Middlebury Magazine

  • Recent Stories
  • Menu
    • Features
    • Pursuits
    • Q&A
    • Review
    • Old Chapel
    • Road Taken
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • How Did You Get Here Series
    • About
    • Advertising
    • Contact
    • Support
    • Writers’ Guidelines
  • Search

Fall 2020 Features

What’s The Deal?

The story behind the critically acclaimed podcast, hosted by Middlebury Institute professor Jeffrey Lewis, that tells you everything you need to know about the Iranian nuclear deal.

By Rhianna Tyson Kreger
Photo illustration by Paul Dahm
December 16, 2020
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • Email icon

Nearly two decades ago, in the basement of the Library of Congress, an intrepid young analyst, code-named Lisa Simpson, was rocking out to Jane’s Addiction on her iPod when she made a discovery that would set in motion one of the most contentious, high-stakes dramas of the nuclear age.

About a dozen years later, two former colleagues from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) would come together, one offering the other a novelty baby onesie, to solve that nuclear crisis and bring the world one step back from the nuclear brink.

This story sounds wild because it is. It is the story of the Iran nuclear deal, told by Middlebury Institute of International Studies professor Jeffrey Lewis.

Widely known in the nuclear policy world for his pioneering podcast Arms Control Wonk, and a go-to expert for journalists covering North Korea and other nuclear proliferation hot spots, Lewis can spin a hell of a yarn. So, when the Trump administration withdrew from the Iran deal—an agreement that most experts understood as an unprecedented achievement, not just for nonproliferation but for global security writ large—he paired up with award-winning podcast producer, documentary filmmaker, and Middlebury College instructor Erin Davis to do what advocates of the deal had thus far failed to do: tell the story of one of the most important, far-reaching, hard-won nonproliferation agreements ever achieved, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA in security parlance.

The result is The Deal, an immensely enjoyable, factual, five-part narrative podcast that tells the story of the Iran deal, how it came together, how it fell apart, and what it means for the rest of us. A brilliant original score by composer Hannis Brown elevates the storytelling to mesmerizing heights.

 

In episode one, a young researcher follows a hunch that will change the course of history.

 

The Stories of the People

The story of the JCPOA begins with the tale of that research analyst, Corey Hinderstein, who essentially discovered clandestine nuclear facilities in Iran while she was toiling away in the basement of the Library of Congress back in 2002. Even the most knowledgeable nuclear wonk well versed in the JCPOA’s chapter and verse may be unfamiliar with Hinderstein’s innovative work in breaking the story to CNN. “Nobody knows this!” Lewis proclaims in an interview with Middlebury Magazine. The little-known truth, he maintains, is that “she is the one at the conference who gives [Iranian dissident Alireza] Jafarzadeh her business card, she is the one who goes into the basement of the Library of Congress and figures out where Natanz is located, she is the one who knows how to use the software to process satellite images. And she is the primary person making assessments of what she is seeing.” Today, Hinderstein—“a powerful and important person,” Lewis calls her—is a vice president at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a prestigious nongovernmental organization founded by Senator Sam Nunn and philanthropist Ted Turner.

Lewis also engages with Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Ambassador Wendy Sherman, two of the key U.S. officials responsible for bringing the deal to fruition.  (Sherman was Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs during the negotiations and was later promoted to Acting Deputy Secretary of State.) These cameos breathe life into the urgency of the Iran problem, “which became [Sherman’s] problem,” as Lewis says on the podcast, in 2011, when her boss at the State Department, William Burns, gladly handed her the file, and the responsibility of representing the United States in the negotiations with Iran, Russia, the United Kingdom, China, France, and the European Union.

The problem had become Secretary Moniz’s, too, when Sherman relayed to him President Obama’s decision to involve him in the “political gymnastics” in 2015. Although Moniz was “a scientist, not a diplomat,” Lewis clarifies, he did have something in common with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Salehi: they were both at MIT in the 1970s, Moniz as a physics professor and Salehi as a nuclear engineering graduate student. After Salehi mentioned during their first meeting that his first granddaughter had literally been born during the meeting, Moniz arrived at their second meeting with an MIT-branded baby onesie, replete with a nerdy joke on it.

