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There was a time when the nuclear powers did more than posture. During the era of arms control, the White House, Kremlin, and State Department built frameworks to slow the arms race and reduce the chance of catastrophe. The process was imperfect and often fragile. In this episode, Jane Perlez interviews New START Treaty chief negotiator Rose Gottemoeller. Gottemoeller takes us behind the scenes to dissect how a nuclear treaty comes together: the negotiations, the personalities, the yelling from the White House, and the U.S.-Russian nuclear facility ground inspections spelled out in painstaking detail. “Both sides really try to make sure that the other side doesn't see what they're not supposed to see,” Gottemoeller tells us. Now, as the last nuclear treaties expire, we must ask: is there still a path forward on arms control?  Reading Recommendations: Negotiating the New START Treaty by Rose Gottemoeller: The American negotiator for the last arms control treaty tells her story. Insider, juicy stuff.  Detente and Confrontation by Raymond Garthoff: Published in 1985, highly regarded account of the and fall of detente in the 1970s and early 80s. Face-Off is produced and reported by Jane Perlez. Our production team is Nina Porzucki, Louise Morris, and Frank Zhou. Sound design and mixing by John Myers and Rowhome Productions. This project is made possible by the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Managing the Atom Project. Our special guest is Professor Matthew Bunn, Faculty Chair of the Managing the Atom Project (@matthew-bunn.bsky.social). Face Off is produced in partnership with Rowhome Productions. Rowhome's Creative Director is Alex Lewis. John Myers is Rowhome's Executive Producer. Episode Art Image Credit: AP Photo/JH. Image Caption: A young donor receives a button from Dr. Louise Reiss after giving his baby teeth to the strontium research project in St. Louis, Missouri on Jan. 15, 1962. The button announces: “I Gave My Tooth to Science.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jane Perlez reports on the thirteen most dangerous days in human history, when the world came closer to nuclear annihilation than ever before or since: the Cuban Missile Crisis. In October 1962, a Soviet submarine trapped under the Atlantic with a nuclear-tipped torpedo faced orders so ambiguous they could spell the end of civilization. Above the surface, American President John F. Kennedy learned of Soviet missiles in Cuba and had to decide: invade, bomb, or negotiate? With historian Fredrik Logevall, Pulitzer Prize winner and foremost biographer of President Kennedy, Perlez explores how a young president and a Soviet leader, both haunted by war, chose empathy over escalation. Logevall explains how Kennedy's willingness to see through Khrushchev's eyes—to understand his rival's motives—became key to resolution. The secret agreement to  withdraw Soviet missiles from Cuba for American missiles from Turkey allowed both sides to claim victory and step back from the abyss. But the crisis revealed dangers that still haunt us: the fragility of communication, the weight of incomplete information, and how quickly human judgment can fail under pressure. Sixty-four years later, as nuclear weapons proliferate and leaders lose touch with the visceral fear that defined 1962, the question remains: would we be as lucky next time? Reading Recommendations: Abyss by Max Hastings. This is the latest on the Cuban Missile Crisis by one of the finest contemporary historians.  The Underwater Cuban Missile Crisis at 60 by the National Security Archive. This is nail-biting original research by the Washington-based National Security Archive on what happened aboard the Soviet submarine carrying a nuclear-tipped torpedo at the height of the crisis. Face-Off is produced and reported by Jane Perlez. Our production team is Nina Porzucki, Louise Morris, and Frank Zhou. Sound design and mixing by John Myers and Rowhome Productions. This project is made possible by the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Managing the Atom Project. Our special guest is Professor Matthew Bunn, Faculty Chair of the Managing the Atom Project (@matthew-bunn.bsky.social). Face Off is produced in partnership with Rowhome Productions. Rowhome's Creative Director is Alex Lewis. John Myers is Rowhome's Executive Producer. Episode Art Image Credit: Associated Press Photo. Image Caption: President John F. Kennedy makes a national television speech October 22, 1962, from Washington, announcing