Geneva Centre for Security Policy

Previously he served as Chief of Analytics Units at the CIA, covering portions of the Near East, the Persian Gulf and South Asia.

Paul Piller is currently a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University and an associate fellow with the Geneva Center for Security Policy and a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

His latest book is Beyond the Water's Edge, How Partisanship Corrupts US Foreign Policy, and he has an article at Responsible Statecraft, The Houthis Could Tip the Iran War in Tehran's Favour.

Then finally, we'll examine the settlement with Paramount Skydance to merge with Warner Brothers Discovery, announced today by California's Attorney General Rob Bonta, who clearly does not like the deal, but was pressured by Governor Newsom, Javier Becerra, and L.A. Mayor Bass to cave under the Ellison's blackmail that entertainment jobs would be moved to Texas and Tennessee.

I'm Ian Masters, and this is Background Briefing, available 24-7 at backgroundbriefing.org. And joining us now is Paul Pillar, who served for 30 years as an analyst at the CIA, in which his last position was National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia.

Previously, he served as Chief of the Analytics Units at the CIA, covering portions of the Near East, the Persian Gulf, and South Asia.

And Paul Pillar is currently a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University and and an associate fellow at the Geneva Center for Security Policy, and a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute of Responsible Statecraft.

His latest book is Beyond the Water's Edge, How Partisanship Corrupts U.S. Foreign Policy, and he has an article at Responsible Statecraft, The Hoodies Could Tip the Iran War in Tehran's Favor.

We have joining us from Tehran in Iran, Ali Ahmadi.

He's an executive fellow at the Geneva Center for Security Policy.

He specializes in economic statecraft.

Ian Ralby is in Baltimore, Maryland.