This is Bombshow, a podcast from War on the Rocks.

We're here to discuss military strategy, White House mayhem, and the best cocktails known to woman.

I'm Erin Simpson.

I'm Rada Aingar.

And I'm Lauren DeYoung Young-Sholman.

We're all here for your entertainment and national security needs. So this is the first

episode of Bombshell. Welcome, a spinoff podcast from War on the Rocks. And what we thought we

do today is first to introduce ourselves and then dive into some of the big questions around national security

and foreign policy in Washington, D.C. during the Trump transition. So if I could have Rada start,

introduce yourself. I'm Rada Aingar. I am currently a senior economist at Rand. I started life as an

academic economist. We're sorry about that.

I know.

Well, we all have our crust of bear.

Working at the London School of Economics, I actually met Aaron Simpson when I did a round in Afghanistan working at an advisory and assistance team there doing measurement and

evaluation for General McChrystal and then General Petraeus.

I came to Washington, D.C., worked at the Department of Defense in the Special Operations Office,

then went to the National Security Council, worked there on personnel readiness issues, went to the

Department of Energy, and now I'm out of the government and back at Rand watching things

from the outside.

Excellent. Lauren, welcome. Thanks. I'm Lauren. I am a senior fellow at the Center for

a New American Security. I have been part of the D.C. foreign policy blob inside of the government

and outside for the last 10 years or so, starting at life as a presidential management fellow,

...