Covert Contact Iraq’s Consolidation and the Kurds 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.
Iraq 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 lot has transpired since our last chat and we plan to follow this short exchange with a more in depth discussion on Covert Contact soon.
Covert Contact How Will ISIS Evolve and How Will Our Response Evolve with Them? In episode 45 I’m joined again by Patrick Skinner, Director of Special Projects for The Soufan Group. Patrick is a former CIA Case Officer, with a background in federal law enforcement, who
Covert Contact Covert Contact Wraps up 2015 with William J. Tucker Regular contributor William J. Tucker joined me for the final episode of 2015. We discussed holiday terror alerts, Poland’s unusual raid of a NATO-linked counterintelligence center that it operated with Slovakia, the
Covert Contact The San Bernardino Attack, Small Scale Terrorism, and ISIS The San Bernardino attack is an odd one in many ways but understanding it is critical as this model of small scale attacks, directed at soft targets, and using readily available weapons is going to be a persistent and growing threat.
Covert Contact What You Are Getting Wrong About ISIS Northeastern University professor and terrorism theorist Max Abrahms excels at poking holes in the conventional wisdom and he joins me again in episode 26 to do exactly that. I initially asked Max to
ISIS The Return of the Gold Dinar: What is ISIS Up To? ISIS is extremely proud of their latest video but, trust me, it’s a bit of a snorefest. But, to be fair, it’s also very different. The horrific violence they’re known
Covert Contact Why Daesh's Social Media Campaign is a Massive Failure In episode 7 of the Covert Contact podcast I’m pushing back at the notion that Daesh’s social media use is going to be a significant driver in their long-term success. The
Iraq Iraq's Ambassador to the United States, Lukman Faily, Updates Blogs of War on the ISIL Threat Ambassador Faily was kind enough to take some additional questions. I originally submitted these questions to him the day before there were widespread reports of, if not a coup, at least a difficult
Iraq The Islamic State Will Not Survive - Despite Its Big Gains I am firmly in the camp which believes that ISIS, now known as the Islamic State, has overplayed its hand. They’re smart, organized, well-led, and now resource rich but they are also
Iraq ISIS Declares Caliphate - Rebrands as "The Islamic State" It was clear that ISIS was on a mad dash to consolidate power. They have worked overtime to leverage the spoils of war, new recruits and recent territorial gains. But yesterday’s announcement
Iraq A Brief Chat with Iraq's Ambassador to the United States, Lukman Faily Ambassador Faily and I have traded tweets for some time now but I am honored that he agreed to take time out what must be an overwhelming schedule to answer a very short
ISIS Jihadists Go for the Lulz I don’t seek out media appearances but last week was a busy one for me. I was interviewed by CBS News, BBC World Service, Jonathan Green of Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Sunday
ISIS Social Media and Warfare: Till Death Us Do Part Alexander Trowbridge was kind enough to interview me for his piece on ISIS’ use of social media. I think he did a great job of capturing what is interesting about this group’s
Iraq Why The Spectacular Success of ISIS Will Be Its Eventual Undoing No Western politician wants to commit forces to Iraq right now. The world has demonstrated an amazingly high tolerance for terrorism and bloodshed in the country. And the current leadership is showing every
Iraq Understanding ISIS and Their Rampage Through Iraq There is a widespread tendency for people to refer to any frightening group of Islamists as al-Qaeda. It’s sort of like Texans referring to any sort of soft drink as a “coke”
