ep. 142
In this Takeover episode, two comedians and a writer — Pete Dominick, Travon Free, and Wajahat Ali — discuss politics, race, and a changing America. How should citizens and politicians talk about race? What is white privilege? And how can we, as a country, find solutions to the problems minority communities face? This lively and funny conversation touches on serious topics. Travon Free is an actor and comedian who writes for “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.” Wajahat Ali is a New York Times op-ed...
Jun 30, 2017•58 min•Ep. 141
Susan Page, Washington Bureau Chief of USA Today, takes over the podcast by interviewing a panel of DC outsiders. Nobody thinks Washington is working well these days. Page turns to unexpected sources — Liz Dozier, an award-winning educator from Chicago; Jeffrey Seller, a celebrated theatrical producer from New York; and Joshua Greene, an exceptional psychologist from Harvard — to brainstorm on what advice other disciplines might have to offer the world of politics. What are the lessons from stud...
Jun 29, 2017•29 min•Ep. 140
In this Takeover episode, we examine the Supreme Court’s decision Monday to take the case regarding President Trump’s travel ban. The move was discussed at the Aspen Ideas Festival in an onstage panel including former US Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and former US Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal. The show includes an interview between Katyal and Podcast Takeover Host Perri Peltz. Peltz is a journalist and documentary filmmaker. aspenideas.org...
Jun 28, 2017•38 min•Ep. 139
During the week of the Aspen Ideas Festival, going on now through July 1, five Takeover Hosts—Julie Rovner, Michele Norris, Joshua Johnson, Pete Dominick, and Susan Page—will extend the exciting conversations happening at the Aspen Idea Festival by interviewing other speakers right here on the podcast. This episode features Julie Rovner, chief Washington correspondent for Kaiser Health News, speaking with Lanhee Chen of the Hoover Institution, reproductive justice advocate Dr. Willie J. Parker, ...
Jun 25, 2017•47 min•Ep. 138
Black Lives Matter, the Occupy movement, the Tea Party, and many other groups have developed in recent years as a response to the age we’re living in — an age of epic political turbulence. Author Eric Liu says people across the political spectrum are reclaiming power. In his book You’re More Powerful Than You Think , he lays out the strategies of reform and revolution. In this episode, Liu uses examples from the right and the left to reveal the core laws of power. He highlights what movements ha...
Jun 21, 2017•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 137
As the second female justice confirmed to the US Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg says her experiences as a female give her a unique perspective her male colleagues don’t share. In this episode, Justice Ginsburg talks about her relationships with Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and the late Antonin Scalia. She also explains what it’s like to work with newly-elected Justice Neil Gorsuch. Her discussion with the Aspen Wye Fellows, also touches on her book My Own Words . Ginsburg is interviewed by E...
Jun 14, 2017•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 136
Thinking about the far-off future isn’t just an exercise in intellectual curiosity. It’s a practical skill that, as new research reveals, has a direct neurological link to greater creativity, empathy, and optimism. In this session from master game designer and acclaimed futurist Jane McGonigal, you’ll learn three practical habits that will increase the power of your imagination—and you’ll have the chance to use your creativity to foresee some of the biggest ways our lives will change by the year...
Jun 06, 2017•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 135
Netflix releases the fifth season of House of Cards today (5/30). In this encore episode Katie Couric interviews House of Cards creator Beau Willimon. The interview, from the Aspen Ideas Festival, took place before the show’s third season in 2015. The two have a lively conversation about Willimon’s career (he studied painting in college and later worked on political campaigns), and the turbulent lives of the show’s characters. NOTE: This episode contains explicit language. aspenideas.org...
May 30, 2017•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 134
In this era of deep partisanship, how can common ground be found on Capitol Hill and on Main Street? In this episode, a pair of party leaders tackle relevant political questions, focusing on the divided state of America. Former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele sits down with Tom Perez, head of the Democratic National Committee. Voters are increasingly disappointed by candidates who win an election but then, don’t follow through on campaign promises. Could voter dismay lead to t...
May 23, 2017•55 min•Ep. 133
Elisabeth Rosenthal writes about our broken healthcare system in her new book, An American Sickness: How Healthcare became Big Business and How You Can Take it Back . She says the system, comprised of hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, and drug manufacturers, is in tatters. Social and financial incentives have infected it, she says, rendering it disastrous and immoral. How has the Affordable Care Act impacted the system? And what kind of effect would a repeal have? Rosenthal is an emergenc...
May 16, 2017•59 min•Ep. 132
While the subject of race and racism will likely continue to be a contentious topic for years to come, it is a discussion that is imperative for civil society. How does the dialogue on race continue? Will protests in the streets and boycotts become the new mode of discourse? What can be done to ease racial anxiety and promote common understanding? Former NPR Host and Director of The Race Card Project Michele Norris leads a discussion about how to converse about race with Khizr Khan, Adam Foss, a...