And this is where the podcast really shines: by forgoing an analyst’s usual modus operandi of spewing facts to counter falsehoods in favor of a narrative that focuses on the people who drove the story, listeners—experts and novices alike—can better appreciate the enormity of the achievement, and the consequences of its loss.

In this situation, “the least democratic actors” tend to gain the most amount of power. “And that,” Lewis adds, “tends to be the men with the guns.”

The Stories Left Untold

Of course, there are other stories that The Deal doesn’t expose. “In the end, with only five episodes available to us, we had to give up so much,” Lewis laments.

One particularly regrettable edit, he says, was the painful decision to exclude the interview they recorded with an Iranian victim of an Iraqi chemical weapon attack, during those countries’ brutal decade-long war of the 1980s. The idea behind interviewing this woman, he says, was to weave “a through-line from Hiroshima, and the hatred and racism that seemed to enable that bombing, to the present day,” when an alarmingly growing number of Americans support waging nuclear war, a focus of The Deal’s final episode. In response to these armchair nuclear warriors’ calls for “wiping out” the “barbaric” Iranians, he had hoped to hold up this “wonderful woman and her son” as the very real, very human targets of these brash, ignorant, and brutal calls for nuclear war.

Nor does the podcast explore the facilitative role of the European Union, led (again) by three different women, not men, a fact not lost on Lewis, who longs to one day make a podcast about the story of the 20th-century arms race told from the views of the women who witnessed and helped wage—or curtail—it. EU President Federica Mogherini, who served as Vice President of the European Commission, “has an incredible story!” proclaims Lewis. But excising her cameo from The Deal was just one of many powerful tales left on the proverbial cutting-room floor.

The podcast also doesn’t substantively wrestle with the precarious political highwire act that Iranian diplomats had to manage. Though Lewis does interview Dina Esfandiary, a renowned Iran expert whose noteworthy analyses offer Western audiences rare peeks into the various factions within Iran, the podcast does not deeply delve into the competing constituencies, opinions, and agendas within the Iranian government. Lewis acknowledges that constructive diplomats like Salehi and Javad Zarif—a player whom The Deal does mention at times—“took an enormous political risk to make this deal happen,” and that, most worryingly, “its collapse empowers the same people who pushed for the nuclear-weapons program in the first place.”

 

Though armed with just about every fact and figure related to the nuclear deal, Jeffrey Lewis relies on narrative to best explain what was achieved—and what was lost.

To Go Broad, Go Narrow

Lewis and team made a conscious decision not to address the JCPOA’s main criticisms: that it’s too narrow in scope, that it doesn’t address Iran’s missile programs, its human rights violations, or its funding of terrorism.

“It’s not that the critics are wrong,” Lewis explains. “It’s that they fundamentally misunderstand how the world works.”

The JCPOA, he says, was meant to solve a portion of the problem the U.S. has with Iran. Once nuclear weapons are verifiably off the table—something the JCPOA inarguably ensures—“it creates the space for us to go ahead and solve other problems.” He points to North Korea as a parallel example. In 1994, the Bill Clinton administration obtained a nuclear agreement with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. That deal, too, was lambasted by some for not addressing the missile program, or even its uranium enrichment program, and for focusing too narrowly on the nascent plutonium production program under way at the time.

“Once the agreement was in place a few years, the Clinton administration had a tough choice to make,” Lewis recalls. “Do you let the agreement collapse because it didn’t solve all those other problems? Or do you try to fix those other problems one by one?” The 1994 Agreed Framework, he said, was meant—like the JCPOA—to be a foundation upon which further security-enhancing measures could be added. “But then, John Bolton came along and convinced the [George W.] Bush administration to walk away from the agreement.” Like Trump after him, Bolton insisted that “a better agreement” could be reached. “Well, it’s 17 years later,” Lewis taunts, “and not only do we not have a better agreement, we have no agreement, and North Korea is parading ever-larger nuclear missiles through its streets.”

