Intelligence Failures, eDiplomacy, and Agent Storm

In episode one of the Covert Contact podcast I am looking at the notion of intelligence failures and why they’re often more complicated than they seem – or not failures at all. I’m also taking a look at the new biography of Murad Storm, the towering red-haired Danish agent who infiltrated al Qaeda. Agent Storm: My Life Inside al Qaeda and the CIA is a fascinating read that raises many questions about our ability to infiltrate radical Islamic groups. And then a discussion about the darker side of eDiplomacy. Do we really want world leaders trolling each other on Twitter? I close out the show, as will be the norm, with “Five to Follow” – a short roundup of the national security, intelligence, diplomacy, and tech experts that make Twitter so interesting.