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.

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.

We've covered Dean's work, and management in the intelligence space in general, in three other episodes:

• Episode 66: Intelligence Analysis: Feedback, Bias, and Other Challenges
• Episode 53: Building an Intel Shop from the Ground Up
• Episode 48: Intelligence at the State and Local Level

This episode also includes another short recollection from Fred Burton. Fred is the former deputy chief of counterterrorism at the Diplomatic Security Service and the author of the best-selling memoir GHOST: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent. His other works include 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.

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.

William J. Tucker, Stratfor Global Fellow, and 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.

This episode also includes another short recollection from Fred Burton. Fred is the former deputy chief of counterterrorism at the Diplomatic Security Service and the author of the best-selling memoir GHOST: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent. His other works include 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.

In episode 91 security researcher and Stratfor Global Fellow Scot Terban (AKA Krypt3ia) joins me to discuss North Korea's sophisticated exploitation of cryptocurrency.

This episode also includes another short recollection from Fred Burton. Fred is the former deputy chief of counterterrorism at the Diplomatic Security Service and the author of the best-selling memoir GHOST: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent. His other works include 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.

Andrew Trabulsi (entrepreneur, consultant, and co-editor of Warlords, Inc.: Black Markets, Broken States, and the Rise of the Warlord Entrepreneur) joins me to discuss misinformation, the technology and platforms facilitating it, and the challenges faced in combatting it.

This episode also includes another short recollection from Fred Burton. Fred is the former deputy chief of counterterrorism at the Diplomatic Security Service and the author of the best-selling memoir GHOST: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent. His other works include 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.

Phil Walter joins returns to the show to look at how the U.S. processes and evaluates the threat posed by North Korea. We try to separate the rhetoric and action to cut through the hype. We examine American concepts of security and risk and how emotional responses drive both. Is war with North Korea likely? Is it justified when weighing some of the worst possible outcomes?

Phil has served in the military, the intelligence community, and the inter-agency. He is also the found of Divergent Options. His written works are catalogued on Storify and archived at www.philwalter1058.com. I highly recommend them if you are at all interested in national security issues. You can follow him on Twitter @philwalter1058.

Protecting the British royal family is incredibly difficult. 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 joins me to break down some of these security efforts and the challenges he faced on the job.

Andrew Trabulsi (entrepreneur, consultant, and co-editor of Warlords, Inc.: Black Markets, Broken States, and the Rise of the Warlord Entrepreneur) joins me to discuss Cryptocurrency investing. We look at how blockchain and cryptocurrency models have evolved since the introduction of Bitcoin. For those new to the technologies and markets we share the easiest way to get started, important things to consider before you do (security, risk, etc), and how we evaluate cryptocurrencies and the organizations behind them. We haven’t covered everything you need to know in this episode but it’s a good place to start if you want to learn more about a fascinating, volatile, and transformational space.

Some of the projects and companies mentioned include Coinbase. Stellar, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, Bitcoin, and CoinMarketCap.

This episode also includes another short recollection from Fred Burton. Fred is the former deputy chief of counterterrorism at the Diplomatic Security Service and the author of the best-selling memoir GHOST: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent. His other works include 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.

Author Howard Kaplan returns to Covert Contact to discuss Bullets of Palestine (the second novel in his Jerusalem Spy Series), chronic tensions in the Middle East, the prospect for reconciliation, Abu Nidal, and his approach to writing.

Longtime listeners will recognize Howard from episode 21 where we discussed the first novel in the series.

This episode also includes another short recollection from Fred Burton. Fred is the former deputy chief of counterterrorism at the Diplomatic Security Service and the author of the best-selling memoir GHOST: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent. His other works include 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.

Levi West, Director of Terrorism Studies at Charles Sturt University in Canberra, returns to look at how terrorists leverage (or don’t) 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.

This episode also includes another short recollection from Fred Burton. Fred is the former deputy chief of counterterrorism at the Diplomatic Security Service and the author of the best-selling memoir GHOST: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent. His other works include 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.

On December 5, 2001, prominent Afghans met under the auspices of the United Nations (UN) in Bonn, Germany. The purpose of this meeting was to come to an agreement regarding the provisional arrangements in Afghanistan pending the re-establishment of permanent government institutions. The Bonn Agreement as it is known, was followed by a Declaration by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on September 6, 2006, a Declaration by NATO and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on an Enduring Partnership on November 20, 2010, and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Chicago Summit Declaration on Afghanistan on May 21, 2012. Of note is that none of these foundational documents mention the Afghan Taliban and all of them speak to the pursuit of a democratic Afghanistan.

With the U.S. and its Allies and Partners assisting the Afghan Government, the Afghan Taliban cannot achieve victory militarily. Simultaneously the Afghan Government, with assistance provided by the U.S. and its Allies and Partners, have been unable to militarily defeat the Afghan Taliban despite over 16 years of effort. With both sides lacking the will and capability to achieve a military victory, reconciliation between the Afghan Government and the Afghan Taliban is the only solution. What this reconciliation consists of is a point of debate.

Reconciliation between the Afghan Government and the Afghan Taliban requires the Afghan Taliban believing they can successfully achieve their desired ends using other ways and means. In essence, the Afghan Taliban must value the Afghan Government and its presidential system, with a strong executive, a bicameral legislature, and a judiciary, as the way to change Afghanistan, instead of fighting. If the Afghan Taliban changed their value system to Afghan Government processes instead of fighting, reconciliation would likely involve positioning members of the Afghan Taliban somewhere within the Afghan Government.

