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This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined by Lawfare Executive Editor Natalie Orpett to go over the week\u2019s big national security news, including:

• \u201cDoes NSM Stand for No Such Memo?\u201d Last week, in a long-awaited report required by National Security Memorandum 20 that President Biden issued earlier this year, the Biden administration concluded that there were credible reasons to believe that Israel may well have violated international law and obstructed U.S.-backed humanitarian flows in its conduct of the war in Gaza. But it still declined to find Israeli assurances to the contrary lacking in credibility enough to interrupt U.S. security assistance. What does this tell us about the state of U.S. support for Israel\u2014especially as Israeli forces appear increasingly set to pursue an offensive on Rafah that Biden has openly opposed?
• \u201cWhat to Expect When You\u2019re Not Expecting.\u201d A sharp global decline in birth rates\u2014often below replacement levels, especially (but not exclusively) in highly developed countries\u2014has some academics and policymakers panicking about everything from the global balance of power to the future of social support systems. But are these concerns misplaced? And how (if at all) should we be thinking about the relationship between national security and family planning?
• \u201cAzerbaiSCAM.\u201d The Justice Department has indicted a second Democratic legislator\u2014Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas\u2014for working as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, this time that of Azerbaijan, even as a federal court in New York seats a jury for the prosecution of Sen. Bob Menendez for allegedly doing the same on behalf of Egypt and Qatar. Is this reflective of a broader problematic trend? And what should policymakers be doing about it?

For object lessons, Alan lamented the passing of great Canadian Alice Munro. Quinta celebrated the semi-resolution of a long-running mystery involving Prague. Scott renewed his call for people to grill more pizza this summer and shared some tips before handing the mic to producer Noam, who shared that he\u2019s performing at the DC Improv on May 23. And Natalie reminisced fondly (?) on her time living in New York. 

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