a naval blockade of Cuba until Soviet missiles are removed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The nuclear age began in fear, secrecy, and scientific ambition. The bomb created in a moment of wartime urgency became the foundation of a new global order defined by terror and deterrence. The story is familiar, but its implications have never left us. In episode two of the series, Jane Perlez interviews nuclear historian Alex Wellerstein about the origins of the bomb and the Americans’ race to build a weapon before Hitler. Wellerstein explains how the White House first learned about a terrifying source of energy and the top-secret decision-making that culminated in Los Alamos and the creation of the first atom bomb used on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945.   Jane Perlez also travels to Hiroshima with Associate Producer Frank Zhou to interview an atomic bomb survivor and retrace her steps through the decimated city in the hours after the blast. Decades later, we must ask: will we let it happen again? Reading Recommendations: Hiroshima by John Hersey. The gruesome, influential reportage by the famed New Yorker writer about Hiroshima eight months after the bombing.  Fallout by Lesley M.M. Blume. The riveting behind-the-scenes story of how John Hersey got his Hiroshima story.  90 Seconds to Midnight by Charlotte Decroes Jacobs. A biography of Setsuko Nakamura Thurlow, a schoolgirl who survived Hiroshima.  The Most Awful Responsibility: Truman and the Secret Struggle for Control of the Atomic Age by Alex Wellerstein. When he gave the go-ahead to bomb, Truman thought Hiroshima was mainly a military base. He was mistaken. Face-Off is produced and reported by Jane Perlez. Our production team is Nina Porzucki, Louise Morris, and Frank Zhou. Sound design and mixing by John Myers and Rowhome Productions. This project is made possible by the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Managing the Atom Project. Our special guest is Professor Matthew Bunn, Faculty Chair of the Managing the Atom Project (@matthew-bunn.bsky.social). Face Off is produced in partnership with Rowhome Productions. Rowhome's Creative Director is Alex Lewis. John Myers is Rowhome's Executive Producer. Episode Art Image Credit: U.S. Department of Energy (or predecessor organization) employee. Image Caption: Leslie Groves (left), military head of the Manhattan Project, with Professor Robert Oppenheimer (right). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the first time in half a century, the world is drifting into a nuclear era with fewer constraints and more danger. The old arms control architecture is gone. The United States is modernizing its arsenal, Russia is making explicit nuclear threats, and China is expanding rapidly and in secret. Each development is destabilizing on its own. Together, they make a world in which the nuclear threat risks escalating faster than diplomacy can contain it. In episode one of the series, Jane Perlez and  New York Times White House and National Security Correspondent David Sanger lay out the stakes. How did we get to a world with crumbling nuclear guardrails? And what might happen next?  Sanger explains why nuclear weapons are back: how the Biden White House scrambled to respond to Vladimir Putin’s threats to use the nuclear option against Ukraine, what the war in Iran and North Korea’s arsenal signal to nuclear-curious nations waiting in the wings, and whether it is ever possible to wage a “limited nuclear war.” They also discuss how AI and cyberwarfare will transform the future of our arsenals. As nuclear weapons return to the public eye, we must ask: is the world inching toward another nuclear conflict? Reading Recommendations: New Cold Wars by David Sanger on the current global tensions. At The Brink by William Hennigan. A brilliant series of articles by the New York Times opinion writer on the state of nuclear weapons.  Nukesletter, an email newsletter written by noted international expert on nuclear weapons, Ankit Panda. Subscribe here to receive future issues. Face-Off is produced and reported by Jane Perlez. Our production team is Nina Porzucki, Louise Morris, and Frank Zhou. Sound design and mixing by John Myers and Rowhome Productions. This project is made possible by the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Managing the Atom Project. Our special guest is Professor Matthew Bunn, Faculty Chair of the Managing the Atom Project (@matthew-bunn.bsky.social). Face-Off is produced in partnership with Rowhome Productions. Rowhome's Creative Director is Alex Lewis. John Myers is Rowhome's Executive Producer. Episode Art Image Credit: U.S. Department of Energy. Image Caption: Overseas Operation Ivy, at a height of approximately 12,000 feet, 50 miles from the detonation site. