Richard Clarke: Democracy Is On the Ballot

The countdown to Midterms is on. With less than three weeks to go, many questions remain and the stakes couldn’t be higher. How high? According to my guest today, “the nature of our democracy is on the ballot.” I’m not sure I disagree.

You may remember Richard Clarke for his 30 years in the U.S government, including 10 continuous years as a White House official, serving three consecutive presidents as Special Assistant to the President for Global Affairs, Special Adviser to the President for Cyberspace, and National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism.

His first book, "Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror," was a New York Times #1 bestseller, and he has stood on the front lines warning us about the risks and realities of cyber attacks.

Now he’s got a new outlet – a podcast (c’mon, who doesn’t have a podcast these days?) called Future State. The 10 episode run started last month and ends the day before the Midterms. Once you’re done listening to all of my podcasts, I really recommend listening to Clarke’s. I’m just kidding of course. You don’t have to listen to all of my conversations first. Just most of them.

Clarke and I discussed the important news of the day – Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, and of course, cyber.