The Just Security Podcast

Co-Hosts Tess Bridgeman and Rachel Goldbrenner are joined by Rebecca Ingber and Brian Finucane to examine the escalating U.S. campaign of killings of suspected drug traffickers at sea under “Operation Southern Spear” following the January 2026 capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The conversation explores the U.S. military operations in Venezuela and the intensifying campaign of lethal strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, unpacks the Trump administration’s legal justifications, and looks at potential avenues for accountability. This installment is part five of the “Murder on the High Seas” series, produced in collaboration with the Reiss Center on Law and Security.
Show Note: 
Just Security’s Collection: U.S. Lethal Strikes on Suspected Drug Traffickers, Operation Southern Spear, Operation Absolute Resolve   
Jeremy Chin, Margaret Lin, Aidan Arasasingham, and Marie Miller, Timeline of Vessel Strikes and Related Actions (Nov. 21, 2025, updated regularly)   
Rebecca Ingber, The Trump Administration’s Theory of Constitutional War Powers: “The President Could Decide (March 2, 2026)  
Edward Swaine, Can the U.S. Government Be Sued for Wrongful Death in a Caribbean Boat Strike? (Jan. 29, 2026)
Tess Bridgeman and Brian Finucane, War Powers, Venezuela, Drug Boats, and Congress (Jan. 12, 2026) 
Tess Bridgeman, Michael Schmitt, and Ryan Goodman, Expert Q&A on U.S. Military Action in Venezuela and Boat Strikes (Jan. 6, 2026)
Michael Schmitt, Marko Milanovic, The International Law Obligation to Investigate the Boat Strikes (Dec. 15, 2025)
Mark Nevitt, The Law on Targeting Shipwrecked Drug Traffickers: Expert Backgrounder (Dec. 11, 2025)
Previously on “Murder on the High Seas”
Tess Bridgeman, Rachel Goldbrenner, Rebecca Ingber, and Brian Finucane, The Just Security Podcast: Murder on the High Seas Part IV (Dec. 2, 2025)
Tess Bridgeman, Brian Finucane, and Rebecca Ingber, The Just Security Podcast: Murder on the High Seas Part III  (Oct. 21, 2025, also available on YouTube)
Tess Bridgeman, Brian Finucane, Rachel Goldbrenner, and Rebecca Ingber, The Just Security Podcast: Murder on the High Seas Part II — What We Know about U.S. Vessel Strikes One Month In (Oct. 7, 2025)
Tess Bridgeman, Brian Finucane, and Rebecca Ingber, The Just Security Podcast: Murder on the High Seas? What You Need to Know about the U.S. Strike on the Caribbean Vessel (Sept. 9, 2025, also available on YouTube)

Should the FBI be allowed to access the content of Americans’ communications–emails, texts and phone calls–without obtaining a judicial warrant? That’s a key question facing Congress, with a looming deadline of April 30th. The question is wrapped up in the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Section 702, which will sunset at the end of this month.
I had the opportunity to interview Andrew Weissmann, who served as FBI General Counsel in addition to other positions in the Department of Justice. Below are three highlights from our conversation. Our conversation is available as a video on this page as well as YouTube and soon as a podcast.]
A bit of background before the excerpts below: Section 702 allows U.S. intelligence agencies to collect the email, text, and phone conversations of foreign nationals located in foreign countries. As a byproduct, Americans’ communications are caught in the surveillance net as well. Subject to limitations that Congress introduced in 2024, the FBI can dip into that vast database to look for communications of Americans – without a warrant and without probable cause of wrongdoing.

Congress is presented with a three-prong fork in the road: reauthorize the tool as is, reform it with new warrant requirements, or let it sunset entirely. (For competing views on this topic at Just Security, see analysis by George Croner and by Elizabeth Goitein and Hannah James.)

Hungary’s April 12 parliamentary election brought a major political shift. After 16 years in power, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party lost to opposition leader Peter Magyar, whose coalition now holds a strong parliamentary majority. The result marks a new chapter in Hungary’s politics after years of debate about democratic accountability, media independence, and relations within the European Union.
In this episode, Szuzanna Vegh joins Viola Gienger to explore how the opposition achieved its win, what priorities Magyar may set for his government, and how Hungary’s domestic and foreign policies could evolve.
Show Note:
Zsuzsanna Vegh’s Just Security article before the election, “Hungary’s Election Could End Orbán’s Rule — But Will It End His Power?” April 7, 2026.
Just Security’s archive of articles related to Hungary.
Just Security’s archives on Europe, democracy, and authoritarianism.

The North African country of Sudan marks a grim anniversary this week: the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been fighting a civil war for three years, creating the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. About 14 million people have been forced to flee the fighting, often multiple times, and 4.4 million have fled to other countries, mostly to Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt, but also some to Europe. Today, one in four Sudanese is displaced. The U.N.’s Food and Agricultural Organization says 21 million Sudanese are facing acute food insecurity, including 6.3 million in the most dire state of food emergency.
Quscondy Abdulshafi joins host Viola Gienger to discuss how Sudan got to this point, how the international community has responded, and where to go next. 
Show Notes:
Quscondy Abdulshafi's April 2025 article for Just Security, "Two Years of War in Sudan: From Revolution to Ruin and the Fight to Rise Again."
Rachel George’s recent article for Just Security, “Amid Shaky Cea sefire, War in Iran Is Starving Sudan.”
Just Security Podcast episode “Assessing the Origins, Dynamics, and Future of Conflict in Sudan” with Executive Editor Matiangai Sirleaf, and three experts, Laura Nyantung Beny, Nisrin Elamin, Hamid Khalafallah, on Oct. 11, 2024.  
Just Security’s Sudan Archive

Trump's threats to forcibly take control of Greenland brought to the headlines the alarming notion of the United States seeking new territories, from a European ally. But the United States already faces pressing issues of territorial control and governance. In this podcast, we share the perspectives of two leaders who work on democracy, equity, and self-determination issues in current U.S. territories. Why does the United States hold territories? How are they governed? And what does the contrast between Denmark’s relationship with Greenland and Washington’s treatment of its territories tell us about how these relationships might change? 
In this episode of the Just Security Podcast, Just Security co-editor-in-chief Tess Bridgeman discusses these questions and more with Neil Weare and Adi Martínez-Román. Neil and Adi are both lawyers, and are Co-Directors of Right to Democracy, an organization that works to advance democracy, equity, and self-determination in U.S. territories.  
Show Note:  
Neil Weare and Adi Martinez-Roman, How Greenland's Relationship with Denmark Exposes the Shortcomings of Being a “U.S. Territory” (Feb. 3, 2026)
Collection: U.S., Greenland, and NATO 
Watch this episode on YouTube.