In the Room with Peter Bergen
In the Room with Peter Bergen is a weekly nonpartisan news podcast hosted by longtime national security journalist and bestselling author Peter Bergen. Each episode goes beyond the headlines to explore important stories on topics such as war, artificial intelligence, and UFOs, sometimes with insider access to agencies like the FBI. Bergen combines narrative storytelling with interviews featuring top experts and former officials, offering listeners a direct, objective perspective on complex issues. The show aims to cut through sensationalism and provide analysis from those with firsthand knowledge.
Episodes
The Future of In the Room
Having published over 80 episodes covering everything from the Pentagon's bizarre history of stifling — and stoking — UFO panic to the massive surveillance system on our smartphones to how Afghanistan was lost to the Taliban — twice, In the Room is taking a hiatus, and a chance to think about what other topics and formats we might pursue. Stay tuned!See Privacy Policy at ht
Is A New Nuclear Arms Race Inevitable?
Very quietly, and with little public discussion, the U.S. military has undertaken a $1.5 trillion project to modernize America’s nuclear triad – the planes, submarines and missiles that deliver nuclear weapons. It’s one of the biggest and most expensive projects in American military history – more costly, even, than the Manhattan Project. But how necessary is this modernization effort? An
How the CIA got into the Venture Capital Game
With the rise of technology in the late 1990s, a new national security threat quickly emerged. And the U.S. government had to find a way to protect itself — and its secrets — from foreign adversaries and cybercriminals. It needed the cutting-edge technologies coming out of Silicon Valley, from startups that had never done business with the government — and probably didn’t see much reason
What Can You Expect From President Trump’s Foreign Policy?
Financial Times columnist Ed Luce says President Donald Trump might love trade wars, but he’d rather not engage in military ones. While he acknowledges there’s a lot that’s unpredictable, Luce is cautiously optimistic that with unpredictability there can also be opportunity, including for peace deals. So, what might U.S. foreign policy look like over the next four years?Go to au
Trump Wants a Loyal FBI and Justice Department. Here’s How He Plans to Get it.
In his first term, Donald Trump did more to politicize top U.S. law enforcement institutions than any U.S. President, according to journalist David Rohde. Through interviews with numerous people inside Trump’s term-one FBI and Justice Department, Rohde carefully documented the impact on the FBI and DOJ during Trump round one. Join us for a conversation about what he thinks is coming in ro
Was Jimmy Carter’s Foreign Policy Actually a Success?
The 39th president is remembered today with great affection. That hasn’t changed the popular perception of him as a failure while in office, weak and overwhelmed by events, and forever defined by the 444-day long debacle of the Iran hostage crisis. But is it time for another look—especially when it comes to the late president’s foreign policy record? Because with the passage of time, Jimm
Being a Spy Can Be Pretty Stressful. The CIA is Trying to Help. (Rebroadcast)
The job comes with all sorts of risks and responsibilities plus exposure to a lot of violence and trauma — whether that’s out in a war zone or in the office, where analysts may work on cases involving horrific human rights abuses. All of that can take its toll. CIA Director William Burns has acknowledged the agency needs to do more to “take care” of its officers. You’ll hear how stre
How Do You End An Endless War?
In the annals of violent conflict, the decades of the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland seemed especially intractable. As the long-running strife flares violently again between Israelis and Palestinians, two negotiators of the astonishing and lasting peace agreement in Northern Ireland in the late 1990s, Monica McWilliams and John Alderdice, explain what it takes to get people to sit down wi
Snatching Mega-Yachts and Blacklisting Banks: Do Sanctions Actually Work?
American Presidents have been addicted to international sanctions for much of the modern era, as a way to influence the behavior of other countries. Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Syria – all have been subject to U.S. sanctions over the past four decades. But these regimes remain as defiant of U.S. geostrategic goals as ever. This week we explore Russian yacht snatching, the impact of sanctions
Defund or Unleash: What does effective policing look like?