May 09, 2017•49 min•Ep. 131
When poet Elizabeth Acevedo taught creative writing to young women of color in a detention center, she recognized their trauma and avoided the teacher-as-savior mentality. Acevedo spoke at the Aspen Institute’s Summit on Inequality and Opportunity. The Summit brings together policymakers, thought leaders, and social entrepreneurs to talk about widening the opportunity gap. This episode features Acevedo and Arthur Brooks, president of American Enterprise Institute. He talks about the secret to re...
May 02, 2017•51 min•Ep. 130
Why do human beings explore? And, why are the most adventurous explorers drawn to outer space? Naturalist and astronomer David Aguilar explains why the drive for adventure fades after childhood, and how we can regain it as adults. Also, a group of physicists dig into what the universe is made of. Janna Levin, Lisa Randall, and Lawrence Krauss debate black holes, and whether they actually exist. Their conversation is led by Ira Flatow, host of Public Radio International’s Science Friday . aspenid...
Apr 25, 2017•42 min•Ep. 129
Less than a month into his presidency, Donald Trump made combative and accusatory remarks on Twitter about the intelligence community for a report on Russian connections. Are his messages undermining the legitimacy of the intelligence community? If so, will the agencies be less effective in making decisions around national security? Former CIA and NSA Director Michael Hayden joins former acting CIA Director John McLaughlin and Juan Zarate, former Deputy National Security Adviser for Combating Te...
Apr 18, 2017•58 min•Ep. 128
Kleptocracy presents a growing threat to US national security and international peace, as money laundering and other forms of public “grand corruption” increasingly undermine democracy, cripple development, weaken Western soft power, and accelerate state collapse. Can an International Anti-Corruption Court, modeled on the International Criminal Court in The Hague, tackle the problem? Meryl Chertoff, head of the Aspen Institute Justice and Society Program, leads a discussion with Deborah Connor, ...
Apr 11, 2017•54 min•Ep. 127
Margot Lee Shetterly, author of Hidden Figures , says “It’s one thing to tell your own story, it’s another thing to take responsibility to tell someone else’s life.” Her book about a group of black women mathematicians who helped catapult the US space program to success became a blockbuster film. In this episode, she tells Michele Norris, former NPR host and director of an Aspen Institute program, that she grew up among the women she wrote about. Later in the show, another award-winning author w...
Apr 04, 2017•44 min•Ep. 126
Renowned Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert describes the foibles of imagination and illusions of foresight that cause each of us to misconceive our tomorrows and misestimate our satisfactions. Vividly bringing to life the latest scientific research in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, philosophy, and behavioral economics, Gilbert reveals what scientists have discovered about the uniquely human ability to imagine the future, and about our capacity to predict how much we will like it when we get ...
Mar 28, 2017•53 min•Ep. 125
If the 20 years from 1995 to 2015 were shaped in significant measure by digitization and the rise of the internet, what’s next? What will define the next decade? Drawing from his highly-praised New York Times best-seller The Industries of the Future, Alec Ross provides a view into the forces that will carve tomorrow’s economy and the difficult, necessary steps that must be taken to prepare ourselves and our children for a world with powerful artificial intelligence, robotics, and scientific deve...
Mar 21, 2017•58 min•Ep. 124
Albert Einstein was no Einstein when he was a kid. He was slow to talk and was even dubbed “the dopey one.” But, Einstein said, slow development gave him time to wonder about things most people don’t spend time on and as a result, his imagination flourished. In this rebroadcast, Aspen Institute President and Einstein biographer Walter Isaacson delves into the source of Einstein’s creativity. Where did it come from? How was it reflected in his life? And what can we learn from it? aspenideas.org...
Mar 14, 2017•59 min•Ep. 123
Everything—from the country’s place in the world to the social contract between citizens, government, and the private sector—seems to be knotted in hard, uncompromising debates. In this episode, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, former presidential advisor David Gergen, and Steve Clemons, Washington editor at large for The Atlantic , discuss how the country can regain a spirit o...
Mar 07, 2017•47 min•Ep. 122
Chaos in the Middle East, instability in Europe, and a reckless North Korea are signals that the world is increasingly defined by disorder. Author and Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass says the world needs an updated global operating system. The guidelines and institutions that have led the world since World War II are outdated and unable to deal with modern threats like terrorism, cyber, and climate change. Haass speaks with Aspen Institute President Walter Isaacson about his...
Feb 28, 2017•52 min•Ep. 121
Thanks to technology, we are more connected than ever—digitally. But at what cost? How have technologies, like online dating sites and apps like Tinder, changed attitudes and behaviors? How do we choose a partner and stay interested when we have an almost infinite world of choices at our fingertips? Will marriage become a thing of the past? Match.com’s Chief Scientific Advisor Helen Fisher joins Eric Klinenberg, co-author of Modern Romance , and Christie Hefner, former CEO of Playboy Enterprises...
Feb 21, 2017•48 min•Ep. 120
