Iran in the Age of Trump
Phillip Smyth is a researcher at the University of Maryland who focuses on Iran-backed Shiite proxy groups. He is also well-known for his Hizballah Cavalcade project »
Securing Data, Communications, and Identity with Keybase
Keybase is a small but ambitious company that aims to make cyrpto available and virtually seamless for everyone. Their approach to this problem, a massively challenging »
Egyptian, Muslim, American
My friend Angie Gad joins me for episode 68 of Covert Contact to discuss growing up as a first generation Egyptian-American Muslim. We cover a lot »
The Manchester Attack
The past few months have been extremely busy. I joined the Institute for the Future as a 2017 Future for Good Fellow (more on that later) »
Intelligence Analysis: Feedback, Bias, and Other Challenges
Dean Baratta, Chief of the Analysis Bureau at New Jersey’s Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, is part of a team that continues to take »
Warren Ellis at Google
I'm a huge fan of Warren Ellis, his no-nonsense views on technology, and the way he weaves it all into his work. He is able to »
Counterintelligence in the Trump Era
William J. Tucker, regular contributor on counterintelligence topics for Blogs of War and Covert Contact, joins me to discuss the unprecedented challenge the Trump presidency poses »
Blogs of War Gets a New Look (and a New Platform)
Regular readers might remember the blog moving from Wordpress to the Silvrback platform in 2015. I loved Silvrback's minimalism, use of markdown, and low administrative overhead. »
Dereliction of Duty
Brian Christopher Darling has served in the United States Army in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Qatar. He has master’s degrees in Liberal Studies and Public Service »
Exploring Divergent Options with Phil Walter
Divergent Options is a new effort to build a body of concise analysis (1,000 words or less) on national security topics from a global talent »
Ambassador Lukman Faily on Iraq's Future, the Travel Ban, and ISIS
Lukman Faily served as Iraq’s ambassador to the United States for three years. He left that post, and the Iraqi Foreign Service, in 2016. A »
Understanding the Pace and Scope of Technology Driven Change with Andrew Trabulsi
Covert Contact is back after a bit of break! Andrew Trabulsi, entrepreneur, consultant, and co-editor of Warlords, Inc.: Black Markets, Broken States, and the Rise of »
Covert Contact Returns - And Other News
Covert Contact returned today with a new episode that was originally recorded (but not released) in October. Andrew Trabulsi joins me to discuss the challenges inherent »
Estonian Defense League: Standing Against Russian Aggression Despite the Odds
Tiny Estonia has only one potential path to war but it is a terrifying one: Estonia, a NATO member with a population of 1.3 million »
Book Excerpt: The Embassy: A Story of War and Diplomacy
The Embassy is a graphic, cinematic retelling of the harrowing climax of the Liberian civil war and the U.S. and West African role in ending »
