Things That Go Boom

Why do local governments keep handing out tax breaks to defense contractors… even when the promised jobs don’t materialize? In the first episode of our new season, reporter Taylor Barnes takes us deep into the Utah desert, where Northrop Grumman is building the next generation of intercontinental ballistic missiles with the help of massive state subsidies. But when she asked how many jobs those subsidies were supposed to c...

Across the country — from DC to Los Angeles to Chicago — the military is more visible in daily life than it’s been in years. But behind the boots on the ground lies a much bigger system. One that puts grenade launchers in the hands of police, surveils our every step, and ships weapons overseas. And it's grown bigger and more powerful than ever before. 

This season on Things That Go Boom, we trace the reach of the military-i...

Mahmoud Khalil became the face of Palestinian rights at Columbia University when the Syrian-born refugee refused to wear a mask and negotiated on behalf of the encampment with the University administration. Now the US wants to deport him using a deep-cut statute in the immigration act that gives the Secretary of State sweeping powers to decide who could have “adverse” foreign policy impacts on the United States. How did we...

If you live in the US, buying a gun can be as easy as going to Walmart. In countries with strict gun laws, such as most of Europe or Australia, you need a little more ingenuity. Although not that much more: since March of 2020, anyone with access to a cheap second-hand 3D printer and experience putting IKEA furniture together can do it. Does that mean the rest of us should start printing bunkers, presto? Or are we worried ...

Nearly everyone has played dress up at some point in their lives, whether putting on mom or dad’s clothes as kids, for Halloween, as their favorite Marvel character at ComicCon… or even, maybe, as a Civil War soldier.

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where historians say Civil War casualties were highest, attracts many reenactors. They carry their muskets, pull on their blue britches, and revel in the past. But today that hobby ha...

Initially assigned to $100 million bank failure investigations, Mike German’s FBI career took a pivotal turn in 1992, when he went undercover to infiltrate neo-Nazi groups in LA. The years that followed gave him a front-row seat to the Justice System’s handling of domestic terrorism from the 1990s to his departure in 2004.

When Mike left the FBI, it was after reporting deficiencies in the bureau’s counterterrorism operation...

True to his promise, on the first day of Donald Trump’s second term as president, he pardoned more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the attack at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — an event many observers accuse him of instigating. He also commuted the sentences of the six organizers of the riot, those convicted of the most serious crimes. 

What does these paramilitaries’ return to public life mean for the rest of us...

Amy Cooter has been studying US militias since 2008 when, as a graduate student in Michigan, she attended a public meeting of a group that was thought to be a cover for an underground neo-Nazi movement.

As it turned out, that assumption was wrong. 

It was then that Amy realized this militia movement she encountered was worthy of study all on its own. And at the time, most academics weren't studying it, partly because they be...

In 1970, Canada’s streets were full of troops and the country was on edge. Quebec cabinet minister Pierre Laporte had been captured by a militant French separatist group, the FLQ, and the Canadian government worried thousands of FLQ sympathizers could be ready to unleash chaos in Quebec. As it turned out, the group that caused so much fear throughout the 1960s was never more than a few dozen individuals. 

This season on Thi...

When former US Navy Intelligence Officer Andrew McCormick spent the holiday season in Kandahar in 2013, attempts at holiday cheer were everywhere. But few were more out-of-touch than the generic care packages sent from civilians who knew nothing about him — or the war he was fighting. 

Part of our series of monologues in partnership with The War Horse. 

Additional Resources

Care Packages a Powerful Symbol of the Military-Civi...

One night In 1968, Ed Meagher was finishing his last shift at Clark Airways, which included authenticating and repeating messages for the nuclear-armed B-52 fleet in Southeast Asia. 

Then his phone lines started dinging, with signal after signal — and he couldn’t figure out why none were a match. 

This monologue is the second in our series with The War Horse. 

Additional Resources

We Were at DefCon 2 — One Step From Nuclear Wa...

This month on Things That Go Boom, we’re passing the mic to three veterans to share their memories in their words. 

In this first entry: When paratrooper Bill Glose came home from the Gulf War after leading his platoon, silence was his fortress. That all changed when a friend suggested he start writing poetry. 

The story is part of a new partnership with the news site The War Horse. The site publishes real stories from veter...

After a season spent examining feminist foreign policies around the world, we turn our attention back to the US. Will the US adopt a feminist foreign policy? And what would that mean? 

In this episode, three remarkable activists, organizers, and academics share their perspectives on where we are in the process, what the obstacles are, and what gives them hope for the future.

Listen and subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Stitch...

Political Scientist Cynthia Enloe is, arguably, the reason we’re all here. She was one of the first to explore gender in international relations, and the first to ask, “Where are the women?”

But what she meant when she asked that question? It’s been lost in a sea of nuances around feminism and feminist foreign policy. Leading to misunderstandings like so many we’ve seen this season on Things That Go Boom. 

Misunderstandings ...

As civilian casualties mount in Gaza and many more conflicts around the world kill and displace vulnerable people, we ask, "What can feminist foreign policy do about war crimes?"

The international community doesn’t have a great track record of timely intervention to stop atrocities. But one-sided military intervention can also be a recipe for disaster. 

In this episode, we hear from activists in Rwanda and Afghanistan about ...

When news of a new disaster seems to roll in every day… it can feel like there’s little hope.

But what if we had… another option? Not just to reverse course on climate change, but to set the course for a better future.

Carol Cohn and Claire Duncanson think we do.

GUESTS: Carol Cohn, University of Massachusetts, Boston; Claire Duncanson, University of Edinburgh

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

Sex and Death in the Rational World ...

When does something as deeply personal as abortion become a matter of foreign policy?

Maybe when it becomes a stand-in for national values and belief systems. Or maybe when it becomes a clever wedge to divide societies.

Today, Polish abortion activists are on the cusp of a huge change. After 30 years of some of the strictest abortion laws in the country, it looks like some liberalization could be on the way.

But it wasn...

Mexico's gotten a lot of praise for its feminist foreign policy — despite ongoing femicide in the country. But Mexican women are doing more than just pointing out the hypocrisy. They're using these new foreign policy tools to fight back at home in the war against their own bodies.

On this episode, we travel to Mexico to talk with, and march alongside, some of the women fighting for change.

GUESTS: Daniela Garcia Philipso...