Five Questions with Jake Sullivan and Jon Finer

Co-hosts of the weekly national security podcast, The Long Game

Jake Sullivan was President Biden’s national security advisor. Before that, President Obama’s policy director and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff. Jon Finer was the deputy national security advisor in the Biden administration, and before that, the chief of staff and director of policy planning for Secretary of State John Kerry. He was also a foreign and national correspondent at The Washington Post.

Jake and Jon met while playing football at Oxford. Now they have a podcast together, The Long Game Podcast. In January, as they kicked it off, they joined us to discuss Venezuela. Tonight, they’re back as our guests for Five Questions at one of the most fraught moments in American history.

Jake and Jon sat in on President Biden’s classified Presidential Daily Brief every morning. Their job was to translate raw intelligence into policy advice. Now, they’re doing that for us, pulling back the curtain on how power really works. If you’re looking for help making sense of national security stories as they unfold, this is the podcast you’ll want to listen to. I’m delighted to have them as our guests tonight as we process the news that Trump is substituting election fraud conspiracist and SDNY U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton as his Director of National Intelligence (DNI) nominee after Bill Pulte got resoundingly thrashed by commentators, including here at Civil Discourse, for his lack of any experience whatsoever.

Jake (back row, second from the right) & Jon (front left) when they met at Oxford.

“Five Questions” is a periodic feature for paid subscribers, my way of thanking those who are able to support this work so that I can devote the necessary time and resources to it. Whether you’re a paid subscriber or not, I’m happy to have you here. I appreciate everyone who reads the newsletter and works to stay informed in this pivotal moment. Free subscriptions, with access to all of the other nightly posts, will always be available, so anyone can subscribe.