As of this writing, the Afghan Taliban controls or contests 45% of Afghan districts. Based upon this level of Afghan Taliban control, it is unknown how many positions reconciled Afghan Taliban members would receive within the Afghan Government. However, it is from these Afghan Government positions that the Afghan Taliban could influence the political process to achieve their desired ends. Afghan Taliban ends have included the desire to drive foreign forces from Afghanistan, topple the Afghan Government, reinstitute a political system based upon a highly doctrinaire version of Islam, and support for violent extremist organizations like Al-Qaeda.

With reconciliation between the Afghan Taliban and the Afghan Government being the goal, it is clear that the U.S. does not object to Afghan Taliban ends, but instead its ways and means. As the foundational UN and NATO documents governing efforts in Afghanistan do not mention the Afghan Taliban, but do speak to pursuit of a democratic Afghanistan, the Afghan Taliban should feel as though it is free to pursue its ends as long as it does so through the ways and means of the Afghan Government political process instead of through fighting. While Afghan Taliban reconciliation may be the best path to achieve a sovereign, secure and democratic Afghanistan, this does not ease the burden of a military casualty assistance officer who may have to tell the family of a military member killed in Afghanistan that their son or daughter didn’t die fighting the ideas the Afghan Taliban stand for, but instead died trying to convince the Afghan Taliban to use a political process instead of a gun.

Phil Walter has served in the military, the intelligence community, and the inter-agency. The views expressed here are those of the author alone and do not contain information of an official nature. His website is philwalter1058.com.

William J. Tucker, a regular contributor on counterintelligence and security topics for Blogs of War and Covert Contact, joins me for a deep dive on economic espionage. Organizations face far more risk from this threat than they realize, or want to realize, and most are no match for an interested foreign intelligence service. We discuss these threats, share some case studies, and look at what companies can do to better protect themselves.

This episode also includes another short recollection from Fred Burton. Fred is the former deputy chief of counterterrorism at the Diplomatic Security Service and the author of the best-selling memoir GHOST: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent. His other works include 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.

Covert Contact now has a Patreon page. With your support I will be able to ramp up show production (eventually producing episodes daily) and release patron only episodes and updates. Reasonable, informed, and non-partisan discussion of critical issues has never been more important. I hope that you will help push Covert Contact to the next level.

Iraq has made surprising gains in its effort to undermine or eliminate Kurdish autonomy since mid-October when we first visited this issue. Phillip Smyth joins me again to look at recent developments and the potential implications.

Phillip Smyth is a researcher at the University of Maryland who focuses on Iran-backed Shiite proxy groups. He is also widely known for his Hizballah Cavalcade project on Jihadology.

This episode also includes another short recollection from Fred Burton. Fred is the former deputy chief of counterterrorism at the Diplomatic Security Service and the author of the best-selling memoir GHOST: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent. His other works include 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.

Covert Contact now has a Patreon page. With your support I will be able to ramp up show production (eventually producing episodes daily) and release patron only episodes and updates. Reasonable, informed, and non-partisan discussion of critical issues has never been more important. I hope that you will help push Covert Contact to the next level.

In June (which seems far more distant than it really is) I spent some time at Jigsaw (The Google incubator focused on tackling tough global security issues) contributing to critical discussions about bots. Our small group looked at them from several different perspectives but I was part of an even smaller team (listed below) that focused on how these tools are leveraged to acheive political aims. I don't think that I need to explain why this issue is important at this time.

I've discussed aspects of this problem on Twitter and on Covert Contact for quite some time - mostly from the perspective of how it was, and is, impacting the United States politically and socially. The work with Jigsaw grew out of my fellowship at IFTF and discussions with IFTF co-fellow Samuel Woolley (who now leads the Digital Intelligence Lab there) about specific findings from my own monitoring in 2015 and later.

Six-ish months later, some of our work is now surfacing at Motherboard in 'The Bots That Are Changing Politics'. It is a foundational piece, rather than a deep data-driven dive into bot activity, but it has become increasingly clear that wrapping an evolving taxonomy around political bots is an essential first step if we hope to develop successful strategies aimed at mitigating their impact over the long-term.

If you want to stay on top of this problem I can't recommend the work of my co-authors on this piece enough. Follow them to stay on the bleeding edge of developments in computational propaganda and efforts to counter it:

• Renee DiResta (@noupside) Founding member of Haven, 2017 Presidential Leadership Scholar.
• Jonathon Morgan (@jonathanmorgan) Founder and CEO, NewKnowledge.io
• Lisa Maria Neudert (@lmneudert Researcher, Computational Propaganda Project, University of Oxford
• Ben Nimmo (@benimmo) Information defense fellow, the Digital Forensic Research Lab, Future Europe Initiative, Atlantic Council
• Samuel Woolley (@samuelwoolley) Research director, DigIntel Lab, Institute for the Future, researcher, Computational Propaganda Project, University of Oxford

And if you appreciate the work I do here, and on Covert Contact, please consider supporting me on Patreon.

Australian freelance journalist, commentator, and broadcaster Stilgherrian is back to discuss the battle over encryption and the seemingly irreconcilable differences between governments and privacy advocates. The Australian government has been particularly active in this space lately and Stil has a lot to say about their approach to the problem and how they could drive responses across the G20.

Stilgherrian’s work can be found at ZDNet Australia, Crikey, Technology Spectator, CSO Online, the ABC’s Drum Opinion, the Sydney Morning Herald, and beyond. He appears frequently on Australian television and radio and, of course, has a podcast of his own – The 9PM Edict.

This episode includes another short recollection from Fred Burton. Fred is the former deputy chief of counterterrorism at the Diplomatic Security Service and the author of the best-selling memoir GHOST: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent. His other works include 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.

I kick off the show with a special announcement. Covert Contact now has a Patreon page. With your support I will be able to ramp up show production (eventually producing episodes daily) and release patron only episodes and updates. Reasonable, informed, and non-partisan discussion of critical issues has never been more important. I hope that you will help push Covert Contact to the next level.