Laboratory technicians work on samples to be tested for the COVID-19 coronavirus at a testing facility in Wuhan, China on August 4, 2021. (Getty Images)
A production line of the Glide, a high-altitude glider that delivers munitions across thousands of miles, is seen at the defense tech startup Mach Industries in Huntington Beach, California, on September 11, 2025. (Getty Images)
Former Fellow and Director, Kleptocracy Initiative
Casey Michel
Former Adjunct Fellow, Kleptocracy Initiative
Paul Massaro
Former Adjunct Fellow, Kleptocracy Initiative
Nate Sibley, Casey Michel & Paul Massaro
Podcast
Caption
The DF-17 hypersonic glide vehicle is displayed during a military parade at Tiananmen Square on October 1, 2019 in Beijing, China. (The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)
Ships belonging to the Chinese naval fleet pass through a naval mine threat area during the Joint Sea-2021 China-Russia military drill near Vladivostok, Russia on October 15, 2021. (Photo by Sun Zifa/China News Service via Getty Images)
U.S. President Joe Biden and Russia's President Vladimir Putin shake hands as they meet for talks at the Villa La Grange on June 16, 2021. (Photo by Mikhail Metzel\TASS via Getty Images)
A Russian Moskva guided missile cruiser participates in a naval parade near a Ukrainian military base in Sevastopol. (Vasily Maximov/AFP via Getty Images)
The upgraded U.S.-made F-16 V fighters are displayed during a ceremony at the Chiayi Air Force in southern Taiwan on November 18, 2021. (Photo by SAM YEH/AFP via Getty Images)