In recent years, several high-profile abuses of power have fractured public trust in police and created a false tension between police accountability and public safety. But somewhere between a blanket defense of the police and “defund the police” lie effective solutions. Peter talks with three thoughtful, accomplished people who have worn the badge to find out what they’ve learned ab
The FBI’s Love Affair with Hollywood
The FBI has had a cozy relationship with Hollywood since the days of the Bureau’s first director, J. Edgar Hoover, working behind the scenes with filmmakers to burnish its image. We explore how the collaboration actually works, how extensive it is, and whether moviegoers are getting spoon-fed a sugar-coated version of the truth.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recom
What is “National Security” Anyway?
Declaring something a matter of “national security” is a great way to get people to take it seriously — and Congress to fund it. After all, what matters more than keeping the United States and its citizens safe from foreign attack? But what about the economic security of the citizenry? Or their health? President Franklin Delano Roosevelt thought those should be included too — and tha
The Alt-Right Was Once Just on the Fringes. Here’s How it Went Mainstream.
After instigating violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, the alt-right movement seemed to crumble — but journalist Elle Reeve, who’s been talking with them for years, says that doesn’t mean their ideas have gone away. She says that their extremist ideology is actually on the rise — and has spread from the darkest corners of the internet to the heart of American politics.Go to aud
How Women Became Central to the Central Intelligence Agency (REBROADCAST)
When the CIA got started in 1947 it recruited women for one type of job: typing and filing. Very few women were out in the field gathering intelligence and recruiting foreign agents. But once they finally got the chance, they proved instrumental to obtaining secret codes and tracking down terrorists — despite sometimes facing discrimination and harassment. Women also found ways to us
In One Michigan County There’s a Republican Fighting to Restore Faith in Elections
Justin Roebuck, a county clerk in the swing state of Michigan, has a license plate that says ‘’I voted.” Roebuck first began volunteering as an election worker at age 16. Now, he oversees the election process in Ottawa County. But not everyone in his county shares his faith in the voting system. Like election officials all around the United States, he’s gotten accustomed to a high degree
The Mass Shooting that Everyone Saw Coming
One year ago, Maine experienced the worst mass shooting in its history. It turned out many people and institutions had known for months before that the shooter, Robert Card, was in a mental health crisis and heavily armed. One friend even alerted authorities that Card might “snap and commit a mass shooting.” Despite that knowledge — and the state’s “yellow flag” gun law — 18 people were k
Can Exposing American Secrets Make You Safer?
For almost 40 years, Tom Blanton and the National Security Archive have used the Freedom of Information Act to dislodge and declassify U.S. government secrets, from Cold War backchannels to intelligence failures in the Middle East. Blanton’s “archival activism” is about seeing the full picture, in hopes that policy makers — and the American public — can learn from past blunders. Oh, and t
There’s a Conspiracy Theory for Just About Everything, So Should You Be Worried?
