Andy Priest on the Importance of Developing New International Crisis Policing Models | Episode 14

Policing is on the agenda again in episode 14. In this episode I talk to Andy Priest about his international rapid intervention concept that focuses on providing advanced police support during critically destabilizing events. Andy stresses the importance of building this capability now so that participating nations can draw on a stabilizing resource in an inevitable crisis rather than over-reacting, over-reaching, or stretching existing resources to the breaking point. It’s an important concept that will only get more important if the threat of Charlie Hebdo style attacks (or other destabilizing attacks) scale up in impact and frequency. Preserving individual liberty could prove challenging in such an environment and Andy makes the case that clearly segregating the roles of police, military, and specialized response forces is work that should be occurring now – before the crisis.

You can follow Andy Priest on Twitter @Priestic1. Andy blogs at https://medium.com/@Priestic1.

Scriven King on Balancing Security, Values, and Public Perception in Modern Policing | Episode 13

In episode 13 I speak to security blogger/podcaster, and Blogs of War contributor, Scriven King about some of the challenges in modern policing. Security professionals, police included, are scrambling to understand rapidly evolving technologies and threats. Evolving to meet those threats, and leverage those technologies, without significantly changing what it means to be a police officer, without undermining the ideals of the profession, and without permanently damaging public perception of the profession is proving difficult. Even greater challenges loom on the horizon so the time for serious apolitical dialogue is now.

You can follow Scriven on Twitter @ScrivenLKing, listen to his security podcast, The Gate Shack, and read his thoughts on security at his blog, The Security Dialogue.

Crypto Wars: Winners, Losers, and the Case for Compromise | Episode 3

This week I’m focusing on a single critical topic – the struggle between privacy advocates and governments over cryptography. This is a sensitive topic and there are a lot of extreme positions on the matter. I attempt to take a balanced look at both sides of the issue, offer my thoughts about who might win the war, and I explore what the eventual outcome might mean for intelligence professionals. However, I also argue that if either side “wins” the war without understanding and accommodating the positions of the other, we all stand to lose.

This is a slightly shorter and more focused episode but I’m exploring this format with the intention of releasing more than one episode per week. Please let me know what you think about the format change. You can do that on the Covert Contact Facebook Page or by connecting with me on Twitter @CovertContact.