Support for NPR and the following message come from the estate of Joan B. Kroc, whose bequest

serves as an enduring investment in the future of public radio and seeks to help NPR produce programming

that meets the highest standards of public service in journalism and cultural expression.

It's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Diba Shiveram. I cover the White House. Here with a

special bonus episode for you, the first episode of NPR's newest podcast, sources and methods,

where NPR's team covering the military, state department, and intelligence agencies break down the

biggest national security news of the week.

It's a lot like our show, which is why we think you'll like it. And it's hosted by NPR's Mary Louise Kelly,

a legend on the Natsack beat, who knows that world inside and out. New episodes drop every Thursday,

and you can follow the show wherever you listen to this one. We're off on Monday for the Labor Day weekend, but back in your feed with a new episode,

as usual, on Tuesday.

Until then, thanks for checking out sources and methods, the new national security podcast from NPR.

Mass government security officials, detaining people in vans, no immediate form of ID, no idea where the detainees are headed.

And yet life goes on.

It does look like something out of Minsk or Moscow.

And what's strange is the normalcy of it all.

A spy chief fired.

A former national security advisor targeted by the FBI, and the National Guard

on the streets in D.C. As President Trump pushes the limits of his power at home, he has nothing

to show for his efforts abroad to end the war in Ukraine. At least, not yet. This is sources

and methods from NPR.

I'm Mary Louise Kelly.

...