The moon landing was faked; 9/11 was an inside job — conspiracy theories like these seem to surround most major events now, even when the facts have been well established for years. These beliefs make plenty of headlines. There have also been some high profile cases of violence being committed by people espousing conspiracy theories. So why do people believe in conspiracy theories and whe
Revisiting the First MAGA President
Ronald Reagan campaigned on a slogan to “Make America Great Again” and ushered in a new era of conservatism in America. That was more than forty years ago, and his Republican Party today looks very different with Donald Trump at its helm. Does the Reagan legend — a tax cutting, government shrinking, Cold War winning optimist — stand up to close scrutiny? And how did Reaganism pave the way
How Modern Autocrats Keep Each Other in Power
Journalist and historian Anne Applebaum has been observing and writing about the rise of authoritarianism for years. And she’s sounding the alarm about a growing trend: how strongmen from Russia to Venezuela are collaborating with one another in an effort to maintain their power and undermine the influence of democratic countries like the United States. So, is there anything democrat
The General Who Told Trump What He Didn’t Want to Hear
H.R. McMaster, a decorated lieutenant general in the U.S. Army and an historian, served as the second national security advisor to President Donald Trump. He recently published a non-partisan yet blistering account of his time in the White House. Hear what McMaster says Trump got right on foreign policy, where things went wrong, and what he thinks Trump’s character would mean for a second
On the Trail and Inside the Mind of Osama bin Laden (Rebroadcast)
It's impossible to understand the events of 9/11 without understanding Osama bin Laden. Who was he? What was he hoping to achieve with the attack? How did the U.S. track him down? And what can we learn from that story now? Three women—a CIA analyst, an FBI investigator, and a scholar who read 6,000 pages of documents recovered from bin Laden’s compound after he was killed—recount how they
The Right-Wing Plan for Trump-Friendly Spies
Donald Trump’s relationship with the U.S. intelligence community during his time in office was often tumultuous. Now, former top Trump administration officials have put together a plan to reshape intelligence gathering should Trump return to the White House, taking aim at what they see as social engineering and a lack of loyalty to a conservative president’s agenda. Several long-time inte
How Does the Russian Propaganda Machine Work? (Rebroadcast)
When Ukrainian soldiers liberated the town of Bucha, Ukraine in March, 2022, news reports showed scenes of bodies lying in the streets. Human Rights Watch documented cases of summary executions. But on Russian state television, the news was presented as “fake,” a staged event. Objective reporting about the war in Ukraine is now against the law in Russia and journalists can’t even use
Why Anti-Democratic Populists Keep Winning Elections
Ben Rhodes, a former national security advisor to Barack Obama, has a theory. Based on interviews he did with journalists, activists, and dissidents facing anti-democratic movements around the world, he explains how right wing leaders with an authoritarian bent have exploited the downsides of globalization to seize power – and he says it’s due in no small part to major blunders made by th
Don’t Miss These Upcoming Episodes of In The Room
In the Room will be covering national security, broadly defined, as the U.S. heads into an exceptionally consequential election and contends with multiple destabilizing dynamics around the world. Here’s a sneak peek at some upcoming episodes, and more of the direct-from-the source reporting you’ve come to expect. Plus an important announcement about where to find the show.See Privacy Poli
Chicago Prepares for Protests at the DNC, Hoping To Forget 1968
The parallels between the 1968 Democratic National Convention and this year’s are undeniable: An incumbent president dropping out of the race. A party deeply divided over a brutal war. A nation arguing over the right to free expression vs. law and order. And it’s all happening again in Chicago, where in 1968 the streets around the Convention became a bloody battle between protesters
Does the Pentagon (or the Cops) Know What Side of the Bed You Sleep On?
In the wake of 9/11, a massive surveillance system quietly made its way onto our smartphones. The data of millions of Americans is for sale to the highest bidder — and it’s not always clear who’s buying. Here’s how information about everything, from where you got a drink last night (and maybe even with whom) to where you sleep, might be available for purchase by the national security appa
How Tiny Qatar Became a Global Player
These days when a thorny international conflict is resolved, more and more often a major player in the negotiation has been the small Persian Gulf state of Qatar. The country has made itself uniquely indispensable on the global stage by trying to play nice with pretty much everyone, including Hamas and Iran. And also by keeping on very good terms with the United States. Peter visits Qatar
The One Way Out of an Israeli-Palestinian Forever War
New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas Friedman has been thinking about the Middle East since he was 15 years old and he’s been covering the region for 45 years. He remains adamant that the only way forward for Israelis and Palestinians is through a two-state solution. He tells Peter what it will take to get there.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recom
