How the National Security Strategy Gets Made

How the National Security Strategy Gets Made

In the last six months, we’ve been covering big strategic documents published by the executive branch. We’ve interviewed Dean Ball [https://www.statecraft.pub/p/how-the-trump-white-house-really], the principal author of the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan [https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Americas-AI-Action-Plan.pdf]. We’ve also spoken with Judd Devermont [https://www.statecraft.pub/p/how-diplomacy-works-in-africa], who authored the Biden administration’s Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa [https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/U.S.-Strategy-Toward-Sub-Saharan-Africa-FINAL.pdf]. We’re continuing the trend today, but at a higher strategic register. I’m joined by Nadia Schadlow [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Schadlow], the former Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy in the first Trump administration and lead architect of the 2017 National Security Strategy [https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf]. Currently, Nadia is a senior fellow [https://www.hudson.org/experts/1244-nadia-schadlow] at the Hudson Institute [https://www.hudson.org/] where she focuses on strategy, national security, and industrial policy. We discuss: * The process of drafting the National Security Strategy * The differences between the 2017 and 2025 strategies * Why time is an underappreciated element of strategy * What to read to understand Russia better For the full transcript of this conversation, go to http://www.statecraft.pubwww.statecraft.pub [http://www.statecraft.pub]. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub [https://www.statecraft.pub?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Ten Thoughts on Government Data

Government data often underpins policy debates. Nevertheless, those who work with it will know how uniquely frustrating it can be. Relative to the private sector, government systems collect data in idiosyncratic ways. They prioritize continuity and legality over ease-of-use, in anticipation of a narrow set of users. As a result, these datasets can feel impenetrable. In October 2024, I was trying to understand how international students enter the US workforce: where they move for work, how many of them use programs like Optional Practical Training, and whether they stay in the US after graduating. So, I opened up a dataset from the Department of Homeland Security’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). Today this data is available on the OPT Observatory [https://optobservatory.org/]; it’s the most granular public resource available to answer these questions. But it took me over a year to produce. The process of getting there taught me as much about government data as it did anything else. For the full transcript of this conversation, go to http://www.statecraft.pubwww.statecraft.pub [http://www.statecraft.pub]. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub [https://www.statecraft.pub?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

When FAFSA Broke, They Called This Guy

Jeremy Singer [https://about.collegeboard.org/leadership/jeremy-singer] is the President of College Board [https://www.collegeboard.org/], which he has led for over a decade. In that role, he oversees the SAT, AP, and other core elements of the U.S. college access ecosystem, and he’s previously had leadership roles at Kaplan [https://kaplan.com/] and McGraw Hill Education [https://www.mheducation.com/]. Why is Jeremy on Statecraft today? After the failed redesign of FAFSA in 2023, he spent six months at the Department of Education [https://www.ed.gov/] helping to ensure the 2024 launch was successful. The revised application form meant 1.7 million students were eligible [https://www.ncan.org/news/719093/FAFSA-Simplification-Yielded-1.7-Million-Additional-Pell-Eligible-Students.htm] for maximum Pell Grants [https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/grants/pell] in the 2025-26 application cycle. We discuss: * Why attempts to simplify FAFSA went so badly wrong * The problems caused by precise drafting in Congress * How Singer got FAFSA back on track * What politicians and GAO don’t understand about developing software The full transcript for this conversation is at http://www.statecraft.pubwww.statecraft.pub. [http://www.statecraft.pub.] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub [https://www.statecraft.pub?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

How a Congressional Office Actually Works

Baillee Brown [https://www.linkedin.com/in/baillee-brown-b4028973/] is Head of Government and External Affairs at Inclusive Abundance [https://www.inclusiveabundance.org/], which works to help members of Congress get more interested in abundance-policy areas, principally housing, energy, science, innovation, and good governance. She worked on Capitol Hill for 10 years, for Congressman Scott Peters [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Peters_(politician)] from San Diego. She began as scheduler, moved to the legislative team, and was most recently his chief of staff in the DC office. For the full transcript of this conversation, go to http://www.statecraft.pubwww.statecraft.pub [http://www.statecraft.pub]. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub [https://www.statecraft.pub?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

How to Rewire City Hall

James Anderson [https://www.bloomberg.org/team/james-anderson/] leads the Government Innovation Program [https://www.bloomberg.org/government-innovation/] at Bloomberg Philanthropies [https://www.bloomberg.org/], the umbrella for the charitable giving of billionaire and former three-term New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bloomberg]. He was Mayor Bloomberg’s communications director, leading on the design of NYC Service [https://www.nycservice.org/?cid=nycgo_nycvolunteerism_sem_google_=new%20york%20city%20volunteer%20work] and on public engagement for a number of Bloomberg reforms. James has paid more attention than almost anyone to how cities work, and how they learn from each other. But is the Bloomberg model for making cities better “technocratic”? What can it do, and what can’t it do? And should mayors be “innovative”? Or are the best practices, at the end of the day, pretty straightforward? We get into these questions and more. Read this conversation transcript at www.statecraft.pub [http://www.statecraft.pub]. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.statecraft.pub [https://www.statecraft.pub?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]