The Steady State Sentinel

A former CIA analyst and NSC director on the weaponization of the DNI, the decapitation of the NSC, and why dissent is no longer tolerated.
Host Bree Fram, a retired Space Force colonel, sits down with Julia Curlee, a former CIA analyst with 25 years of experience who served as an National Security Council (NSC) director in the Biden and second Trump White Houses and as a presidential daily intelligence briefer to Vice President Pence.
Curlee explains how intelligence was designed to work — raw reports transformed into context-rich analysis to help policymakers make informed decisions — and how that system has been systematically dismantled. She describes the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) as a "loaded gun waiting on the table" that has been weaponized under Tulsi Gabbard and Bill Pulte, and warns that the NSC's coordination function has been "decapitated," leading to catastrophic planning failures in the run-up to the Iran war.
She reveals how the head of the National Intelligence CounciL (NIC) was fired for delivering an assessment that didn't align with Stephen Miller's desired narrative, and how this has taught analysts that "any form of dissent" will be held against them. She closes with a sobering assessment: the Iran war is a strategic blunder that rivals Iraq, the U.S. has no good way out, and it will take decades to rebuild the trust that has been destroyed with allies and partners.
Guest info: Julia Curlee is a former CIA analyst with 25 years of experience in national security. She served as an NSC Director in the Biden and second Trump White Houses and as a presidential daily intelligence briefer to the Vice President. She completed multiple tours in the Middle East and South Asia and served in the CIA's China Mission Center. She holds master's degrees from the National War College and American University and is currently a public service fellow at Lawfare.
Episode Transcript

A 22-year veteran of the CIA and Iran specialist on why the regime survives, the MOU disaster, the lessons of Iraq, and the history and humanity of Iranians.
Host Jim Lawler sits down with his former CIA colleague Mark Fowler, a decorated case officer and one of the most experienced Iran operations officers of his generation. Fowler explains what makes Iran such a uniquely demanding target — not because Iranians are hard to recruit, but because the U.S. has no presence inside the country.
He shares why the regime has survived for 45 years: improving education and infrastructure, using the internet as a safety valve, and brutally crushing protest leadership. He reflects on the lessons of the Iraq Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) failure, warning against mirror imaging. He offers a devastating critique of the Iran Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), calling it a "disaster" that gave Iran everything and "guarantees we'll be back."
He discusses the complex internal rivalries between the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC,) the danger of hitting civilian targets, and why any resolution will require the administration to "drink the poison" of a bad deal. He closes with what Americans get wrong about Iran: that most Iranians simply want to live their lives, raise their families, and see their country live up to its potential.
Mark Fowler is a decorated CIA case officer who served the Agency for 22 years, including as the number- two position on Iran operations. He is a Farsi-speaking Middle East specialist and a veteran of the U.S. war on terror. He served as the Directorate of Operations senior representative to the WMD commission following the Iraq WMD failure. He is the author of the soon-to-be published novel A Prince of Mirrors: A CIA Odyssey of Trust and Betrayal, and writes a Substack column.
Episode Transcript

A former acting Under Secretary for Nuclear Security on the damage being done to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, and why he "never bets against America."
Host Jim Lawler sits down with his former CIA colleague Bruce Held, who served as Chief of Station on three continents, Special Assistant to two National Security Council principals, Director of DOE's Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, and ultimately acting Under Secretary for Nuclear Security.
Held describes DOE’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence unique mission — leveraging the thousands of top-secret cleared scientists at the national labs to understand foreign nuclear programs and prevent technological surprise. Held describes the brutal budget battles with the Pentagon over funding America's neglected nuclear deterrent, and the ultimate resolution in which participants prioritized national security above parochial interests.
He warns that the current administration's cuts and restructuring at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and DOE will take a decade to rebuild, creating a dangerous window of vulnerability. He discusses the counterintelligence threat from Russia and China, the importance of proactive engagement over bureaucratic secrecy, and why the American people should be asking hard questions about DOGE's access to personnel data.
Guest info: Bruce Held is a former Senior CIA clandestine Case Officer who served as Chief of Stationon three continents and special assistant to two National Security Council principals. He was Director of DOE's Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence and later served as acting Under Secretary for Nuclear Security at the National Nuclear Security Administration. He is the author of several books on espionage history, including A Spy's Guide to Santa Fe and Albuquerque and The Spy's Guide to the Kennedy Assassination, as well as a Substack column, The Spy's Guide to American History. He also writes spy fiction, including The Intimate Spy.
Episode Transcript

A retired Air Force lieutenant colonel on height requirements that excluded 44% of women, the first maternity flight suit, and why "truth isn't afraid of transparency."
In her debut as a co-host of the Steady State Sentinel, retired Space Force Colonel Bree Fram joins Lauren Anderson to interview retired Lieutenant Colonel Jessica Ruttenber, a senior pilot with over 3,000 flight hours.
Their conversation explores the effects on combat readiness of hidden barriers, the importance of data over anecdotes, the chilling effect of censorship and erasure of military history (including the Tuskegee Airmen and The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) and why veterans have a duty to speak out.
Lt. Col. Ruttenber shares her journey from being told she was "too short" to fly to becoming a driving force behind the Department of Defense's first maternity flight suit and the Equality for Military Mothers Amendment. She reveals how an outdated 1960s anthropometric study based on the "average male" excluded 44% of women from aviation — and 74% of Black women. She explains how changing a single policy gave the Air Force "30 instant pilots" worth of man-hours.
She closes with a powerful message: sometimes "surviving is the ultimate rebellion" when the system wasn't designed for you.
Episode Transcript

25-year CIA case officer and author Jim Lawler on the ten qualities of a top recruiter, the A.Q. Khan takedown, the Hanssen case, and why speaking truth to power matters more than ever.
In this episode, host Lauren Anderson turns the tables on co-host Jim Lawler, a 25-year veteran of the CIA's clandestine service and the officer who led the takedown of the A.Q. Khan nuclear smuggling network, an operation that former deputy CIA director John McLaughlin called "the closest thing to a perfect intelligence operation."
Lawler shares how a chance interview with a CIA recruiter in 1976 led him to a career he loved. He reveals the qualities of a top recruiter — curiosity, listening, extreme empathy, patience, persistence, creativity, ruthlessness, and even what he calls "the metaphysics" — and tells the story of his first recruitment: a deputy chief of mission who initially rejected him, then came back days later to say yes and provided stack of sensitive information.
Lawler reflects on the Robert Hanssen case (which he calls "a sacred vow" broken), the erosion of trust inside intelligence agencies under the current administration, and why he still encourages young people to serve.
Guest info: Jim Lawler served for over 25 years as a case officer with the CIA, including as a member of the Senior Intelligence Service. He led the team that dismantled the A.Q. Khan nuclear smuggling network — the world's largest and most dangerous black market for nuclear weapons technology. Former deputy CIA director John McLaughlin called this operation "the closest thing I have ever seen to a perfect intelligence operation." Since retiring, Lawler has taught at CIA, FBI, and DIA, and is the author of three spy novels: Living Lies, In the Twinkling of an Eye, and The Traitor's Tale.
Episode Transcript