The Rise, and Maybe Downfall, of Liberal Democracy
Veteran journalist and CNN host Fareed Zakaria has made a career of putting hard questions to many of the world's most powerful people. Taking the temperature of global politics these days, he’s worried democracy is on a dangerous downward slide. He explains why — and where — leaders are taking their countries down dark paths, and what can be done to rescue democracy as we know it.Go to a
The Right-Wing Plan for Trump to Root Out the “Deep State Department”
You may have heard some ruckus about Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s 887-page plan to overhaul the federal government, fire thousands of career bureaucrats and bring in loyalists if Trump wins a second term. But what would this look like in practice? You’ll hear from the author of one chapter of the plan who says curing what ails the US State Department should start with
How Women Became Central to the Central Intelligence Agency
When the CIA got started in 1947 it recruited women for one type of job: typing and filing. Very few women were out in the field gathering intelligence and recruiting foreign agents. But once they finally got the chance, they proved instrumental to obtaining secret codes and tracking down terrorists - despite sometimes facing discrimination and harassment. Women also found ways to us
India’s Modi Will (Likely) Get the Most Votes in Human History. Why?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India is the most popular leader in the world — and he’s poised to win reelection to a third term. With his embrace of religious nationalism, is India’s secular democracy in peril? Or is Modi just giving the country’s 1.1 billion Hindus what they want?Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and
The Man Who Led NATO Is Trying to Frighten You
How could the US lose a war with China? What happens if American political divisions keep getting more extreme? And what in the world will A.I, mean for national security? These are the questions that keep the former commander of NATO, retired Admiral James Stavridis and retired Marine Captain Elliot Ackerman up at night. But unlike a lot of people in their shoes, they haven’t been harryi
The View From a Newsroom in the Middle East
Mina Al-Oraibi is the editor of The National, an English-language newspaper headquartered in Abu Dhabi. She shares how the post-October 7th news landscape looks inside the Middle East: how Hamas is viewed in the region, how much of a threat Iran poses, and why she calls the conflict in Gaza “Joe Biden’s war.”Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other
1-on-1 with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (9/26/23 Rebroadcast)
RFK, Jr.’s views on vaccines and his penchant for questioning official narratives have kept him on the fringes of American politics for years. But now, as a third-party presidential candidate he is polling around 10% — enough to affect the outcome of an election that is expected to be decided on a razor-thin margin. In this lengthy sit-down, first published in September, 2023, Peter
Is America Headed into a New Cold War?
David Sanger thinks so. After four decades at The New York Times, he may be America’s most experienced national security reporter, and he thinks superpower conflict is back. He describes how the U.S. overestimated the democratizing power of globalization, underestimated the ambitions of Russia and China, and what, if anything, can be done to counter the “grand delusion” that kept so many
What Happened When the Migrant Crisis Came to Chicago?
Busloads of migrants have been arriving in northern cities for the past two years, testing the patience of some residents and bringing out empathy in others. We go to Chicago to find out what the real, local effects of this surge are — not just what the politicians with their megaphones say they are. And we explore some solutions to a problem that has become the number one issue on v
Where Did the Migrant Crisis Come From?
American voters say immigration is the number one issue on their minds in this crucial presidential election year. How did we get here? In part one of this series we look at Venezuela, a country that has seen a massive exodus of its population over the past decade, many of whom end up in cities and states across the U.S.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendatio
What UFO Conspiracies Have to Do with Jan. 6th
The Pentagon UFO office just released its investigation of UFO sightings going back to the 1940s. We talk with maybe the most serious historian to study UFOs, Garrett Graff, to learn what UFO questions the Pentagon investigation has laid to rest, what new questions have been raised, why it’s sometimes in the interest of national security to keep information secret, and the connection
Counterterrorism Chief Says Hamas Attack and Gaza War Have Reshaped Terror Threat
When Christine Abizaid — the director of the National Counterterrorism Center — first began working for the United States government in 2002, the biggest terror threat facing the U.S. was from Al-Qaeda. Now, homegrown far-right terrorists pose a key threat, the Hamas attacks on October 7th and the ongoing war in Gaza are fueling new risks, and some American politicians claim&nbs
Can the U.S. Just Pull Out of the Middle East?
The answer is probably not. And that has to do with oil, the internet, and one of America’s most persistent foes, Iran.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
How Does the US Government Get Detained Americans Home?
