This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were reunited to hash through the week's national security news, including: 

• “A Thousand and One Arabian Flights.” President Biden is conducting his first official visit to the Middle East this week with the stated goal of building ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, beginning with more direct airline routes. Why this sudden high-profile engagement and what does Biden hope it will yield?
• “Loose Bannon.” Trump ally Steve Bannon has signaled that he may be willing to speak to the Jan. 6th committee after all, just as his contempt trial for refusing to do so gets under way and a disagreement between the former president’s lawyers and his own regarding whether he can invoke executive privilege goes public. What does this all mean for his legal future?

• “Crossing the International Hate Line.” FBI Director Chris Wray and his U.K. counterpart recently made a joint statement on the growing international ties between violent right-wing nationalist movements in various Western countries. What could this mean for counterterrorism strategy moving forward?

For object lessons, Alan recommended his latest favorite show about an old spy, "The Old Man." Quinta brought a blast from the past with a tech review by Mark Twain, who gave The Atlantic an account of his first telephonic conversation. And Scott recommended a recent piece in The Atavist on young Vladimir Putin's ties to neo-Nazi groups while handling spies for the USSR. 

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