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The nuclear age began in secrecy and scientific ambition. The story is familiar, but its implications have never left us. Face-Off: Nuclear Anarchy is an 8-part series tracing the arc of nuclear danger. A bomb created in a moment of wartime urgency became the foundation of a global order defined by terror and deterrence. But what happens when that global order breaks down? This season, we take you back inside the Manhattan Project and a decimated Hiroshima in the hours after the blast. We retrace the Cuban Missile Crisis and the abandonment of the New START treaty with a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and the State Department decision-makers in the room. We follow China’s rapid expansion, Russia’s threats, Ukraine’s lost deterrent, and the outliers challenging the world’s nuclear order. In each episode, Pulitzer-winning journalist Jane Perlez interviews leading participants in the nuclear conversation: David Sanger, Tong Zhao, Rose Gottemoeller, Alex Wellerstein and more. Plus, Harvard Kennedy School Professor Matthew Bunn joins for a wrap-up segment to put everything in context. Episodes out every Tuesday in October & November 2026. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. This project is made possible by the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Managing the Atom Project. Our special guest is Professor Matthew Bunn, Faculty Chair of the Managing the Atom Project (@matthew-bunn.bsky.social). Face-Off is produced and reported by Jane Perlez. Our production team is Nina Porzucki, Louise Morris, and Frank Zhou. Sound design and mixing by John Myers. Face Off is produced in partnership with Rowhome Productions. Rowhome’s Creative Director is Alex Lewis. John Myers is Rowhome’s Executive Producer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re back! We’ll be publishing five brand new episodes of Face-Off bi-weekly starting today. In this episode, we welcome back Zhou Bo, a retired colonel in the People’s Liberation Army.  Xi Jinping has unleashed a massive purge of the Chinese army, the biggest since the early days of Communist China. Nearly three dozen senior generals have been demoted or disappeared. Almost all have been accused of corruption. Then this past January the most senior general, General Zhang Youxia, essentially Xi Jinping's number two in the army, disappeared.  No-one outside of China, and not many inside China, seem to know what’s going on. There's a reason the Chinese military is known as a black box.  With Colonel Zhou, Jane discusses everything from Greenland to Taiwan to China’s military strength in the South China Sea.  Guest: Zhou Bo, Retired Senior Colonel in the People’s Liberation Army Book Recommendations: Should The World Fear China by Zhou Bo China’s Quest for Military Supremacy by Joel Wuthnow and Phillip Saunders Face-Off: The U.S. vs. China is produced in partnership with ⁠Rowhome Productions⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jensen Huang built the company that powers the AI revolution—and he's playing both Washington and Beijing. The Taiwan-born Nvidia CEO holds the keys to artificial intelligence. But whose side is he really on? Inside the rise of tech's most important power broker. Guest: Tripp Mickle  New York Times Tech Reporter Book Recommendations  The Thinking Machine: Jensen Huang, Nvidia and the World’s Most Coveted Microchip by Stephen Witt.  After Steve by Tripp Mickle  Face-Off: The U.S. vs. China is produced in partnership with ⁠Rowhome Productions⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Trump trashes American soft power, can China fill the void? A top Chinese academic explains why Beijing struggles to win hearts and minds and why being feared isn't the same as being loved. Plus: How American influencers are going viral in China. Guest:  Da Wei, Professor, Tsinghua University Book Recommendations  Sparks: China’s Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future by Ian Johnson Other Rivers: A Chinese Education by Peter Hessler Face-Off: The U.S. vs. China is produced in partnership with ⁠Rowhome Productions⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