Almost immediately after Hamas attacked Israel, the US began a well-coordinated, high-level, high-wire effort to free the Americans taken hostage. It wasn’t always like this. Until a few years ago, the US had no effective approach to securing the release of its citizens held overseas. After multiple Americans died in captivity while the government flailed, their loved ones set out on a ca
A Friendly Warning for America
With November’s election approaching, it feels like the United States is at a crossroads — not just at home, but abroad too. Will the country continue to lead the global order, as it’s done so successfully since the end of WWII? Or will it retreat into isolationism? A distinguished foreign friend of America’s — the British soldier, diplomat, politician, and adventurer Rory Stewart — share
You Should Worry About A.I., But Not For The Reason You Think
New tools like Chat GPT have sparked futuristic fears about intelligent machines wiping people out. But there’s a more immediate A.I. threat coming, in a year when half the world’s population is headed to the polls.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and
Did Oppenheimer’s Atomic Bomb Make the World Safer?
The wild success of Oppenheimer, with 13 Oscar nominations and nearly $1 billion in ticket sales, has revived a debate about the most destructive weapon ever created — and renewed concerns about how close the world might be to nuclear war. The leader of the project to build the bomb during WWII, Robert Oppenheimer, believed — at first — that it could help prevent wars between the superpow
China is Stalking its Dissidents — Even on U.S. Soil
The United States is home to countless dissidents from around the world who have fled repression in places like Iran, India, Russia and, increasingly, China. But US soil — even U.S. citizenship — isn’t a guarantee they’ll be left alone. Why are foreign governments daring to harass, hurt, or even kill their foes in the U.S. — and what's being done to stop them?Go to audible.com/news where
Why America’s Biggest Terror Threat Is Homegrown
The January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol was the culmination of political trends in the United States that have festered for decades. And it may be a dress rehearsal for what comes next.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice
Hunting the Bidens
How did Hunter Biden’s laptop, a digital chronicle of misadventures by President Joe Biden’s troubled son, become a political flashpoint and help spark potential impeachment proceedings? What personal and business secrets buried in the old computer are being weaponized against the Biden family during the 2024 campaign? Are any of them cause for concern about our government’s integrit
Being a Spy Can Be Pretty Stressful. The CIA is Trying to Help.
The job comes with all sorts of risks and responsibilities plus exposure to a lot of violence and trauma — whether that’s out in a war zone or in the office, where analysts may work on cases involving horrific human rights abuses. All of that can take its toll. CIA Director William Burns has acknowledged the agency needs to do more to “take care” of its officers. You’ll hear how stre
Is The Pentagon Really Hiding Crashed Alien Spaceships?
Sean Kirkpatrick is one of the best guys on earth to answer that question. He set up the Pentagon’s new office tasked with investigating UFO sightings by the US military. But he rarely gives interviews. Until now. You’ll hear what his investigators found out about sightings going back to Roswell, and what he thinks is the biggest UFO conspiracy of all.Go to audible.com/news where you'll f
As the Arctic Ice Melts, Could a New Kind of Cold War Be Coming?
Until recently, the eight nations whose borders creep into the icy Arctic haven’t had much of a reason to fight over this forbidding landscape. But as climate change melts the ice and opens up access to all kinds of precious resources, the United States is preparing for the possibility of conflict. So how will the U.S. defend its interests in a place where most of us have never set f
Yes, the United States has a Space Force. Stop Laughing.
Meet the newest branch of the American military and learn how life as you know it could stop if it fails to do its job.Go to audible.com/news where you'll find Peter Bergen's recommendations for other news, journalism and nonfiction listening.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The Americans Who Would Be on the Frontline of a War in the Pacific
In the summer of 2022, the United States military ran a major training exercise to prepare to respond if its ally Taiwan gets invaded by China. Central to the strategy: the tiny American island of Guam, the westernmost part of the United States, where the U.S. has more than doubled defense spending in recent years. But not everyone on Guam is convinced that all this additional military bu
Who Controls America’s Past?
