In this episode, A’ndre Gonawela sits down with John McLaughlin, former Acting Director and Deputy Director of the CIA and now Professor of Practice at Johns Hopkins SAIS. Drawing on over three decades in intelligence leadership and his service as a U.S. Army officer in Vietnam, McLaughlin offers a wide-ranging assessment of the U.S. national security landscape.

The conversation begins with the state of the intelligence community under the Trump administration, exploring the risks of politicization, the purge of seasoned officers, and why analytic integrity depends on clearly distinguishing what is known, unknown, and judged with confidence. McLaughlin also responds to recent political controversies, including DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s claims about the 2016 election and the enduring debate over Russian interference.

Turning to geopolitics, McLaughlin shares his views the War in Ukraine and the Trump administration's handling of Putin's Russia. He also breaks down deterrence with China, including where the U.S. is most deficient in communication, capability, and credibility, and how Washington should approach Taiwan. On the Middle East, he outlines what a realistic U.S. priority stack should be over the next 12 months.

Former U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns joins The Burn Bag to unpack the fragile U.S.–China tariff truce, the state of ongoing trade negotiations, and how Beijing is recalibrating its diplomacy in response to President Trump’s return. Drawing on his tenure as America’s top envoy in Beijing from 2022-25, Ambassador Burns explains why he believes Trump is right to pressure China on tariffs—while offering a sharp critique of India’s retaliatory 50% duties and the broader reciprocal tariff regime.

Burns weighs in on the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit, including the strategic implications of the Modi–Xi–Putin meeting, and assesses how Xi Jinping’s centralized leadership style has hardened China’s power. He and A’ndre also discuss how Chinese officials view Trump’s return to power and the broader risks and opportunities for U.S. diplomacy in Asia. The former ambassador offers a candid, perspective rooted in his recent on-the-ground experience of China’s evolving strategy and the path forward for American policymakers.

Jim Hake, founder of Spirit of America, joins The Burn Bag to discuss why civilians matter in modern national security—and how his organization is filling gaps government can’t. A Silicon Valley entrepreneur turned national security innovator, Jim founded Spirit of America after 9/11 to bring a whole-of-society approach to U.S. missions overseas.

In this conversation, Jim breaks down why he believes the U.S. has been “fighting with one hand tied behind its back,” what it means to be not neutral in global competition, and how Spirit of America became the only nonprofit with a formal partnership with the Department of Defense. We explore how his team works alongside U.S. troops and diplomats in places like Ukraine and Taiwan, strengthening trust, building resilience, and shaping outcomes in the gray zone.

Jim and A’ndre reflect on where civilian support fits in a new era of strategic competition—and what it says about America’s ability to lead without uniformed force.

Former NSC official Lt. Col. (Ret.) Alexander Vindman joins The Burn Bag to break down the fallout from the Trump–Putin summit in Alaska, the Monday meeting between Trump, Zelenskyy, and European leaders at the White House, and the dangerous trajectory of U.S. diplomacy on Ukraine. A former NSC Director for European Affairs and key Trump impeachment witness, Lt. Col. Vindman argues that Trump’s ad hoc engagement with Putin diminished U.S. credibility, granted Putin international legitimacy, and undermined Ukraine’s sovereignty.

He discusses Putin’s proposed land-for-peace deal, Zelenskyy’s constrained agency, and the risk that Washington’s approach trades away strategic leverage for short-term optics. Lt. Col. Vindman and A'ndre discuss discuss whether Monday's White House Summit of Trump, Zelenskyy, and European allies actually showcased unity, in addition to the current state of the war. The former NSC official offers a candid assessment of what’s at stake—for Ukraine, for Europe, and for American credibility on the global stage.

Read Lt. Col. Vindman's new book, The Folly of Realism, here.

The war in Ukraine didn’t start in 2022—it started in Crimea in 2014. In this episode, we sit down with University of Michigan professor and anthropologist Dr. Greta Uehling to explore the story of the Crimean Tatars, Ukraine’s Indigenous people and one of the first communities to resist Russian occupation in 2014. Drawing on years of fieldwork and personal testimony, Greta shares how Crimean Tatars have faced erasure, exile, and repression—yet continue to preserve identity, community, and resistance under impossible conditions.

We dive into the historical roots of the Crimean Tatar struggle, their role in shaping Ukraine’s civic identity, and why Crimea remains central to understanding the war today. From silent protests to grassroots organizing, this conversation spotlights the people and stories often left out of the headlines—but at the heart of Ukraine’s fight for sovereignty.

Greta's new book, Decolonizing Ukraine: How the Indigenous People of Crimea Remade Themselves after Russian Occupation, is available now.

In this episode of The Burn Bag, A’ndre sits down with retired CIA analyst Gina Bennett, who famously authored the first classified warning about Osama bin Laden in 1993. A key voice in the fight against al-Qaeda — and featured in the Netflix documentary Manhunt — Gina reflects on her decades in intelligence and how the U.S. national security system has long understood the nature of threats.

Now, she’s pushing for a paradigm shift with her Hunter-Gatherer National Security theory — a bold framework that challenges the traditional, militarized view of power and argues that skills like emotional intelligence, civic engagement, and social cohesion are just as vital to national security as military might. Together, A’ndre and Gina explore the deep historical biases embedded in how we define “security,” the concept of evolutionary power, the dangers of neglecting civic education in a democracy, and what a more holistic, evolved security strategy could look like.

Dr. Kurt Campbell, former Deputy Secretary of State and an architect of the U.S. “Pivot to Asia,” joins the Burn Bag to unpack the strategic crossroads the United States faces in the Indo-Pacific. In a wide-ranging conversation, Campbell discusses the Trump administration’s ongoing tariff negotiations with key allies and partners, the shifting contours of U.S.-China competition, and why he believes the United States is underestimating Beijing’s long-term scale and capacity. Drawing from his recent Foreign Affairs essay with Rush Doshi, we explore his call for a new strategy of “allied scale” that fuses defense, trade, and technology cooperation. Campbell shares sharp insights on the future of AUKUS, the role of partners such as India, Japan, and Korea, and how the U.S. must adapt its strategy to stay competitive in a region that’s central to the 21st century.

Read Kurt's Foreign Affairs op-ed (co-authored with Rush Doshi) here.

In this episode, we’re joined by Shubhi Mishra, founder and CEO of Raft, to talk about what it takes to become a new defense prime. Shubhi challenges the dominance of legacy primes and makes the case for smaller, faster-moving companies that can deliver what the warfighter actually needs. Through her work at Raft — a defense technology company building agile, AI-driven solutions for data fusion and rapid decision-making — she’s tackling one of the most urgent problems in defense: integrating siloed, vendor-locked systems. Shubhi shares her perspective on breaking free from “innovation theater,” reforming acquisition processes, and building real, interoperable solutions at the speed of relevance.

Read more about Shubhi here.