Staff Picks 2025: Listens

This year, the staff at the Center for a New American Security dove into researching some of the most pressing and hard-hitting national security issues of the day. But we also take time to read, watch, and listen to some of the best media to come out of 2025 (and before!). Discover new, or just new to you, content to start your year out in 2026.

What we listened to . . .

Ryan Beane, Intern, Technology and National Security Program

Top listen (podcast): Drum Tower, from The Economist

Katherine Kuzminski, Director of Studies

Top listens (podcast): Ninety Pound Rucksack. Pairs well with: Articles of Interest, Season 7

Samantha Baxter, Operations and IT Assistant

Top listen (music): K-Pop Demon Hunters album

Molly Campbell, Research Assistant, Defense Program

Top listen (music): Cabaret, 1971 original cast recording

James Sanders, Research Associate, Technology and National Security Program

Top listen (podcast): Dwarkesh Podcast

Emma Swislow, Senior Editor

Top listen (podcast): Who? Weekly
Top listen (music): Euro-Country, by CMAT

Charles Horn, Communications Officer

Top listens (podcast): Odd Lots, Football Cliches, and Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

Delaney Soliday, Research Assistant, Middle East Security Program

Top listen (podcast): The New Humanitarian—specifically, “An Interview with UN Relief Chief Tom Fletcher”

Sam Howell, Associate Fellow, Technology and National Security Program

Top listens (podcast): Excellence, Actually, ReThinking, WarDocs, and Building the Elite

Dylan Selewonik, Administrative Assistant in Finance and Operations

Top listens (podcast): The Rest is Politics and School of War

Cameron Olbert, Intern, Transatlantic Security Program

Top listen (music): “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma,” by Luke Combs

Ryan Claffey, Research Assistant, Indo-Pacific Security Program

Top listen (music): DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, by Bad Bunny

Sevi Silvia, Intern, Communications

Top listen (podcast): The Rest is History

Kalena Blake, Intern, Defense Program

Top listens (podcast): The Gray Area, Good on Paper, and Critics at Large

Kyle Rutter, Program Coordinator, Energy, Economics, and Security Program

Top listen (music): Any songs/albums by SZA

Gibbs McKinley, Research Associate to the CEO

Top listen (music): West End Girl, by Lily Allen

Caroline Steel, Associate Editor

Top listen (podcast): If Books Could Kill

Ruby Scanlon, Research Associate, Technology and National Security Program

Top listen (music): “Sunshine Baby,” by The Japanese House

Anna Pederson, Associate Director of Communications

Top listens (music): Snipe Hunter, by Tyler Childers, and “The Calling of Fire,” by Blood Monolith