Washington Takes Aim at the Confucius Institute | Episode 105

Today’s decision to force the Confucius Institute to register as a foreign mission is the subject of my regular Thursday evening counterintelligence chat with Covert Contact regular William Tucker. We look at why it was necessary and where we, and China, might go from here.

You can follow William Tucker on Twitter @tuckerwj

Online Security: Avoiding a Personal October Surprise | Episode 100

Infosec professional and security blogger Scot Terban joins me to discuss the recent LinkedIn spying case, the degrading environment in social media, and strategies for improving your personal security so that you don’t get targeted, compromised, and swept into your own (or someone else’s) October surprise.

The Poisoning of Sergei Skripal | Episode 94

Fred Burton, former deputy chief of counterterrorism at the Diplomatic Security Service and the author of GHOST: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent, Chasing Shadows: A Special Agent’s Lifelong Hunt to Bring a Cold War Assassin to Justice, and Under Fire: The Untold Story of the Attack in Benghazi joined me shortly after the attack on Sergei Skripal. Skripal. a former Russian double agent now living in the UK, was poisoned with a Russian novichok nerve agent developed during the Soviet era. We look at the many implications of this brazen attack, security issues surrounding it, and the need for a serious response.

Team Leadership & Ethics | Episode 93

In his 3+ years as Chief of the Analysis Bureau at New Jersey’s Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness Dean Baratta led a very capable team of intelligence analysts. Dean was a critical part of a small team that was widely recognized for its innovative approaches. Now, as he moves on to another project, he reflects on leadership, lessons learned, team building, and the challenge of public service.

You can follow NJOHSP on Twitter @NJOHSP and access their unclassified intelligence products at njhomelandsecurity.gov. Their podcast, Intelligence, Unclassified is available on iTunes and other platforms.

The Jerry Chun Shing Lee Case | Episode 92

William J. Tucker, a regular contributor on counterintelligence and security topics for Blogs of War and Covert Contact, returns for a look at the Jerry Chun Shing Lee case. Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a former CIA case officer, is suspected by many to have compromised CIA activities in China but has only been charged with the less serious crime of unlawful retention of national defense information.

Terrorists and Technology | Episode 85

Levi West, Director of Terrorism Studies at Charles Sturt University in Canberra, returns to look at how terrorists leverage (or don’t leverage) emerging apps and platforms ranging from social media, to encryption, to cryptocurrencies. We do our best to cut through the hype and look at the very real limits and challenges terrorists face when they become early adopters or even sophisticated users of networks where states have a very real advantage.