And in North Korea, as in Iran, the foreboding sense of an external threat “freezes in a kind of hostility, and it reduces the space in both countries for us to improve the situation, and it increases the risk that we fall into a conflict.” In this situation, “the least democratic actors” tend to gain the most amount of power. “And that,” Lewis adds, “tends to be the men with the guns.”

And this includes the men who want ever better, more powerful weapons, all the way to the literal nuclear option.

 

A Choice

In the end, The Deal isn’t just about an agreement between the United States, Iran, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, and the European Union. It’s a story about—and for—regular people facing a continuous barrage of disinformation, politically motivated attacks, and steroidal hyperpartisanship in an increasingly unstable world, and what can be done about it.

This metastasizing contagion of conspiracy theories, Lewis insists, is not new to 2020, even if it feels like it. He reminds us that the Cold War, too, was often waged through comparably tenacious disinformation campaigns, often conducted, or at least supported, by Moscow. Whether it was the claim that HIV/AIDS was originally an American biological weapon, or that the CIA invented crack cocaine to erode the African American population, “there was always an active effort by Moscow to push this information into the public domain.” The difference with today’s notoriety in this sphere is that “it is just so much easier to communicate” today, and that the speed and regularity with which we are bombarded by lies and conspiracies heighten “our awareness of it,” says Lewis. Whether truth will eventually triumph over insanity, “I’m pretty skeptical,” Lewis confesses. “But if the problem of disinformation is a problem with us, then as human beings, we have to make a choice: do you say, ‘I can’t do anything,’ or do you try to make something better?”

In its essence, then, this podcast is for “anyone who is fundamentally concerned with how we can reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world,” Lewis says. First, we must understand that nuclear weapons, for all their worth in our current system of international relations, are simply too dangerous to live with in perpetuity. Our challenge then, he asserts, “isn’t designing a disarmament scheme that works. The challenge is designing another system of security,” one that doesn’t rely on planetary annihilation as a last—but increasingly plausible—resort.

Rhianna Tyson Kreger is the managing editor of The Nonproliferation Review, which is published by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute.

You can subscribe to The Deal at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Spotify.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Recent Stories

Features

More Than a Game

In a critically acclaimed work of nonfiction, Abe Streep '04 introduces readers to the Arlee Warriors, a high school basketball team on a Native American reservation in Montana, where life's challenges are abundant.

By Alexander Wolff
Photograph by Devin Yalkin
October 21, 2022

Munya Munyati Has A Few Stories to Tell

Catching up with a young filmmaker who is rapidly making a name for himself at Vice.

By Mara Dolan
Film stills by Munya Munyati
September 16, 2022

Reverberations

A transcontinental move, a career discovered, a landmark speech studied and translated—and an identity reshaped.

By Clara Clymer, MA Translation '22
Illustration by Anna Gusella
April 2, 2022

The Road(s)

A little over a year ago, a writing student headed south to Florida for no other reason than J-Term was forced to go remote. She soon found herself reporting on an environmental justice battle that was roiling the state.

By Alexandra Burns '21.5
Illustrations by Yevgenia Nayberg
March 2, 2022

Dispatches

The Repatriation

The Leopard Head Hip Ornament returns to Africa.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Courtesy Middlebury Museum of Art
February 16, 2023

Adventures in Filmmaking

Two professors and an alum have embarked on a journey to take a screenplay from its creation to the end product of a full-length feature film.

By Sara Thurber Marshall
Still Photograph from The Swim Lesson Proof of Concept
February 14, 2023

A Night Out

For one evening in December, Atwater dining hall hosted a student-dining experience unlike any other.

By Caroline Crawford
Photographs by Paul Dahm
January 20, 2023

Finding His Way

What happens when your identity is stolen—not by another person but by your own body?

By Sara Thurber Marshall
December 15, 2022

A Natural Selection

For more than a quarter century, Stephen Trombulak— now an emeritus professor of biology and environmental studies—guided students in avian research on a parcel of College land hard by Otter Creek. This preserved area now bears his name.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Photography by Paul Dahm
November 18, 2022

The Utterly Fascinating Life of Howie McCausland

He saves lives. He brought the Internet to Middlebury. He has a degree in astrophysics. And he loves to fish. Yes, this is a true story.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Illustration by John S. Dykes
September 16, 2022

It’s a New Day at the Museum of Art

Reimagining what an art museum can and should be.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Art courtesy of the Middlebury College Museum of Art
June 30, 2022

First Aid

Their projects span the globe—from Kenya to Haiti to the United States. As the 2021-22 academic year came to a close, a cohort of students gathered to discuss what having a social impact really means.

