Podcast

By: Peter L. Bergen

Oct 27 2023
Length: 46 mins

Another mass shooting is making headlines in the United States. With it comes the familiar feeling of powerlessness. But a rare peek inside the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit reveals that at least some shootings are being prevented, using techniques to identify people headed down the ‘pathway to violence.’ In the absence of gun reform, agents share what ordinary people can do to help. And a mother recounts the harrowing story of how she discovered her son’s plans to shoot up a school — and what happened next.

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When Ukrainian soldiers liberated the town of Bucha, Ukraine in March, 2022, news reports showed scenes of bodies lying in the streets. Human Rights Watch documented cases of summary executions. But on Russian state television, the news was presented as “fake,” a staged event. Objective reporting about the war in Ukraine is now against the law in Russia and journalists can’t even use the word “war” in their stories. But it wasn’t always like this. Two veteran Russian journalists who’ve experienced the changes firsthand, explain what has happened.

Narrated by: Peter L. Bergen
Oct 24 2023
Length: 41 mins
Podcast

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Episode 26: You Should Worry About A.I., but Not for the Reason You Think
Oct 17 2023
New tools like Chat GPT have sparked futuristic fears about intelligent machines wiping people out or, at the very least, taking all our jobs. But there’s a more immediate A.I. threat coming for us, as soon as the next election.

42 mins

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The Future of War
By: Peter L. Bergen
Narrated by: Peter L. Bergen
Oct 10 2023
Length: 39 mins
Podcast

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face,” Mike Tyson famously once said. Vladimir Putin thought he could defeat Ukraine in three days. How did he get it so wrong? And what can we learn from his mistake? Throughout history, according to one of the world’s leading experts, wars have almost never played out as predicted. But if that’s the case, how are we supposed to prepare for future wars — like a potential one with China?

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Twenty years ago, a massive statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down in Baghdad, a day that for many Iraqis signaled hope for the future of the country. But America’s invasion did not come with a coherent plan for what should come next, and those hopes were dashed. What is the legacy of U.S. intervention in the country today? Peter travels to Iraq to find out.

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The wild story of the ‘worst corporate data breach ever,’ the man who got blamed for it, and the sleuths who figured out who actually did it.

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RFK, Jr.’s views on vaccines and penchant for questioning official narratives have kept him on the fringes of American politics for years. His blistering critiques of the Biden Administration on everything from the pandemic to the war in Ukraine have earned him praise from Republicans. Now, he’s running to beat President Biden in the Democratic primaries. In this lengthy sit-down, Peter probes Kennedy’s unrelenting skepticism about a wide range of issues.

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On #InTheRoom Admiral William McRaven. He’s the Navy SEAL who literally wrote the book on special operations, and who says the best way to plan the raid for the world’s most wanted man — or do pretty much anything else — is to start by making your bed. https://www.audible.com/pd/Episode-21-Lessons-From-the-Man-Who-Got-bin-Laden-Podcast/B0BZ2M62FH?action_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp–

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It’s impossible to understand the events of 9/11 without understanding Osama bin Laden. Who was he? What was he hoping to achieve with the attack? How did the US track him down? And what can we learn from that story now? Three women – a CIA analyst, an FBI investigator, and a scholar who read 6,000 pages of documents recovered from bin Laden’s compound after he was killed – recount how they came to know and understand Osama bin Laden.

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We can’t do much without batteries and microchips; they power everything from smartphones to electric cars to defense systems. But the US ceded control of the raw materials required to make them – to its chief rival, China. Is it possible to catch up, especially given America’s more stringent labor and environmental standards?

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