August 25, 2025; Washington, D.C. – On August 28, NPR will launch Sources & Methods, a weekly national security podcast led by acclaimed correspondent and All Things Considered co-host Mary Louise Kelly. Each Thursday, Kelly and a panel of NPR's top correspondents will break down the most pressing national security stories, drawing on reporting from war zones, foreign capitals, and Washington's halls of power. Episodes will also feature candid interviews with power players from the national security world, including current and former military officials, intelligence experts, and diplomatic leaders.
Listen to the trailer for Sources and Methods here.
In a moment when America's role in the world is shifting faster than any time in recent history, Sources & Methods offers listeners something urgent and indispensable: a trusted guide through the global forces reshaping our future and our safety. From wars and rising authoritarianism to cyber threats and climate-drive conflict, the podcast makes sense of how high-level decisions from the White House, Pentagon, State Department, and intelligence community reverberate across borders and into our daily lives at home. Listeners join Kelly and her fellow correspondents as they tackle issues in real-time through newsroom-style conversation, drawing on decades of interviews and research, cultivated sources, and beat reporting.
"What you'll hear is some of the best nat-sec reporters working today, comparing notes with each other, trying to figure things out in real time," said Kelly. "What do we know? How do we know it? What telling or surprising or even funny details are tucked away in our reporters' notebooks, that might help illuminate these unsettled times? I want listeners to walk away with a sense of curiosity about the world, inspired by our own curiosity."
For 25 years, Kelly has been on the front lines, reporting from the halls of power in DC to war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. She has tracked intelligence agencies, terrorism, global conflict, and rising nuclear powers. Her reporting has consistently focused on demystifying complex topics, from the inner workings of the CIA to the geopolitical forces reshaping our world. Now, with Sources & Methods, she's taking that mission a step further by bringing listeners into the conversation with the reporters themselves. Together with those reporters, she will help Americans navigate the uncertainty of a changing world order.
Frequent panelists on Sources & Methods will include: Tom Bowman, NPR's National Desk reporter covering the Pentagon; Greg Myre, a National Security correspondent with a focus on the intelligence community; Quil Lawrence, an NPR News correspondent covering national security, climate and veterans' issues nationwide; Odette Yousef, a National Security correspondent focusing on extremism; and Jenna McLaughlin, NPR's cybersecurity correspondent, focusing on the intersection of national security and technology. Listeners will also hear from embedded international correspondents depending on the news of the day, from Russia and Ukraine to the Middle East.
"We're centering our global network of correspondents at a time when fewer outlets are investing in international coverage," said Edith Chapin, Editor in Chief and acting Chief Content Officer of NPR News. "And we have a host who knows the beat inside out, who has spoken truth to power, and who is uniquely positioned to guide listeners through the stories we're telling. America's global role is changing in profound ways, and with this show, we'll help listeners understand that change. They'll hear NPR at its best: trusted, independent reporting, sharp analysis, deep context — with real voices and human conversation."
Starting August 28, listeners can find Sources & Methods on the NPR App, npr.org or wherever you get podcasts.
NPR+ supporters can listen to every episode without sponsor messages. Find out how to support with NPR+ at plus.npr.org.
About Mary Louise Kelly
Award-winning broadcaster and author Mary Louise Kelly is one of the most prominent voices in American journalism today. She is a co-host of NPR's All Things Considered, where she focuses on national security and has taken the show to some of the world's most complex places, including Russia, North Korea, Iran and beyond. Previously, she spent a decade as national security correspondent for NPR News. Kelly first launched NPR's intelligence beat in 2004. Kelly's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and other publications. She serves on Harvard's Board of Overseers and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a contributing writer at The Atlantic and author of two novels, Anonymous Sources and The Bullet. Her 2023 memoir, It. Goes. So. Fast., was an instant New York Times bestseller.
About Sources & Methods
America's role in the world is changing by the day. Sources & Methods is a weekly NPR podcast that brings clarity to the biggest questions of national security and what they mean for our lives at home. Each Thursday, host Mary Louise Kelly and a team of NPR correspondents take listeners behind the headlines, into the Pentagon, State Department, and the intelligence community, to break down the biggest security stories of the week. Drawing on decades of reporting from war zones, foreign capitals, and the halls of power, Kelly and her team will reveal how decisions made far away shape life here at home. Episodes will also feature interviews with power players from the NatSec world -- current and former military officials, intelligence experts, diplomatic leaders, and more.
About NPR
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