By Sara Thurber Marshall
Illustration by Brian Stauffer
June 28, 2022

The Case of the Purloined Onions

Onions have been disappearing from Middlebury's garden. Now, a team of undergraduate sleuths are honing in on a lineup of suspects.

By Andrew Cassel
Illustration by Naomi Ann Clarke
June 21, 2022
View All

Pursuits

Public Defender

On becoming one of the country's foremost cybersecurity experts.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Illustration by Neil Webb
April 14, 2022

Q&A

The Making of a Teacher

Hebrew Professor Michal Strier reflects on her life an education—in Israel and the States—a journey that led the Language School instructor to the undergraduate College for the first time this year.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Photograph by Paul Dahm
May 19, 2022

Editor’s Note

A Brilliant Fogg

Saying goodbye to a dear colleague and friend.

By Matt Jennings
Illustration by Jody Hewgill
February 25, 2020

Old Chapel

Making Democracy Real

An Update on Our Conflict Transformation Initiative

By Laurie L. Patton
Illustration by Montse Bernal
January 20, 2023

Road Taken

What to Wear Now

Through accrued life experiences, a writer discovers that a common question has become a statement of identity.

By Samantha Hubbard Shanley ’99
Illustration by Naomi Clarke
March 11, 2021

Quotation

A summer immersed in a language can do wonders, as veterans of Middlebury College’s famous language-learning program can attest. The lockdown is clearly going to amount to the equivalent of about two summers, and there are mini-Middleburys happening in millions of houses worldwide.”

—John McWhorter, writing “The Coronavirus Generation Will Use Language Differently” in the Atlantic.

Podcasts

Introducing Midd Moment: Season 3

Coming this spring, season three of Midd Moment.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
March 31, 2023

Alone Together, Ep. 9 with Jessica St. Clair ’98 and Dan O’Brien ’96

Dan O'Brien ’96, a playwright and poet, and Jessica St. Clair ’98, a comedian and writer, join President Patton for our final check in with the community during COVID-19 self-isolation. Dan and Jessica are a true power couple in the arts that met in a Middlebury improv group. They discuss Dan's magazine essay "Life Shrinks: Lessons from Chemo Quarantine," how reopening the country feels a lot like remission, and how their art is evolving to reflect the pandemic.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
June 15, 2020

Alone Together, Ep. 8 with Dick Clay, Covid-19 Survivor

In this episode, Dick Clay, a student at the Bread Loaf School of English, shares his story of recovering from COVID-19. Dick discusses when the seriousness of the virus hit him, the "wilderness path to recovery," and how he will process this experience through writing.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
June 8, 2020

Review

Heart and Soul(s)

Funny and touching, this story centers on a small town and the escapades of its inhabitants—both living and dead.

By Sara Thurber Marshall
Illustration by Miki Lowe
March 29, 2023

How Did You Get Here?

Megan Job

By Alexandra Burns '21
February 15, 2021

Leif Taranta

By Alexandra Burns '21
February 15, 2021

Mikayla Haefele

By Alexandra Burns '21
February 15, 2021

Videos

Pomp and Unusual Circumstances

As viewed from above.

By Chris Spencer
June 1, 2021

Davis the Owl Returns Home

Having recovered from life-threatening injuries, a beautiful winged creature is released to its natural habitat.

By Andrew Cassell
April 22, 2021

In the Blink of an Eye

Gone in less than a minute—the middle of June 2019 to the middle of June 2020, as viewed from the rooftop of the Mittelman Observatory.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
Video by Jonathan Kemp/Mittelman Observatory
June 10, 2020
Middlebury College
  • Alumni
  • Newsroom
  • Contact Us
  • icon-instagram

The views presented are not necessarily those of the editors or the official policies of the College.

© 2023 Middlebury College Publications.