Intelligence Matters

In this episode of Intelligence Matters, Wes Morgan, military affairs reporter and author ofThe Hardest Place: The American Military Adrift in Afghanistan's Pech Valleyjoins Michael Morell to discuss his time as an embedded reporter with U.S. troops in Afghanistan’s Pech Valley. Morgan describes the Pech as a microcosm representing the overall war in Afghanistan, and explains why a lack of information-sharing led to repeated mistakes.Morgan details the tensions between the counterterrorism and counterinsurgency missions as well as the challenges posed by the Afghan terrain.

In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with Mike Orlando, the acting director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, about the range of foreign espionage threats facing the United States from adversaries and challengers like Russia and China. Orlando and Morell discuss how "non-traditional collectors" within the academic and business sectors are increasingly tasked by foreign governments to steal intellectual property and other secrets. Orlando, a career FBI agent who has specialized in counterintelligence, explains how NCSC has sought to warn U.S. private sector entities against espionage threats that have evolved in range and sophistication.

In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell interviews Cliff Chanin, Executive Vice President and Deputy Director for Museum Programs at the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York City about the exhibition, 'Revealed: The Hunt for bin Laden.' Chanin and Morell take an audio tour of the exhibition, reviewing key artifacts and the stories behind them. Chanin explains how the museum worked with U.S. intelligence agencies and the military to tell the story of the years-long hunt for the world's most wanted terrorist.

In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with Chris Johnson, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a leading expert on China, about the Biden Administration's rhetoric about and actions toward China. Johnson outlines the leading challenges facing the new administration and the views from both Washington and Beijing. He explains how diplomacy has been complicated by some of the scorched earth policies of the Trump administration and domestic considerations related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Johnson and Morell also discuss the overall trajectory of U.S.-China relations in the coming years and decades.

In this episode of Intelligence Matters, National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence Chair and Former CEO of Google Eric Schmidt joins Michael Morell to discuss the importance of investing in artificial intelligence as a national security priority. Schmidt believes China is likely to catch up to the United States in a few years in its artificial intelligence capabilities. He outlines how intelligence and national defense can benefit from superiority in these technologies and the benefits of holding A.I. to American values.