Revisiting history is never simple. Especially the history of the United States, which is often painful, and, invariably political. At dinner tables, school board meetings, and political protests, Americans disagree not only about how our past should be interpreted, but what actually happened in the first place.From the myth about George Washington’s teeth to the true cause of the Civil W
How to Beat the Russian Army
Hollywood may have portrayed him as a nerd, but Mike Vickers was the superstar architect of America’s covert war in the 1980s that drove the Soviet army out of Afghanistan. And this alum of the Green Berets and the CIA has some ideas about how to do the same thing in Ukraine today.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do
Could Prosecuting the Former President be Bad for American Democracy?
Some countries have fallen into a toxic cycle of tit-for-tat prosecutions, where every ex-president has to expect they’ll eventually end up behind bars. Could the U.S. be next? Two constitutional experts warn that some of the criminal cases against Donald Trump could cause cycles of retribution that poison our politics. And why our saving grace just might be — get this — government bureau
Is Israel Prepared for this Ground War?
Experts on urban and underground warfare explain why an aerial campaign alone can’t defeat Hamas, what the shortcomings are of the Israeli Defense Force, and how long, complicated, and tragic this war will be.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Turning Bad News into a Great Read
How do two of America's leading nonfiction writers turn some of the biggest issues affecting us into juicy narratives that change hearts and minds — and maybe even policies? Patrick Radden Keefe on how he rendered the opioid crisis as a dramatic tale of money, power, and human suffering in his book Empire of Pain, and Elizabeth Kolbert on how she illuminates what we are losing as global t
A General and a Military Historian Say Israel-Hamas War is Most Challenging Conflict Since 1945
General David Petraeus and historian Andrew Roberts, co-authors of the new book “Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine,” discuss how they believe this war will evolve, how it compares to other conflicts of the last seven and a half decades, and what we can learn from the mistakes made during those wars.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privac
Can the Next Mass Shooting Be Prevented?
Another mass shooting is making headlines in the United States. With it comes the familiar feeling of powerlessness. But a rare peek inside the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit reveals that at least some shootings are being prevented, using techniques to identify people headed down the ‘pathway to violence.’ In the absence of gun reform, agents share what ordinary people can do to help. And
How Does the Russian Propaganda Machine Work?
When Ukrainian soldiers liberated the town of Bucha, Ukraine in March, 2022, news reports showed scenes of bodies lying in the streets. Human Rights Watch documented cases of summary executions. But on Russian state television, the news was presented as “fake,” a staged event. Objective reporting about the war in Ukraine is now against the law in Russia and journalists can’t even use the
You Should Worry About A.I., but Not for the Reason You Think
New tools like Chat GPT have sparked futuristic fears about intelligent machines wiping people out or, at the very least, taking all our jobs. But there’s a more immediate A.I. threat coming for us, as soon as the next election.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The Future of War
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face,” Mike Tyson famously once said. Vladimir Putin thought he could defeat Ukraine in three days. How did he get it so wrong? And what can we learn from his mistake? Throughout history, according to one of the world’s leading experts, wars have almost never played out as predicted. But if that’s the case, how are we supposed to prepare f
The War that Americans Forgot, Iraqis Can’t — and Iran Won
Twenty years ago, a massive statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down in Baghdad, a day that for many Iraqis signaled hope for the future of the country. But America’s invasion did not come with a coherent plan for what should come next, and those hopes were dashed. What is the legacy of U.S. intervention in the country today? Peter travels to Iraq to find out.See Privacy Policy at https:/
1-on-1 with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Please note: The views shared in this episode do not necessarily reflect those of Audible or "In the Room with Peter Bergen."RFK, Jr.’s views on vaccines and penchant for questioning official narratives have kept him on the fringes of American politics for years. His blistering critiques of the Biden Administration on everything from the pandemic to the war in Ukraine have earned him prai
How Hackers Stole Half of Americans’ Private Information - and Why
The wild story of the 'worst corporate data breach ever,' the man who got blamed for it, and the sleuths who figured out who actually did it.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Lessons From the Man Who Got bin Laden
Meet Admiral William McRaven, the Navy SEAL who literally wrote THE book on special operations, and who says the best way to plan the raid for the world’s most wanted man - or do pretty much anything else - is to start by making your bed.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
On the Trail and Inside the Mind of Osama bin Laden
It's impossible to understand the events of 9/11 without understanding Osama bin Laden. Who was he? What was he hoping to achieve with the attack? How did the US track him down? And what can we learn from that story now? Three women - a CIA analyst, an FBI investigator, and a scholar who read 6,000 pages of documents recovered from bin Laden’s compound after he was killed - recount how th
China, Critical Minerals, and the National Security Threat in Your iPhone
We can’t do much without batteries and microchips; they power everything from smartphones to electric cars to defense systems. But the U.S. ceded control of the raw materials required to make them - to its chief rival, China. Is it possible to catch up, especially given America’s more stringent labor and environmental standards?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Californi
How Did a 60-Year Old American Veteran Wind Up Fighting in Ukraine?