High-seas drama as Chinese warships hunt Filipino fishing boats in their own waters. Beijing is testing America's oldest Pacific ally with dangerous games of maritime chicken. With Philippine politics in flux, can Manila hold the line or will China fracture another US alliance? Guest: Marites Vitug, Filipino Journalist & Author, editor-at-large for Rappler and chair of the Journalism for Nation Building Foundation Reading Recommendations  Rock Solid: How the Philippines Won Its Maritime Case Against China by Marites Vitug The U.S. and China Are One Misstep Away From War by Chris Rosenbach and Chris LiFace-Off: The U.S. vs. China is produced in partnership with ⁠Rowhome Productions⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The strangest geopolitical deal you've never heard of: Australia trades rugby league spots for an agreement not to make an agreement with China. Papua New Guinea's players get to compete Down Under and in return, China gets locked out of a strategic Pacific island. Sports diplomacy at its most serious. Guest: Oliver Nobetau, Papua New Guinea Government Lawyer & Fellow at the Lowy Institute Book Recommendations Lost In Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War 2 by Mitchell Zuckoff If you are looking for other interesting books about China, do check out the China Books Review section of the Asia Society webpage at https://chinabooksreview.com/ Face-Off: The U.S. vs. China is produced in partnership with ⁠Rowhome Productions⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"If I was the U.S., I would be terrified." We report from a 1,500+ robot convention in Beijing, and an American robotics expert who's toured China's factories reveals how China is winning the robot race. From assembly lines to hospital wards, humanoid robots are everywhere—and America is falling behind. Guest: Alberto Moel, Robotics Scientist, Professor of Practice in Finance at the University of Hong Kong Book Recommendations: I, Robot by Isaac Asimov The Fourth Age by Byron Reese Face-Off: The U.S. vs. China is produced in partnership with ⁠Rowhome Productions⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jake Sullivan has sat across from Xi Jinping more times than almost any American official—from Xi's rise in 2013 to their last face-off in Beijing. What's it like negotiating with the world's most powerful dictator? Sullivan reveals Xi's ego, tactics, and how a relationship that started with cautious optimism turned into open hostility. Guest: Jake Sullivan, Former U.S. National Security Adviser for President Biden and the host of The Long Game, a new podcast from Vox Media. Book Recommendations: The Party’s Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping by Joseph Torigian.  Apple in China by Patrick McGee.  Face-Off: The U.S. vs. China is produced in partnership with ⁠Rowhome Productions⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

China is outbuilding America's navy and beating us in hypersonic missiles. Xi has purged corrupt generals to create a military machine loyal only to him. Can China's forces actually win a war? We break down the PLA's transformation from paper tiger to potential superpower. Guest: Zhou Bo, Retired Senior Colonel in the People’s Liberation Army (https://ciss.tsinghua.edu.cn/info/CFExperts/1212) Book Recommendations: Should The World Fear China by Zhou Bo China’s Quest for Military Supremacy by Joel Wuthnow and Phillip Saunders Face-Off: The U.S. vs. China is produced in partnership with Rowhome Productions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

China's youth were supposed to lead the nation to glory. Instead, they're lying flat, embracing "garbage time," and quietly rebelling against a system that promised everything and delivered economic stagnation. In this episode of Face-Off - our first of Season 3 (!) - we get inside the psychology of China's disillusioned generation. Guest: Chang Che, Chinese-American Writer (https://changnche.com/)  Book Recommendations:  Sparks: China’s Underground Historians and their Battle for the Future by Ian Johnson Other Rivers: A Chinese Education by Peter Hessler Face-Off: The U.S. vs. China is produced in partnership with Rowhome Productions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our third season of Face-Off: The US vs China, we’ll explore some of the biggest issues dividing these global powers today: Trump and Xi Jinping, AI, China’s growing military might, and also… robots. Season 3 of Face-Off: US vs China begins Tuesday, November 18th. Join us. Face-Off is produced in partnership with Rowhome Productions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices