In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with Sigal Mandelker, Former Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the U.S. Treasury Department, on the intersection between financial technology and national security. Mandelker explains how incentivizing investment in financial technology is imperative for economic security in the global competition against China. Mandelker discusses her time overseeing the Treasury Department’s sanctions against North Ko...
Jul 07, 2021•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with John Culver, a career CIA analyst, former National Intelligence Officer for East Asia, and leading expert on the Chinese military. Culver and Morell discuss the decades-long modernization of the People’s Liberation Army and the prowess China has attained across multiple war-fighting arenas. Culver offers insights into Xi Jinping’s rise to and continued hold on power, and describes the many challenges of engaging Beijing in ...
Jun 30, 2021•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with Ambassador Dennis Ross, a leading expert on the Middle East, former senior U.S. diplomat and currently counselor and distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Ross and Morell discuss recent political changes in Israel, including the outlook for the governing coalition and the background of newly elected prime minister Naftali Bennett. Ross, a former senior adviser on the Middle East to multiple ...
Jun 23, 2021•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, and ahead of the summit between U.S. President Biden and Russian President Putin in Geneva, host Michael Morell revisits three conversations focused on U.S.-Russia relations and Putin's personal trajectory. The episode features insights on U.S. foreign policy priorities vis a vis Moscow from Antony Blinken, now Secretary of State; an analysis of Putin's mindset from Angela Stent, Director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies at Ge...
Jun 16, 2021•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with Syd Seiler, National Intelligence Officer for North Korea at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Seiler and Morell discuss the political priorities, preferences and fears of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and evaluate the prospects for diplomatic engagement during the Biden administration. Seiler, who has spent over four decades studying the country and its leadership, also shares insights from his travel...
Jun 09, 2021•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with CNN Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward, who shares anecdotes and personal reflections related to her memoir, "On All Fronts: The Education of a Journalist." Ward explains how the attacks on September 11, 2001, prompted her to pursue a career in broadcast journalism, and how she rose through the ranks to become an on-air correspondent. She details her experiences reporting from conflict zones in Iraq, Lebanon an...
Jun 02, 2021•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters DECLASSIFIED: Spy Stories from the Officers Who Were There, former career CIA analyst and non-proliferation expert Maja Lehnus tells the story of one of the intelligence community’s most important discoveries of the last decade – a covert nuclear reactor in the Syrian desert, likely built with support from North Korea. Lehnus tells Morell how U.S. intelligence agencies first acquired intelligence indicating cooperation between North Korean nuclear entities...
May 26, 2021•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, Wes Morgan, military affairs reporter and author of The Hardest Place: The American Military Adrift in Afghanistan's Pech Valley joins Michael Morell to discuss his time as an embedded reporter with U.S. troops in Afghanistan’s Pech Valley. Morgan describes the Pech as a microcosm representing the overall war in Afghanistan, and explains why a lack of information-sharing led to repeated mistakes. Morgan details the tensions between the counterterrorism an...
May 19, 2021•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with Mike Orlando, the acting director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, about the range of foreign espionage threats facing the United States from adversaries and challengers like Russia and China. Orlando and Morell discuss how "non-traditional collectors" within the academic and business sectors are increasingly tasked by foreign governments to steal intellectual property and other secrets. Orlando, a c...
May 12, 2021•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell interviews Cliff Chanin, Executive Vice President and Deputy Director for Museum Programs at the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City about the exhibition, 'Revealed: The Hunt for bin Laden.' Chanin and Morell take an audio tour of the exhibition, reviewing key artifacts and the stories behind them. Chanin explains how the museum worked with U.S. intelligence agencies and the military to tell the story of the years-long hunt for the w...
May 05, 2021•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with Chris Johnson, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a leading expert on China, about the Biden Administration's rhetoric about and actions toward China. Johnson outlines the leading challenges facing the new administration and the views from both Washington and Beijing. He explains how diplomacy has been complicated by some of the scorched earth policies of the Trump administration and dom...
Apr 28, 2021•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence Chair and Former CEO of Google Eric Schmidt joins Michael Morell to discuss the importance of investing in artificial intelligence as a national security priority. Schmidt believes China is likely to catch up to the United States in a few years in its artificial intelligence capabilities. He outlines how intelligence and national defense can benefit from superiority in these technologies and the bene...
Apr 21, 2021•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, President Biden's Deputy Homeland Security Advisor at the National Security Council Russ Travers speaks with host Michael Morell about the varied and diffuse array of terrorist threats to the United States. A career intelligence officer and former acting and deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Travers offers a history of Islamist terrorism and describes how splintered, geographically dispersed networks tied to ISIS and Al Qaeda contin...
Apr 14, 2021•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, guest host Sandy Winnefeld interviews Frances Townsend, former Homeland Security Advisor to President George W. Bush, and Adm. James Stavridis (ret.), former Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, about their work for the American Edge Project, a political advocacy group that promotes investment in U.S. innovation and technology. Townsend and Stavridis explain the links between technological advancement and national security, and explain why China's autocratic...
Apr 07, 2021•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with Ambassador William Roebuck, the former Deputy Special Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, former U.S. ambassador to Bahrain, and current executive vice president of the Arab Gulf States Institute. Roebuck provides an intricate history of the conflict in Syria and U.S.-led efforts to battle back the ISIS caliphate. He details his work with U.S. special forces and partners on the ground and discusses the involvement...
