Social Media: Tools of Liberation or Repression?
Social media—Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and others—are held up as powerful tools for peoples trying to overthrow police states. Iran’s “Twitter Revolution” electrified the world and the Egyptian gove...
1 Feb 201129min
Intelligence and Analysis in the National Football League
In 2007, the New England Patriots were caught videotaping the New York Jet’s sideline defensive signals. That was illegal, but it’s remarkable what is allowed, even routine. From surveillance films, t...
26 Jan 201123min
Spying on the Soviet Army in East Germany
During the Cold War, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France each had a “military liaison mission” authorized to roam East Germany. While the fiction was that they existed to coordinate mili...
5 Jan 201137min
A Young Woman on the Front Lines of the Cold War
Shirley Perry was recruited to join the CIA in 1951, a time when applications were handed out “under the counter” at the university job office, and when the CIA lived in rodent-infested temporary buil...
17 Dec 201025min
David Kahn on Codebreaking from Ancient Times to the Internet Era
David Kahn is the author of the classic book The Codebreakers. When it was first published in 1967, the National Security Agency was concerned that the book might reveal sensitive secrets. Over the ...
6 Dec 201022min
The Real History of MI6
Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, better known as MI6, is James Bond’s home agency and one of the world’s most secretive organizations. The British government did not even admit that it existed u...
1 Nov 201032min
Escape from Tehran, 1979: Part II
American diplomats Mark and Cora Lijek were hiding at the home of a Canadian diplomat as the Iranian Revolution swirled around them. Peter continues his discussion with the Lijeks and also welcomes To...
14 Okt 201026min
Escape from Tehran, 1979: Part I
When Iranian militants stormed the US Embassy in Tehran, Mark and Cora Lijek and four other American diplomats slipped out a side exit and found themselves on the run in a hostile country. Before long...
28 Sep 201027min
