On the eve of the second anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing, Juliette Kayyem and WGBH radio have launched a new Podcast that is informative, entertaining and insightful. The concept behind the new podcast, “Security Mom,” is based on Juliette’s upcoming 2016 memoir with Simon & Schuster, Security Mom: Terrorists, Hurricanes, Oil Spills and Other Bedtime Stories.
The podcast provides a very different take about a world with seemingly endless threats to our country, our neighborhoods, and even our homes, Juliette says. After listening to the first program, I agree.
Juliette’s background—which includes stints as the Massachusetts Homeland Security Director, the DHS Intergovernmental Affairs Director, and her experience as a broadcast and print commentator on homeland security issues (plus her recent candidacy for Massachusetts Governor)—gives her the subject matter expertise to know what questions to ask. Her experience as the mother of three (two boys and a girl) provides her with the ability to develop the conversation on a level that is understandable to almost all families. In other words, she conducts the conversation without the use of onerous acronyms, buzzwords and convoluted phrasing. It is a refreshing change to the typical rhetoric one hears inside the Beltway.
Why did Juliette decide to start a Podcast? Here is how she answered that question:
“Our national dialogue about security can feel like a foreign language: distant and confusing, not to mention scary. I started this podcast to bring the conversation back home. On each episode, you’ll hear me talking with someone in the often inaccessible security world — just my colleagues and friends, many of them fellow parents. We’ll discuss in a very unclassified fashion what we can do to keep our country, and each other, safe — and how we can better equip ourselves for when we can’t. We’ll just tell stories about what we know and what you should know…. I’d love to hear from you as the podcast develops. What are the issues you’re thinking about? How do you prepare your family for the unexpected? I hope you’ll tune in and continue the conversation!”
You can subscribe through iTunes or listen on WGBH Boston Public Radio where Juliette also participates in a live commentary program every Wednesday at noon. It is well worth your time to check it out.