Mar 31, 2021•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with Sunil John, a leading public relations executive in the Middle East and the driving force behind the Arab Youth Survey, a seminal piece of public opinion research on the views of the largest demographic group in the region. John explains how the survey is administered – in person and across 17 countries – and how it has for years provided an incisive and nuanced look at the thinking of the more than two hundred million youn...
Mar 24, 2021•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, Michael Morell speaks with Jamie Metzl, geopolitical expert and technology futurist, who argues for transparency and access to resources from China in order to find the origins of COVID-19. Metzl believes the most likely origin of COVID-19 is a lab leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Metzl, a WHO supporter, emphasizes the need for a full, transparent investigation instead of the previous joint expert committee investigation with the Chinese governm...
Mar 17, 2021•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell interviews Robert "Bob" Pape, a political science professor at the University of Chicago specializing in international security affairs. He is also the director of the Chicago Project on Security and Threats where he leads a team producing fascinating new research on the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, amongst other things. Pape puts into context how truly historic the storming of the Capitol was and warns of the movement further con...
Mar 10, 2021•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, in partnership with the Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy, and International Security, Michael Morell spoke with Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff about the politicization of intelligence and the need to “reset” the committee. Schiff details his support of an airline crash style review to investigate the Solar Winds hack and urges the intelligence community to address the challenge posed by the rise of China. To lear...
Mar 03, 2021•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell interviews one of the world's top intelligence officials from down under, Nick Warner. Warner has held senior positions in Australia's diplomatic service, its defense ministry, and its intelligence services. He also served as the director of Australia's equivalent to the CIA, an agency known as ASIS or the Australian Secret Intelligence Service. Warner tells listeners the path he took to becoming a top intelligence official, the import...
Feb 24, 2021•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters with Michael Morell, author and adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations Gayle Tzemach Lemmon talks about her new book The Daughters of Kobani. The new release tells the story of the Women’s Protection Unit (YPJ) and their fight against ISIS alongside American forces. Lemmon discusses what she describes as the most far reaching experiment in women's equality in the least likely place in the world. To learn more about listener data and our ...
Feb 17, 2021•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters DECLASSIFIED: Spy Stories from the Agents Who Were There, host Michael Morell interviews Norman "Norm" Roule. Roule spent 34 years working in the CIA where he led as the Iran Mission Manager for the entire intelligence community. After leaving the CIA, Roule joined ODNI as the National Intelligence Manager for Iran from 2008-2017. Currently, he is serving as a Senior Adviser to the Counter Extremism Project and United Against Nuclear Iran. In this episode,...
Feb 10, 2021•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, Michael Morell spoke last month with Lynn Rusten, Vice President of the Nuclear Threat Initiative and leader of the Global Nuclear Policy Program, about the state of nuclear proliferation in the world. Rusten warned that experts are not focused on the existential threat of nuclear weapons, examines current nuclear treaties, and recommends starting by repairing alliances. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacy...
Feb 03, 2021•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell interviews former national security officials John Hannah and David Adesnik, now with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Together, they joined forces as co-editors and have just published a compilation of a set of essays called “From Trump to Biden: The Way Forward for U.S. National Security.” Hannah and Adesnik highlight their concerns for where the nation's national security stands today, and name pros-and-cons the new Biden ...
Jan 27, 2021•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, Michael Morell speaks with Dr. Ken Wickiser, a biochemist and the Associate Dean of Research at the United States Military Academy at West Point, about his piece “Engineered Pathogens and Unnatural Biological Weapons: The Future Threat of Synthetic Biology.” Wickiser describes the growing influence of synthetic biology and what can happen if it gets in the wrong hands. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyin...
Jan 20, 2021•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, Michael Morell speaks with Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-VA). Spanberger, who previously served as an operations officers for the United States Postal Service and as an operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency, and was inside the House chamber during the assault on the U.S. Capitol. She discusses how her CIA training prepared her for this unprecedented moment in U.S. history, and describes the crucial moments leading up to the evacuati...
Jan 13, 2021•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, Michael Morell speaks with Will Wechsler, the director of Middle East programs at the Atlantic Council, about why the Middle East is still of strategic importance to the United States. Wechsler discusses the perception in the Middle East that the U.S. is withdrawing, the influx of young men in the region, and the potential for more negotiations after the Abraham Accords. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacy...
Jan 06, 2021•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell interviews Marc Polymeropoulos, former senior CIA intelligence service officer who had a 26-year career in public service. Marc looks back to the day that seven service members were lost to suicide bomber Humam al-Balawi, who at the time, was working as a double agent. Marc talks about why it was important to interview al-Balawi in person, the mistakes that were made, and what important lessons he still keeps with him. To learn more ab...
Dec 30, 2020•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell interviews director Bryan Fogel. Fogel won an Academy Award for his last film Icarus, and now previews his latest film, The Dissident: The Untold Story of the Murder That Shook the World. Set to be released on January 8th, the movie is based the murder of beloved Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Fogel describes how trust played a key role in obtaining his unprecedented access to Turkish intelligence transcripts on the murder, his insp...
Dec 23, 2020•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Intelligence Matters, Michael Morell speaks with former General Counsel at NSA Glenn Gerstell about why tackling disinformation on social media is a national security issue. Glenn outlines legal, technological and policy approaches the new administration can take to combat the spread of disinformation on social media. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podca...
Dec 16, 2020•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
