Britain's Next PM, AI's Counterintelligence Problem, and Ukraine's Warrior-Witches | Espresso Martini

Britain's Next PM, AI's Counterintelligence Problem, and Ukraine's Warrior-Witches | Espresso Martini

Britain is changing prime ministers again: Keir Starmer is out after two years, with Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham the favourite to replace him — inheriting an underfunded defence plan and the wreckage of Peter Mandelson's Epstein-tainted appointment, all of it driven by the fear of Reform. Chris and Matt then ask what happens when the mole is a machine, using Anthropic's Claude blackmail experiment and Melissa Graves's Lawfare essay to reframe AI in intelligence work as a counterintelligence problem. Finally, Ken Harbaugh's Atlantic report on Ukraine's "warrior-witches" — women running honeypots and directing drone strikes from occupied ground, where the oldest tradecraft still wins.

Trigger Warning: In the last story after the second AD Break there is mention of violence against women in the Russian War on Ukraine

Subscribe and share to stay ahead in the world of intelligence, global issues, and current affairs.

Take our audience survey: https://forms.gle/eFx59XntNtiKzNQa8

Support Secrets and Spies

Become a “Friend of the Podcast” on Patreon for £3/$4: https://www.patreon.com/SecretsAndSpies

Buy merchandise from our Redbubble shop: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/60934996

Buy us a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/secretsandspies

Subscribe to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDVB23lrHr3KFeXq4VU36dg

For more information about the podcast, check out our website: https://secretsandspiespodcast.com

Articles discussed in today’s episode

"Keir Starmer to step down as prime minister two years after historic election victory" by Pippa Crerar | The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/22/keir-starmer-resigns-as-prime-minister

"How UK's Keir Starmer went from election landslide to downfall" by Jill Lawless & Pan Pylas | Associated Press: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/how-uks-keir-starmer-went-from-election-landslide-to-downfall

"Andy Burnham soft-launches his premiership" by Dan Bloom | Politico Europe: https://www.politico.eu/article/andy-burnham-uk-soft-launches-his-premiership/

"Starmer backs 5 billion drone overhaul for UK forces in DIP" by George Allison | UK Defence Journal: https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/starmer-backs-5-billion-drone-overhaul-for-uk-forces-in-dip/

"The Next Counterintelligence Problem Is Artificial" by Melissa Graves | Lawfare: https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-next-counterintelligence-problem-is-artificial

"The Warrior-Witches of Ukraine’s Resistance" by Ken Harbaugh | The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/06/underground-intelligence-network-russia-ukraine/687578/

Connect with us on social media

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/secretsandspies.bsky.social

Instagram: https://instagram.com/secretsandspies

Facebook: https://facebook.com/secretsandspies

Spoutible: https://spoutible.com/SecretsAndSpies

Twitter/X: https://x.com/SecretsAndSpies

Follow Chris and Matt on Bluesky:

https://bsky.app/profile/chriscarrfilm.bsky.social

https://bsky.app/profile/mattfulton.net

Secrets and Spies is produced by Films & Podcasts LTD: https://filmsandpodcasts.co.uk/

Music by Andrew R. Bird

Photos by Alamy, UK Government

Secrets and Spies sits at the intersection of intelligence, covert action, real-world espionage, and broader geopolitics in a way that is digestible but serious. Hosted by filmmaker Chris Carr and writer Matt Fulton, each episode examines the very topics that real intelligence officers and analysts consider on a daily basis through the lens of global events and geopolitics, featuring expert insights from former spies, authors, and journalists.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(351)

RAF Fairford, Flydubai, and the FBI | Espresso Martini

RAF Fairford, Flydubai, and the FBI | Espresso Martini

Chris and Matt start at RAF Fairford, where the arrest of five men outside the US bomber base, their swift release on bail, and a widening inquiry into possible Iranian involvement were followed by th...

10 Loka 1h 3min

What the Next 10 Years Look Like: China, Russia, Europe and AI | Sam Lichtenstein RANE

What the Next 10 Years Look Like: China, Russia, Europe and AI | Sam Lichtenstein RANE

Sam Lichtenstein, director of analysis at the global risk intelligence firm RANE, returns to walk Chris through RANE's 2025–2035 decade forecast: a multipolar world in which no great power has the wil...

3 Loka 59min

Russia’s worldview, disinformation, and the politics of influence | Dave Troy

Russia’s worldview, disinformation, and the politics of influence | Dave Troy

Every week, the Security Council of the Russian Federation publishes a digest of world events as Moscow sees them. Investigative journalist Dave Troy has been reading them closely, and he argues they ...

26 Syys 1h 7min

The Stay Behinds: Sweden’s Cold War Guardians | Johan Wennström

The Stay Behinds: Sweden’s Cold War Guardians | Johan Wennström

Beginning in 1949, officially non-aligned Sweden did something it kept secret for half a century: in close cooperation with the CIA and MI6, it built a clandestine civilian resistance network meant to...

19 Syys 1h 9min

The Nerd Reich | Gil Durán

The Nerd Reich | Gil Durán

Journalist Gil Durán spent years in political consulting before returning to reporting, and eventually, to the beat that became the subject of his book, The Nerd Reich. He joins Chris to lay out his c...

12 Syys 59min

Ratcliffe’s Moscow Warning, Iran’s Long Reach, and an Alliance on Edge | Espresso Martini

Ratcliffe’s Moscow Warning, Iran’s Long Reach, and an Alliance on Edge | Espresso Martini

Chris and Matt open season eleven, and Secrets & Spies’ tenth anniversary, with three stories from a busy August. First, CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s trip to Moscow, a rare visit by an agency chief s...

5 Syys 1h 16min

A Rebel, a Traitor, and the Birth of the IRA | Rory Carroll

A Rebel, a Traitor, and the Birth of the IRA | Rory Carroll

Before Bletchley Park, there was Reginald "Blinker" Hall, the Admiralty’s mercurial intelligence chief whose codebreakers read Germany’s wireless traffic during World War I, giving Britain a front-row...

29 Elo 42min

Ortiz’s War: The Most Decorated Marine in the OSS | Nicholas Reynolds & Katie S. Sanders

Ortiz’s War: The Most Decorated Marine in the OSS | Nicholas Reynolds & Katie S. Sanders

Peter J. Ortiz was the most battle-decorated member of the OSS, America’s wartime forerunner to the CIA, and one of the most decorated Marines of the Second World War. In 1944, the former French Forei...

22 Elo 48min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

uutiscast
vallattomat
aikalisa
politiikan-puskaradio
rss-viihde-media
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
rss-vaalirankkurit-podcast
rss-voi-venaja
the-ulkopolitist
tervo-halme
otetaan-yhdet
rss-asiastudio
rss-kaikki-uusiksi
rss-ulkopoditiikkaa
rss-toisten-taskuilla
rss-vihrea-tuuma
rss-raha-talous-ja-politiikka
rss-girls-finish-f1rst
rss-podme-livebox