Try royal opera house stream this Christmas for just one pound and watch enchanting productions including the nutcracker

enjoy unlimited access to over 80 extraordinary ballets, operas and exclusive behind-the-scenes features.

Sign up for Royal Opera House Stream now with your first month for just one pound.

For details, visit R.OH.org. UK forward slash offer.

One pound for the first month after 14 free days,

and 999 a month thereafter.

Cancel any time, security and Foreign Policy.

I'm Shane Harris, your host.

And if you're one of the lucky, the elite few joining me now, you are listening to the first Rational Security podcast. Our inaugural episode,

you are in on the ground floor, or hopefully you're hearing this weeks from now after Rational

Security has taken off and you are binge listening to catch up with all of your

friends so that you can be cool and informed.

We've got a great show for you today, but first the basics.

What is a rational security and who am I? Well as I said at the top I'm

Shane Harris. I'm a journalist in Washington DC. I've written two books on

national security including one called The Watchers, The Rise of America's Surveillance

State, and most recently at war, the rise of the military internet complex. I'm big into the rise of

things apparently. I'm currently a senior correspondent at the Daily Beast where I cover the US

intelligence community and assorted spooky topics and I am also a fellow at New

America but more importantly I am one- third of this Mary rational bunch.

I'm joined today, as I will be every week by my friends Tamara Coffman

Wittis, who is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the

...