The Truth of the Matter – Details, episodes & analysis

CSIS Senior Vice President and director of the CSIS Global Health Policy Center J. Stephen Morrison joins the podcast to discuss the current surge of Covid-19, the newest variants of the virus, and the politicization of vaccines before the 2024 election.

CSIS’s Ryan Berg joins the podcast to discuss Nicolas Maduro’s claim that he won another term as Venezuela’s president, when the facts prove otherwise and the fallout is severe. 

In a crossover episode with It's More Than Grit, a new podcast from CSIS, Linda Rottenberg, Co-founder and CEO of Endeavor, joins Mariana Campero and Andrew for a discussion on Linda’s journey to Endeavor. She highlights the qualities of a good entrepreneur and the regions she is most optimistic about. As a leader of the global entrepreneurship movement, Linda also shares advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. Linda Rottenberg is one of the world’s premier voices on global entrepreneurship, technology, and business transformation. As Co-founder and CEO of Endeavor, Linda helms the leading global community of, by, and for entrepreneurs. Endeavor selects, supports, and invests in founders across 40 countries. Linda also serves as President of Endeavor Catalyst, the rules-based investment arm of Endeavor, with $500M in AUM.

CSIS’s Max Bergmann joins the podcast to discuss the one-year anniversary of the Ukraine war, the shape the conflict has taken and the security and economic outcomes in Europe and in Russia because of it.  

CSIS’s Dr. Eliot Cohen joins the podcast to discuss the latest developments in Ukraine and how Israel and the United States have increasing concerns about Iran’s military and nuclear weapons program.

Wall Street Journal Middle East Correspondent Dion Nissenbaum joins the podcast to discuss his reporting from aboard the U.S. George H.W. Bush in the Mediterranean Sea while the United States and Israel conducted their largest-ever military exercises, and Israel’s drone strike inside Iran just days later.  

In this special episode, award-winning best-selling author Steve Silberman (“Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity”) joins the podcast to talk about the passing of his close friend, singer-songwriter David Crosby last week at 81. Over the past several years, Silberman hosted a podcast with Crosby called “Freak Flag Flying” which explored the musician’s life and career. In this episode, Silberman describes how Crosby was singular as a musician, a unique American, and discusses the incredible life Crosby led.

CSIS’s Joseph Majkut and Leslie Palti-Guzman join the podcast to discuss U.S. Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) production and exports, and what it all means for the world.

CSIS’s Seth Jones joins the podcast to discuss his new report, “Empty Bins in a Wartime Environment: The Challenge to the U.S. Defense Industrial Base” which underscores that the U.S. defense industrial base is not adequately prepared for the international security environment that now exists. In a major regional conflict—such as a war with China in the Taiwan Strait—the U.S. use of munitions would likely exceed the current stockpiles of the U.S. Department of Defense.

CSIS’s J. Stephen Morrison joins the podcast to talk about the Center for Disease Control’s decline in public trust and confidence, and how the organization can return to the prestige it once had. Dr. Morrison describes this moment in CDC history as comparable to FEMA after Hurricane Katrina or NASA post-Challenger.