Malcolm Nance was retired from the U.S. Navy, but the Russian invasion of its neighbor compelled him to dig out his old weapons and equipment, and join up with the International Legion fighting in Ukraine. He explains how the International Legion functions, what it’s like to take a direct hit from a Russian shell, and why he doesn’t believe he and his fellow legionnaires have run afoul of
What if There Were a 9/11 Commission for Covid?
Actually, there basically is - led by the same guy. They have found that President Trump didn’t cause the botched response (although they label him a “comorbidity”). Neither did partisan politics (although there are some isolated exceptions). And if you think that’s surprising, wait till you hear how prepared we are (not) for the next pandemic.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/priva
How Was Afghanistan Lost to the Taliban - Again? Ep. 2
In the final chaotic days of the US presence in Afghanistan, a young survivor of a Taliban attack was trying to get to the airport, the top American diplomat was doing his best to make the departure as orderly as humanly possible, and the Afghan national security advisor was fleeing with the president on a helicopter. You will hear from all of them and more in this exploration of how the
How Was Afghanistan Lost to the Taliban - Again? Ep. 1
After a 20-year war that cost the United States two trillion dollars and led to nearly 200,000 deaths, the Taliban are back in power - and offering safe haven to Al Qaeda once again. General David H. Petraeus, Trump advisor Lisa Curtis, Afghan ambassador to the US Roya Rahmani and others, bring us "in the room" to explain how this debacle came to pass, and warn us of the consequences.See
What Would a Second Trump Presidency Mean for the World?
When he first ran for president, Donald Trump didn’t have any record on foreign policy. Now he does, and that offers more than a hint of how he might lead if he were to win the White House again in 2024. Peter dissects the Trump record with one of the ex-president’s best-known former foreign policy advisors - and critics - John Bolton, who doesn’t mince words in assessing Trump’s handling
What Makes a Great Authentic Spy Novel?
Double agents, dead drops, and deadly missions enliven some of the most popular and well-known spy novels. But do you need to have been an ACTUAL spy in an intelligence agency like the CIA to write like one? And how do real spies rate the fictional ones?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Can the Fentanyl Epidemic Be Stopped?
In the past five years, overdose death rates have skyrocketed in the United States, with fentanyl - a synthetic, cheaply produced opioid - now a leading cause of death for 18-45 year-olds. How do the chemicals used to make fentanyl get from China to Mexico to the United States? Why would drug dealers sell a substance that’s killing off so many of their customers? What is the Biden adminis
Michael Flynn’s New War
How “America’s General” joined a movement that’s fired up about COVID, conspiracies, and Christ - and just might be headed to a town near you.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
What on Earth Happened to Lieutenant General Michael Flynn?
A storied Army general, a key intelligence figure in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a registered Democrat—and now, a full-blown right-wing conspiracy theorist. How did this all-American war hero disappear down the Q-Anon rabbit hole? We’ll retrace the unraveling of Michael Flynn’s legendary career and explain how a once-trusted general ended up lying to the FBI, denying the 2020 electi
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